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StoryHarp Product area Help System Index Introduction Definitions Tutorials Worlds Agent StoryHarp & IF StoryHarp & Java Registering |
Intermediate Tutorial -- Step 6: Use the Browser-----|- Back | Next | Index Look at contexts in the browser Bring up the browser by clicking on the Browser tab. The browser provides a way to navigate through rules, just as do the table and map. The browser limits how many variables you can see at a time, so it is easier to compare them. In the first list of the browser you can see all of the variables of one type. We want to see only contexts right now, so click on the Context button next to the context field in the rule editor panel. If you've been following the tutorial, you should see these contexts in the first browser list: forest rope ladder tree house tree top vine bridge If you don’t see these contexts If you have these contexts, great! If you have fewer contexts than this, it is possible that you somehow deleted a rule or left one out. Try going back to the other tutorial lessons to see what is wrong. If you have more contexts like this, like two spelled almost the same, then you typed something differently in two places. To fix a misspelled context, click on it in the first list. Then click on each command that appears in the second list. Clicking on each command in the second list will bring up the rule that defines it. You can then correct the misspelling. When you do so and tab out of the rule editor panel field where you made the change, the first list should update to merge the two contexts into one. Look at requirements Now click on the Requirements button. You should see one requirement: bridge broken If you see more than one, again there may be a problem with spelling. As with contexts, you can click on each command in the left list to select a rule. Then you can edit that rule. Look at changes Now click on the Changes button. You should see one change: bridge broken If you click on it, the rule with the command "jump up and down" should appear in the rule editor panel. One problem with this system is that you can't see requirements and changes at the same time. So if you spelled a change one way, and used a different spelling for requirements, it is difficult to notice that. The next step on debugging will show you a way to check that both are the same. Hopefully, if you had a problem with the step on requirements, by using the browser you may have seen exactly what went wrong and have been able to fix it. Drag a context from the browser The browser can also be used as a convenient list to drag things from, and it avoids spelling errors. To try it now, click the Contexts button again. Then click on "forest" in the first list, and "climb a tree" in the second list. Rule #2 should now be in the rule editor panel. Let's have “climb a tree” lead to the tree house instead of the tree top. Click on "tree house" in the first list, then holding down the mouse button, drag until the cursor is over the move field, and then let go. The phrase in the move field should have changed from "tree top" to "tree house". If it did not, try again, making sure the drag and drop cursor changes as you move the mouse around. Test the drag Test it out. You should now be able to do this in the transcript: > look You are in the forest. There are many majestic trees here. > climb a tree You climb a tree and can see nothing but tree tops for miles around you. > look You are in a swaying tree house. Undo the drag Now, let's put things back the way they were. Select the Edit | Undo Change Move for Rule 2 menu item. The move field of rule two should return to "tree top". You could have also just used drag and drop again to restore the value of the move field, although you would have to make sure you were editing the right rule (#2). See what happened when you undid the drag Now you should be able to get this in the transcript once again: > look You are in the forest. There are many majestic trees here. > climb a tree You climb a tree and can see nothing but tree tops for miles around you. > look You are at the top of a huge Sequoia, swaying in the breeze. Look at moves When you are browsing rule #2, click on the Move button. This will bring up a list of places that are moved to in the left hand list. You should see: forest tree house tree top vine bridge Notice that "rope ladder" is not in this list because there is no way to move there yet. Click on "forest" in the left panel. The right panel should now show the commands: jump up and down slide down the tree These are the two ways you can get to the forest (besides starting there since it is the context of the first rule). Look at commands Click on the Command button. If you have completed the previous step adding extra requirements, you should see this list of commands: climb a tree cut the bridge enter the tree top examine the bridge examine the vine bridge wreckage go onto the vine bridge go to the tree house jump up and down look slide down the tree Click on "climb a tree" in the left list. You should see "forest" as the lone entry in the right list, which is now labeled "contexts with the selected command". Browsing by command is the one time when commands will not be listed in the right-hand list. If you click on each command in the left hand list in turn, you will see that only two ("look" and "go onto the vine bridge") are used in more than one context. The command "go onto the vine bridge" is used in "tree top" and "tree house". The command "look" is used in "forest" (twice!), "rope ladder", "tree house", "tree top" and "vine bridge". These include all the contexts we have created so far. Note that the right side list is not strictly a simple list of contexts; it includes a context entry for every rule that defines the command selected in the left side, and so a context may appear more than once. For the command "look", if you click on the two entries for "forest", you will see two different rules show up in the rule editor panel. Both define what to do when "look" is said in the forest. Note that one of them (rule #16) has the requirement of "bridge broken". |
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Updated: March 10, 1999. Questions/comments on site to webmaster@kurtz-fernhout.com. Copyright © 1998, 1999 Paul D. Fernhout & Cynthia F. Kurtz. |