Instrument Feature
Instrument Parent (#1599):
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The songbook/instrument parent is based upon the generic book for purposes of recording songs. The relevant commands are:
con <book> (where <book> is the name of your instrument or songbook) - Gives the table of contents.
read <chapter> on <book> (where <book> is the same and <chapter> is the number of the chapter you wish to see) - Displays the text of the song.
write <chapter> on <book> (<chapter> and <book> are the same) - This will, if you own the <book> in question, allow you to create a new chapter. It is important that <chapter> be a number, incidentally, or the verb will not work correctly; preferably one higher than the last chapter in <book>. This will prompt you, first for a title, then for text. When you have entered what you feel sufficient, to escape the editor, enter on a period (.) on a line by itself.
For instance: Caramak creates a new songbook called "Caramak's Test Book" with the alias "Test."
He then decides to write in it: write 1 on test
He sees: Writing a new chapter to your book.
Enter a title for this chapter?
[Type a line of input or `@abort' to abort the command.]
He enters:
Test
[Type lines of input; use `.' to end or `@abort' to abort the command.]
He enters: Test
Caramak tests.
#5
%N tests.
He sees: Chapter 1 added. Later you can do '@notedit Caramak's Test Book.chapter1' to edit the chapter.
He then looks at the contests of his book, and lo and behold, there, next to 1, is his song "Test". He can read 1 on test, and review what he entered. But he can do more than just write...
play <chapter> on <book> - This allows a player to have the chapter indicated emit to the room. If Caramak were to play his test song on his test book, he, and anyone else in the room, would see:
Test
Caramak tests.
(There would then be a pause for 5 seconds.)
Caramak tests.
A line in a song comprised of '#<some number>' will be read by the 'play' verb as an instruction to pause for <some number> of seconds. The verb also recognizes pronoun substitutions; for other options than %N as the name of the caller of the verb, look at "help pronouns".
To edit a song after it has been added: @notedit <book>.chapter<chapter> - This will bring you to the noteditor, where you can add, change, or delete parts of the song as you like. This is not the place to place to include a manual on the use of the noteditor; if you need help, you can 'look' for a list of commands, or simply ask an older player.
To change the title of a song: @notedit <book>.chapterlist - Once in the noteditoor, you can 'list' for the list of songs, and change the title.
Removing a song is rather more complicated than putting them in. Also, it's a distinctly delicate process, with the possibility of making a mistake looming large and painful. Therefore, the help on removing a chapter has been removed from this file...If you wish to remove a song, ask. It's easier to avoid nasty things when talking in real time rather than spelling out generic instructions. The easiest thing to do is to simply write over the chapter; go into the noteditor, remove all the lines of the song, enter the new one. Then go to the .chapterlist and change the line that corresponds to the number of the chapter to be the title of the new song.
Instrument
Use is attributed to Master Caramak.
It may also be accessed on the MOO by typing “help harper_instrument.”
