<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 2002-2-1 (1.71)
original version by: Nikos Drakos, CBLU, University of Leeds
* revised and updated by: Marcus Hennecke, Ross Moore, Herb Swan
* with significant contributions from:
Jens Lippmann, Marek Rouchal, Martin Wilck and others -->
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>7 Other IFM Programs</TITLE>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="7 Other IFM Programs">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="ifm">
<META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document">
<META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="LaTeX2HTML v2002-2-1">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Style-Type" CONTENT="text/css">
<LINK REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="ifm.css">
<LINK REL="next" HREF="node11.htm">
<LINK REL="previous" HREF="node9.htm">
<LINK REL="up" HREF="ifm.htm">
<LINK REL="next" HREF="node11.htm">
</HEAD>
<BODY >
<DIV CLASS="navigation"><!--Navigation Panel-->
<A NAME="tex2html314"
HREF="node11.htm">
<IMG WIDTH="37" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next" SRC="next.gif"></A>
<A NAME="tex2html310"
HREF="ifm.htm">
<IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" SRC="up.gif"></A>
<A NAME="tex2html304"
HREF="node9.htm">
<IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" SRC="prev.gif"></A>
<A NAME="tex2html312"
HREF="node1.htm">
<IMG WIDTH="65" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="contents" SRC="contents.gif"></A>
<BR>
<B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html315"
HREF="node11.htm">A. GNU Free Documentation</A>
<B> Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html311"
HREF="ifm.htm">IFM</A>
<B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html305"
HREF="node9.htm">6 Diagnostics</A>
<B> <A NAME="tex2html313"
HREF="node1.htm">Contents</A></B>
<BR>
<BR></DIV>
<!--End of Navigation Panel-->
<!--Table of Child-Links-->
<A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"><STRONG>Subsections</STRONG></A>
<UL CLASS="ChildLinks">
<LI><A NAME="tex2html316"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000101000000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">1</SPAN> <TT>ifm2dev</TT>--convert IFM maps to various other formats</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html317"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000102000000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">2</SPAN> <TT>ifm2tex</TT>--convert IFM maps to <SPAN CLASS="logo,LaTeX">L<SUP><SMALL>A</SMALL></SUP>T<SMALL>E</SMALL>X</SPAN></A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html318"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000103000000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN> <TT>tkifm</TT>--create maps interactively</A>
<UL>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html319"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000103100000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">1</SPAN> Using Your Own Editor</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html320"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000103200000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">2</SPAN> Customization</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html321"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000103300000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN> Errors and Warnings</A>
</UL>
<BR>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html322"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104000000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN> <TT>scr2ifm</TT>--convert transcripts to IFM map</A>
<UL>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html323"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104100000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">1</SPAN> Options</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html324"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104200000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">2</SPAN> Operation</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html325"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104300000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN> Making Transcripts</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html326"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104400000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN> IFM Commands</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html327"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104500000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">5</SPAN> Fixing Problems</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html328"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104600000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">6</SPAN> Writing the Map</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html329"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104700000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN> Example Session</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html330"
HREF="node10.htm#SECTION000104800000000000000"><SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">8</SPAN> Limitations</A>
</UL></UL>
<!--End of Table of Child-Links-->
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="SECTION000100000000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN> Other IFM Programs</A>
</H1>
<P>
There are several other programs bundled with IFM, which you might find useful.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="SECTION000101000000000000000"></A><A NAME="sec:ifm2dev"></A>
<BR>
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">1</SPAN> <TT>ifm2dev</TT>--convert IFM maps to various other formats
</H2>
<P>
<TT>ifm2dev</TT> is a front end to <TT>fig2dev</TT>, which converts diagrams
in Fig format to various other formats. <TT>ifm2dev</TT> converts each map section
and writes them to separate files. The command format is:
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>ifm2dev [-o template] [fig2dev-options] [- ifm-options] file
</DD>
</DL>The <TT>-o</TT> option sets the file template for the output files. It must
contain an integer format indicator (e.g. <TT>%d</TT>); this is replaced with
the map section number in filenames. If not set, it defaults to <TT>prefix-%02d.suffix</TT>,
where <TT>prefix</TT> is the file prefix of the input file (with <TT>.ifm</TT>
removed), and <TT>suffix</TT> is the suffix appropriate for the type of output.
<P>
All <TT>fig2dev</TT> output options are passed through without change. You can
use the <TT>-L</TT> option of <TT>fig2dev</TT> to set the output format. See
the <TT>fig2dev</TT> manpage for details.
<P>
You can supply options to IFM by first giving the end-of-options indicator (<TT>-</TT>)
and then the options.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="SECTION000102000000000000000"></A><A NAME="sec:ifm2tex"></A>
<BR>
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">2</SPAN> <TT>ifm2tex</TT>--convert IFM maps to <SPAN CLASS="logo,LaTeX">L<SUP><SMALL>A</SMALL></SUP>T<SMALL>E</SMALL>X</SPAN>
</H2>
<P>
<TT>ifm2tex</TT> is a program for creating a summary file in <SPAN CLASS="logo,LaTeX">L<SUP><SMALL>A</SMALL></SUP>T<SMALL>E</SMALL>X</SPAN> format,
suitable for converting to PostScript and printing. It uses <TT>ifm2dev</TT>
to create the maps. The command format is:
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>ifm2tex [-m] [-i] [-t] [- ifm-options] file
</DD>
</DL>The options indicate which combinations of things you want output (maps, items
or tasks). Several files are written, whose names depend on the prefix of the
input file (i.e. minus its <TT>.ifm</TT> suffix):
<P>
<UL>
<LI>[<TT>prefix.tex</TT>]The main <SPAN CLASS="logo,LaTeX">L<SUP><SMALL>A</SMALL></SUP>T<SMALL>E</SMALL>X</SPAN> input file, which includes all the others.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>prefix-maps.tex</TT>]The maps, which include the EPS figures.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>prefix-items.tex</TT>]The table of items.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>prefix-tasks.tex</TT>]The table of tasks.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>prefix-map-N.eps</TT>]An EPS figure for each map section.
</LI>
</UL>At the moment, the program is very basic and doesn't have any options to control
anything. But you can sort of customize things by using your own main <SPAN CLASS="logo,LaTeX">L<SUP><SMALL>A</SMALL></SUP>T<SMALL>E</SMALL>X</SPAN>
file and doing your own including of the other files.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="SECTION000103000000000000000"></A><A NAME="sec:tkifm"></A>
<BR>
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN> <TT>tkifm</TT>--create maps interactively
</H2>
<P>
<TT>tkifm</TT> is a graphical front end to IFM. It provides a text editing window
in which you can map out your game using IFM commands, and a set of menus to
view things. The various features are as follows:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>[Text editing window]This is the main window, where you type IFM commands.
It provides all the usual text editing command bindings that come with the Tcl/Tk
text widget, as well as syntax highlighting.
</LI>
<LI>[File menu]The standard set of file commands: New, Open, Save, Save-As, Export
(to PostScript or Fig), Quit. There's also a command called Redraw, which invokes
IFM on the current file again. Normally you don't have to use this (it's done
whenever you open a new file or save the current one), but if you change your
initialization file (see below) the changes won't be noticed unless you do a
Redraw.
</LI>
<LI>[Map menu]For each map section in your map, a menu entry appears here. Selecting
it will draw the appropriate map in another window.
</LI>
<LI>[Item menu]This contains a single menu item, which displays a list of items
in another window.
</LI>
<LI>[Task menu]This contains two menu items: ``Task list (brief)'', which
displays a high-level walkthrough of the game in another window, and ``Task
list (verbose)'' which does the same but gives detailed information about what
the game solver is up to.
</LI>
<LI>[Show menu]This contains two menu items: ``Variables'', which shows all
the currently defined variables and their values, and ``Paths'', which shows
the file search path.
</LI>
<LI>[Help menu]This displays a small info panel about the current IFM version,
including copying restrictions.
</LI>
</UL>
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000103100000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">1</SPAN> Using Your Own Editor</A>
</H3>
<P>
If you'd like to use your own editor to edit IFM files, but still view results
with <TT>tkifm</TT>, you can. <TT>tkifm</TT> recognizes when the file it is
visiting gets modified, and rereads it if so. If you like, you can also disable
all <TT>tkifm</TT> file modification commands by setting the <TT>ifm(edit)</TT>
variable to zero (see below). This is probably a good idea if using another
editor, or else you might accidentally save from <TT>tkifm</TT> and lose all
your changes.
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000103200000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">2</SPAN> Customization</A>
</H3>
<P>
On startup, <TT>tkifm</TT> reads an initialization file in your home directory
(the one pointed at by the <TT>HOME</TT> environment variable). On Unix systems
it is called <TT>.tkifmrc</TT>, and on Win32 systems it is called <TT>tkifm.ini</TT>.
From there, using Tcl commands, you can set various things that affect the appearance
of the program. Here's an example file showing the valid variables, their format
and defaults.
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim"># Example tkifm init file.
# Whether to allow editing.
set ifm(edit) 1
# Edit window dimensions.
set ifm(editwidth) 80
set ifm(editheight) 24
# Editing font.
set ifm(editfont) {Courier 12 bold}
# Edit window colours.
set ifm(editforeground) black
set ifm(editbackground) wheat
# Item list window dimensions.
set ifm(itemwidth) 50
set ifm(itemheight) 30
# Task list (brief) window dimensions.
set ifm(taskwidth) 50
set ifm(taskheight) 30
# Task list (verbose) window dimensions.
set ifm(verbosewidth) 80
set ifm(verboseheight) 30
# Variable window dimensions.
set ifm(varswidth) 50
set ifm(varsheight) 30
# Text window font.
set ifm(textfont) {Times 12 bold}
# Text window colours.
set ifm(textforeground) black
set ifm(textbackground) wheat
# Whether to allow tearoff menus.
set ifm(tearoff) 1
# Syntax highlighting variables.
set ifm(syntaxcomments) firebrick
set ifm(syntaxstrings) grey40
set ifm(syntaxstructure) blue
set ifm(syntaxdirections) darkgoldenrod
set ifm(syntaxspecial) cadetblue
set ifm(syntaxbuiltin) forestgreen
set ifm(syntaxkeyword) royalblue
set ifm(syntaxpreprocessor) purple
</PRE>
<P>
</DD>
</DL>
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000103300000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN> Errors and Warnings</A>
</H3>
<P>
Any errors or warnings that occur when invoking IFM will be displayed in a dialog.
The current line of the text window will be changed to point at the error or
warning line (if appropriate).
<P>
<H2><A NAME="SECTION000104000000000000000"></A><A NAME="sec:scr2ifm"></A>
<BR>
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN> <TT>scr2ifm</TT>--convert transcripts to IFM map
</H2>
<P>
<TT>scr2ifm</TT> reads one or more transcripts of an Interactive Fiction game
and produces a map of it in IFM format. It works on Infocom-style transcripts--those
produced by Inform- and TADS-generated games (and of course Infocom games themselves).
The idea is that you play your game in a carefree manner, without worrying about
mapping anything, and after the session use <TT>scr2ifm</TT> to get a map. Well,
that's the theory anyway.
<P>
<TT>scr2ifm</TT> offers two basic ways of mapping: you can create an initial
(incomplete) map from your first transcript and then add the rest ``by hand'',
or you can create a set of transcripts, each exploring different parts of the
game, and then merge them all into a final map. Which you choose is up to you.
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000104100000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">1</SPAN> Options</A>
</H3>
<P>
These are the command-line options for <TT>scr2ifm</TT>:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>[<TT>-c file</TT>]Append the given file of IFM and parameter commands to the
end of the map. This allows you to fix various problems in the resulting map.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>-o file</TT>]Write output to the given file instead of stdout.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>-i</TT>]Indent the output nicely (according to <SPAN CLASS="textit">my</SPAN> definition, anyway).
This makes things look better if you've added <TT>item</TT> and <TT>task</TT>
commands. Default is no indentation at all.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>-l</TT>]Add a comment to each IFM command indicating the file and line
number of the transcript command that generated it.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>-w</TT>]Don't print warnings.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>-h</TT>]Print a short usage message and exit.
</LI>
</UL>
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000104200000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">2</SPAN> Operation</A>
</H3>
<P>
<TT>scr2ifm</TT> works by recognizing several key things in the transcript:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>The commands you type. These are easy to spot, because they are preceded by
a prompt (usually <TT>></TT>).
</LI>
<LI>When the current room changes. This is not quite so easy, but still fairly simple.
When you enter a new room, a short room title is printed (for example, ``West
of House''). The program looks for these short titles in the text that follows
a command. First, a line is checked for an invalid format--things that never
appear in a title (e.g. ``?'' or ``!''). Then the word count is checked--titles
are hardly ever more than 7 or 8 words long. Finally the maximum length of an
uncapitalized word is examined--this is almost always 3 or less in titles (the
length of ``the'').
</LI>
<LI>When a previously-visited room is visited again. This is the most difficult
thing to determine, since anything might have changed in the room since the
last visit. If there is a description, an exact description match is tried.
If that fails, a substring match is attempted. If <SPAN CLASS="textit">that</SPAN> fails, the first
few words are examined to see if they match. If there's no description, an exact
room name match is tried. This isn't as reliable, which is why you should always
create a transcript in ``verbose'' mode.
</LI>
<LI>Special IFM commands that are (hopefully) ignored completely by the game.
</LI>
</UL>
Some of these checks can be tailored to a particular transcript.
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000104300000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN> Making Transcripts</A>
</H3>
<P>
For best results with <TT>scr2ifm</TT>, you should follow these guidelines when
making a transcript:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>Always use ``verbose'' mode. If you don't, then when you revisit a room
you've been in before, no description will be printed. In that case, <TT>scr2ifm</TT>
will have to rely on the room name to tell where it is. If there's more than
one room with that name, it'll get confused (and so will you when you look at
the map!).
</LI>
<LI>After starting the script, look around. Otherwise your starting room may not
be included on the map, since the room description may not get printed.
</LI>
<LI>If there's a bend in a link (e.g. if you leave a room by going east, and enter
the next room from the south) make sure you do the return journey. Otherwise,
<TT>scr2ifm</TT> won't know about the bend.
</LI>
<LI>Avoid places where different rooms have the same room description (i.e. mazes).
<TT>scr2ifm</TT> can't resolve cases like this, and will assume there's just
a single room. Note that this doesn't exclude <SPAN CLASS="textit">all</SPAN> mazes--the ``twisty
passages, all different'' maze from Colossal Cave would still work, since the
descriptions are different.
</LI>
<LI>If you play the game over several sessions, and create several separate transcripts,
pay attention to the starting rooms. If a transcript starts in a room already
visited in the previous transcript, then its rooms will be added to the same
map section. If not, a new map section will be created (and you should use the
<TT>map</TT> command to give it a name).
</LI>
</UL>
Some games will be more amenable to <TT>scr2ifm</TT> than others--in general
the ones with reasonable map connections, where each connection makes sense
in relation to the others. For these games, the order in which rooms are visited
will probably make no difference to the resulting map. But for perverse games
(e.g. Colossal Cave, above ground) the order of visiting makes a big difference.
In these cases, it's probably best to avoid trying to get all the connections
on the map--you'll spew forth lots of IFM warnings otherwise, and the map will
look awful. Sometimes it's worth having a second attempt at a transcript, choosing
different directions to go in, to see if it improves things.
<P>
Another problem with mapping is that some games have these inconvenient things
called puzzles, which sometimes block you from exploring everywhere so you can
map it properly. Come on, IF authors, let's get our priorities right!
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000104400000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN> IFM Commands</A>
</H3>
<P>
While you're making your transcript, you can use a subset of IFM commands to
add extra things that <TT>scr2ifm</TT> will recognize. (Of course, the game
almost certainly won't understand these commands, and will print a suitable
indignant reply. But that shouldn't affect the state of things.) The commands
recognized are:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>[<TT>title <name></TT>]Give the map a title. The name must be in double-quotes.
This command can appear anywhere, and has the same effect each time.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>map <name></TT>]Indicate that the current room starts a new map section
with the given name. The name must be in double-quotes. This is useful if it
seems like the map divides into different sections (e.g. the floors of a house).
<P>
If you use the <TT>map</TT> command, you'll end up with two or more map sections.
The first map section is the one that contains the very first room, and will
have a default name unless you give it one using another <TT>map</TT> command.
<P>
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>item <name> [attrs]</TT>]Declare an item in the current room. The
name must be in double-quotes. If you don't give it a tag attribute, one is
generated automatically by changing all invalid tag characters in the name to
underscores.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>item [attrs]</TT>]Add the given attributes to the last declared item,
if any.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>item delete</TT>]Delete the last declared item, if any.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>task <name> [attrs]</TT>]Declare a task in the current room in a
similar manner to items. The name must be in double-quotes.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>task [attrs]</TT>]Add the given attributes to the last declared task,
if any.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>task delete</TT>]Delete the last declared task, if any.
</LI>
</UL>Note that <TT>scr2ifm</TT> knows almost nothing about IFM command syntax. If
there's a syntax error in a command, you'll have to manually edit the resulting
transcript (or delete the item/task and do it again).
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000104500000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">5</SPAN> Fixing Problems</A>
</H3>
<P>
The map produced by <TT>scr2ifm</TT> will not be perfect in a lot of cases.
When running it through IFM you might get warnings about overlapping rooms,
or crossed link lines. These problems are usually fixed by stretching the link
lines of some of the rooms. Some overlapping-room problems are caused by the
program making a bad choice of direction to put an up/down/in/out connection
in. Another problem might be not recognizing when a room is the same as a previously-visited
room, because the room description changed too much between visits.
<P>
You can fix most of these problems by creating a command file and specifying
it with the <TT>-c</TT> option. There are two types of entry: <TT>scr2ifm</TT>
commands and IFM commands. In a command file, blank lines and comment lines
(those starting with a <TT>#</TT>) are ignored. If a command isn't recognized
as a <TT>scr2ifm</TT> command, it's assumed to be an IFM command, and is passed
straight into the output verbatim. You can use these to resolve conflicts in
the generated map, by stretching certain links or hiding them altogether.
<P>
Here's a list of the commands available:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>[<TT>is_room TEXT</TT>]Declare a line of text that is actually the name of
a room. Normally room names get recognized properly, but there may be some special
cases that aren't.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>not_room TEXT</TT>]Declare a line of text that definitely isn't the
name of a room. This is for opposite cases to the above.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>use_name TEXT</TT>]Use only the room name to decide whether a room has
been previously visited. This is for cases where a room description changes
too much between visits to be called the same room. Note that this implies that
there can only ever be one room with this name.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>set_option LETTER</TT>]This is a convenience that lets you specify <TT>scr2ifm</TT>
command-line options in the command file instead. E.g. <TT>set_option i</TT>
will indent output nicely.
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>set_param VAR</TT> = <TT>VALUE</TT>]This evaluates the given perl
expression. You can use this to set various parameters that control how the
transcript is parsed (see below). Setting a value of <TT>undef</TT> will remove
that parameter (so that it won't be used).
</LI>
</UL>Here's a list of the parameters that control how the transcript is parsed, and
their defaults. You can use the <TT>scr2ifm</TT> <TT>set_param</TT> command
to set them in the command file.
<P>
<UL>
<LI>[<TT>$name_remove</TT>]Matched text to remove before seeing if a line of
text is a room name. This is for getting rid of stuff like `` (in the dodgem
car)''. Default: <TT>\s+\(.+\)</TT>
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>$name_maxwords</TT>]Maximum no. of words in a room name. Default: 8
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>$name_maxuncap</TT>]Maximum length of an uncapitalized word in a room
name. Default: 3
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>$name_invalid</TT>]Regexp which, if matched, signals an invalid room
name. Default: <TT>[.!?"]</TT>
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>$desc_minwords</TT>]Minimum no. of matching words required to match
a room description. Default: 20
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>$cmd_prompt</TT>]Regexp matching a command prompt. Default: <TT>^>\s*</TT>
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>$cmd_look</TT>]Regexp matching a 'look' command (case-insensitive).
Default: <TT>^l(ook)?$</TT>
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>$cmd_undo</TT>]Regexp matching an UNDO command (case-insensitive). It's
assumed that only a single level of UNDO is available. Default: <TT>^undo$</TT>
</LI>
<LI>[<TT>$cmd_teleport</TT>]Regexp matching commands that are known to cause
a teleport to an arbitrary room (case-insensitive). Default: <TT>^(restart|restore)$</TT>
</LI>
</UL>
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000104600000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">6</SPAN> Writing the Map</A>
</H3>
<P>
Output from <TT>scr2ifm</TT> is as follows. First, if the title of the map was
specified with the <TT>title</TT> command, it is printed. Then, if there's more
than one map section, a list of map section titles is printed.
<P>
Next, there's a list of IFM commands derived from the transcript. Each time
a new room is seen, a room command is output for it. Each room is given a tag
name formed by the initials of each capitalized word in its name. To make tags
unique, the second and subsequent occurrences of a tag name have that number
appended. For example, room ``West of House'' would get tag <TT>WH</TT>.
<P>
If a movement command was up, down, in or out, then a compass direction is chosen
for it that doesn't clash with other rooms (if possible) and the <TT>go</TT>
attribute is used to mark its real direction. If a movement command isn't recognized,
the same is done except this time the <TT>cmd</TT> attribute is used to record
the command instead.
<P>
If movement is seen between two already-visited rooms, a link command is output
(or a join, if the rooms appear to be on different map sections). Link tags
are built by concatenating the room tags of the linked rooms with an underscore
in between. Link movement is dealt with in the same manner as for rooms.
<P>
If the special <TT>item</TT> or <TT>task</TT> commands are seen, then an item
or task command is output following the room that it appears in. If an item
or task hasn't been given a tag, it is assigned one. The tag is made by translating
all invalid tag characters in the name to underscores, capitalizing (to avoid
clashes with IFM commands) and, if the tag clashes with a previously-defined
tag, adding a numerical suffix to make it unique. For example, ``black rod''
might get a tag <TT>Black_rod_2</TT>.
<P>
Finally, the IFM commands from the file indicated by the <TT>-c</TT> option
are echoed (if any).
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000104700000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN> Example Session</A>
</H3>
<P>
Here's a simple example of <TT>scr2ifm</TT> in action on Colossal Cave. First,
the transcript in file <TT>advent.scr</TT> (with annotation):
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim">Start of a transcript of
ADVENTURE
The Interactive Original
By Willie Crowther and Don Woods (1977)
David M. Baggett's 1993 reconstruction, ported by Graham Nelson
Release 3 / Serial number 951220 / Inform v1502 Library 5/12
Interpreter 1 Version B / Library serial number 951024
>verbose
ADVENTURE is now in its "verbose" mode, which always gives
long descriptions of locations (even if you've been there
before).
>l
At End Of Road
You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick
building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out
of the building and down a gully.
</PRE>
</DD>
</DL>The previous two commands are recommended after starting the transcript.
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim">>e
Inside Building
You are inside a building, a well house for a large spring.
There are some keys on the ground here.
There is tasty food here.
There is a shiny brass lamp nearby.
There is an empty bottle here.
>item "keys"
That's not a verb I recognise.
>item "food"
That's not a verb I recognise.
>item "lamp"
That's not a verb I recognise.
>item "bottle"
That's not a verb I recognise.
</PRE>
</DD>
</DL>The previous four commands declare the given items to the program. You don't
have to bother with this if you don't want item locations on your map.
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim">>get all
stream: You have nothing in which to carry the water.
well house: That's hardly portable.
spring: That's hardly portable.
pair of 1 foot diameter sewer pipes: That's hardly portable.
set of keys: Taken.
tasty food: Taken.
brass lantern: Taken.
small bottle: Taken.
>w
At End Of Road
You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick
building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out
of the building and down a gully.
>s
In A Valley
You are in a valley in the forest beside a stream tumbling
along a rocky bed.
>s
At Slit In Streambed
At your feet all the water of the stream splashes into a
2-inch slit in the rock. Downstream the streambed is bare
rock.
>s
Outside Grate
You are in a 20-foot depression floored with bare dirt. Set
into the dirt is a strong steel grate mounted in concrete. A
dry streambed leads into the depression.
</PRE>
</DD>
</DL>Note that in this game we don't go in all possible directions--there's no logic
to the connections, and it'd just make a complete mess on the map.
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim">>unlock grate
What do you want to unlock the steel grate with?
>keys
You unlock the steel grate.
>task "Unlock grate" need Keys
That's not a verb I recognise.
</PRE>
<P>
</DD>
</DL>That last command declared a task--again, you don't have to bother with this
if you don't want to.
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim">>open grate
You open the steel grate.
>task "Open grate" after last
That's not a verb I recognise.
>d
Below the Grate
You are in a small chamber beneath a 3x3 steel grate to the
surface. A low crawl over cobbles leads inward to the west.
The grate stands open.
>w
In Cobble Crawl
You are crawling over cobbles in a low passage. There is a
dim light at the east end of the passage.
There is a small wicker cage discarded nearby.
>item "cage"
That's not a verb I recognise.
>get cage
Taken.
>w
Darkness
It is pitch dark, and you can't see a thing.
>undo
In Cobble Crawl
[Previous turn undone.]
</PRE>
</DD>
</DL>Oops! Stumbled into the dark by mistake. Without the UNDO, that would have meant
'Darkness' appeared on the map as a room.
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim">>turn lamp on
You switch the brass lantern on.
>w
In Debris Room
You are in a debris room filled with stuff washed in from
the surface. A low wide passage with cobbles becomes plugged
with mud and debris here, but an awkward canyon leads upward
and west.
A note on the wall says, "Magic word XYZZY."
A three foot black rod with a rusty star on one end lies
nearby.
>item "black rod" tag Rod
That's not a verb I recognise.
>xyzzy
Inside Building
You are inside a building, a well house for a large spring.
</PRE>
</DD>
</DL>Goodness me! That was unexpected--we've been teleported. The link almost certainly
won't look good on the map. We have the option of UNDOing, right now, or fixing
the map later. Let's do the latter.
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim">>xyzzy
In Debris Room
You are in a debris room filled with stuff washed in from
the surface. A low wide passage with cobbles becomes plugged
with mud and debris here, but an awkward canyon leads upward
and west.
A note on the wall says, "Magic word XYZZY."
A three foot black rod with a rusty star on one end lies
nearby.
>get rod
Taken.
>w
Sloping E/W Canyon
You are in an awkward sloping east/west canyon.
>w
Orange River Chamber
You are in a splendid chamber thirty feet high. The walls
are frozen rivers of orange stone. An awkward canyon and a
good passage exit from east and west sides of the chamber.
A cheerful little bird is sitting here singing.
>item "bird"
That's not a verb I recognise.
>unscript
End of transcript.
</PRE>
</DD>
</DL>Ok, now to create a map. To do that, use this command:
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>scr2ifm -o advent.ifm advent.scr
</DD>
</DL>To check for problems, just type:
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>ifm advent.ifm
</DD>
</DL>On the first run through, there are complaints about an overlapping room, due
to a bad choice of direction for the ``down'' link from Outside Grate, and
the expected problems with the link between the Debris Room and the Building.
A command file, <TT>advent.cmd</TT>, will fix these problems:
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim"># Fix bad choice of direction.
link BG dir s;
# Hide "xyzzy" link.
link IDR_IB hidden;
# Replace it with join.
join IDR to IB cmd "xyzzy";
</PRE>
</DD>
</DL>Now, if we invoke
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>scr2ifm -o advent.ifm -i -c advent.cmd advent.scr
</DD>
</DL>we get the following map:
<P>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<DD>
<BR>
<PRE CLASS="verbatim">## IFM map created by scr2ifm.pl
## Commands generated by transcript.
room "At End Of Road" tag AEOR;
room "Inside Building" dir e from AEOR tag IB;
item "keys" tag Keys;
item "food" tag Food;
item "lamp" tag Lamp;
item "bottle" tag Bottle;
room "In A Valley" dir s from AEOR tag IAV;
room "At Slit In Streambed" dir s from IAV tag ASIS;
room "Outside Grate" dir s from ASIS tag OG;
task "Unlock grate" need Keys tag Unlock_grate;
task "Open grate" after last tag Open_grate;
room "Below the Grate" dir n from OG go down tag BG;
room "In Cobble Crawl" dir w from BG tag ICC;
item "cage" tag Cage;
room "In Debris Room" dir w from ICC tag IDR;
item "black rod" tag Rod;
link IDR to IB dir n s cmd "xyzzy" tag IDR_IB;
room "Sloping E/W Canyon" dir w from IDR tag SEC;
room "Orange River Chamber" dir w from SEC tag ORC;
item "bird" tag Bird;
## Customization commands.
link BG dir s;
link IDR_IB hidden;
join IDR to IB cmd "xyzzy";
</PRE>
</DD>
</DL>Printed, it looks like Figure fig:scr2ifm-map.
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:scr2ifm-map"></A><A NAME="1673"></A>
<TABLE>
<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2:</STRONG>
Map produced by <TT>scr2ifm</TT></CAPTION>
<TR><TD>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
<IMG
WIDTH="557" HEIGHT="448" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img3.gif"
ALT="\includegraphics[ scale=0.7]{advent}">
</DIV>
<P></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</DIV>
<P>
<H3><A NAME="SECTION000104800000000000000">
<SPAN CLASS="arabic">7</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">4</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">8</SPAN> Limitations</A>
</H3>
<P>
Here's a list of things that <TT>scr2ifm</TT> doesn't currently deal with:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>Mazes. Different maze rooms that look identical (i.e. have identical names
<SPAN CLASS="textit">and</SPAN> descriptions) will simply appear as a single room.
</LI>
<LI>One-way links. These aren't detected, so you'll have to add the appropriate
IFM attribute yourself (in a command file, or by fixing the map directly).
</LI>
</UL>
<P>
<DIV CLASS="navigation"><HR>
<!--Navigation Panel-->
<A NAME="tex2html314"
HREF="node11.htm">
<IMG WIDTH="37" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next" SRC="next.gif"></A>
<A NAME="tex2html310"
HREF="ifm.htm">
<IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" SRC="up.gif"></A>
<A NAME="tex2html304"
HREF="node9.htm">
<IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" SRC="prev.gif"></A>
<A NAME="tex2html312"
HREF="node1.htm">
<IMG WIDTH="65" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="contents" SRC="contents.gif"></A>
<BR>
<B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html315"
HREF="node11.htm">A. GNU Free Documentation</A>
<B> Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html311"
HREF="ifm.htm">IFM</A>
<B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html305"
HREF="node9.htm">6 Diagnostics</A>
<B> <A NAME="tex2html313"
HREF="node1.htm">Contents</A></B> </DIV>
<!--End of Navigation Panel-->
</BODY>
</HTML>
