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Commands can be typed in Axmud's main window. A world command like north is sent directly to the world.
SEND "north"
For each world command, Axmud tries to work out whether it's a movement command or something else. This helps to keep the automapper up to date.
You can clarify that something is a movement command using a MOVE statement.
MOVE "enter portal"
The opposite of MOVE is RELAY, which clarifies that the command definitely isn't a movement command.
RELAY "open curtains"
RELAY has an optional second argument.
! Send a non-movement command, but obscure part of it
LET string$ = "My PIN code is 1234"
LET substring$ = "1234"
RELAY command$, substring$
The substring should be any part of the main string which you want obscured when it's displayed in the main window.
It would be useful if you could write an Axbasic script that works at several different worlds.
For example, if one world expects you to kill orc but the other expects you to attack orc, we could write some code like this:
PEEK world$ = "world.current.name"
IF world$ = "deathmud" THEN
SEND "kill orc"
ELSE IF world$ = "nicemud" THEN
SEND "attack orc"
ENDIF
But that's a lot of work, and it would be much quicker to tell Axmud how to initiate combat at many different worlds, so that your scripts don't have to worry about it.
This can be done using Axmud's standard commands. A complete explanation of how they work is beyond the scope of this tutorial, but you can get a good idea of what's going on by opening certain edit windows.
For example, if you're connected to Discworld, type this:
;editcage cmd_world_discworld
On the left you'll see a list of standard commands, one of which will be kill.
On the right you'll see a list of replacement commands, which tell Axmud how to actually kill something. For Discworld, the replacement command is:
kill victim
...but at other worlds, it might be attack victim or something like that.
Our Axbasic script can now specify a standard command - kill - and also say who the victim is.
SEND "kill", "victim", "orc"
In the replacement command, victim is switched for orc, and the world receives kill orc.
You can use as many replacement pairs as you like. For example, the standard command for talking to people is say_to, and at Discworld, the replacement command is
say to victim text
To greet a character, your Axbasic script would therefore use a line like this:
SEND "say_to", "victim", "gandalf", "text", "hello"
...and the world receives say to gandalf hello. At another world, the replacement command might be
say text to victim
...in which case, the world would receive say hello to gandalf instead.
A multi comand is executed in every session. For example, you might type:
:shout I'm going for lunch
The Axbasic equivalent is:
MULTI "shout I'm going for lunch"
A speedwalk command is a quick way of typing several movement commands in one go, for example:
.3nw2s
...which is the equivalent of:
north;north;north;west;south;south
The Axbasic equivalent is:
SPEED "3nw2s"
Note that a speedwalk command starting with two full stops (periods) is executed in reverse order:
..3nw2s
The Axbasic equivalent starts with a single full stop:
SPEED ".3nw2s"
If the world places a limit on the number of world commands, Axmud is capable of adding commands to a queue until they can be sent to the world. A bypass command circumvents that queue, sending a world command immediately:
>drink water
The Axbasic equivalent is:
BYPASS "drink water"
A Perl command executes a mini Perl programme. The programme's return value is executed as an Axmud instruction. Usually the instruction is a world command of some kind.
/$a = 5; $b = 2; $a * $b;
The Axbasic equivalent is:
PERL " /$a = 5; $b = 2; $a * $b; "
Assuming that Axmud sound is turned on, you can play a sound effect.
PLAY "alarm"
PLAY is followed by an expression. The expression must be one of Axmud's recognised sound effects. If not, you'll see an error.
If you want a beeping sound, you can use a BEEP statement. The following two lines are identical:
BEEP
PLAY "beep"
Text-to-speech is performed with a SPEAK statement.
SPEAK "Hello, world!"
SPEAK takes an optional second argument, which is the text-to-speech configuration to use.
SPEAK "Hello, world!", "flite"
If you don't specify a configuration, Axbasic uses its own configuration, called script.
All of Axbasic's keywords and functions are fully documented. You can display the help files in the main window by using a HELP statement.
The following two lines are identical:
HELP "print"
CLIENT "axbasichelp print"
HELP can be followed by an expression.
LET keyword$ = "print"
HELP keyword$
LET function$ = "chr$"
HELP function$
It's not necessary to include the $ character, so both of the following lines will work.
HELP "chr$"
HELP "chr"
Logging in to a MUD is sometimes as simple as typing a username and password, but sometimes it's a lot more complicated.
Axmud can handle simple logins for itself, but otherwise you'll have to write some kind of script to handle everything - a Perl plugin, a mission, or an Axbasic script.
Here's an example of a trivial login script. It must always contain a LOGIN statement, which tells Axmud that the login process is complete.
! Perform an automatic login
LET name$ = "gandalf"
LET password$ = "123456"
! Send an ordinary non-movement command
RELAY name$
! Send an obscured password
! The arguments are identical, so the whole
! password is obscured in the main window
RELAY password$, password$
! Login is now complete
LOGIN
END
Once you've composed your script, you should edit the current world profile and tell it to use that script. (Type ;editworld and use the Settings tab.)
Clientname$ (), Clientversion$ () and Clientdate$ () return information about the current installation of Axmud. Their return values look something like this:
Axmud
1.1.405
24 Dec 2018
Ip$ () returns your current IP address.
Scriptname$ () returns the name of the Axbasic script that's running. If you're running the file wumpus.bas, the return value is "wumpus".
Istask () tests whether the current script is being run as a task (returns 1), or not (returns 0).
PRINT Istask ()
Isscript () tests whether a specified script is being run as task.
! Display 1 if Hunt the Wumpus! is being run
! by any Script task. Display 0 otherwise
PRINT Isscript ("wumpus.bas")
Iswin () returns 1 if the script has opened a task window (and if that window is still open). Otherwise, it returns 0.
The next two functions can be used with any task.
Tasks that are running right now have unique names, for example "status_task_17". The Findtask$ () function finds the unique name for any task, for example:
LET name$ = Findtask ("status")
The argument can be a task label (e.g. "status" or "stat") or the name used internally by Axmud (e.g. "status_task"). Most tasks, including the Status task, can only have one copy running at a time. If there are multiple copies running, the unique name of the task that was created first is returned.
Counttask () takes the same kind of arguments as Findtask$ () - a task label or a task's internal name. It returns the number of copies of the task that are running right now. (The number might be 0.)
Axbasic provides a number of functions for trigonometry. (We can't think of any reason why you would need them, but nevertheless, they're available.)
For example, to get the cosine of an angle, you can use the Cos () function.
PRINT Cos (1)
The argument is an angle measured in radians. To use angles measured in degrees, you should include the following OPTION statement somewhere in your script:
OPTION ANGLE DEGREES
PRINT Cos (60)
The other trigonometric functions that Axbasic provides are Sin () and Tan (), as well as Acos (), Asin (), Atn (), Cosh (), Cot (), Csc (), Csec (), Sec (), Sinh () and Tanh (). (If you don't already know what these mean, then you definitely don't need them.)
You can use the Deg () function to convert radians into degrees, and the Rad () function to convert degrees into radians.
The Angle () function returns the angle between the positive x-axis and a line from the origin to the point (x, y).
OPTION ANGLE DEGREES
PRINT Angle (50, 100)
The Pi () function returns a value of pi (correct to about 16 significant figures, or perhaps more on some systems).
PRINT Pi
The logarithmic functions are Log (), Log10 (), Log2 () and Exp (). The square root of a number can be obtained with Sqr ().
PRINT Sqr (16)
The Min () function compares two numbers, and returns the smaller one. The Max () function returns the larger one.
PRINT Min (1, 10)
PRINT Max (10, 100)
In this particular case, the order of the arguments doesn't matter. Both of these statements display the value 1.
PRINT Min (1, 10)
PRINT Min (10, 1)
That's the end of the tutorial! Don't forget that you can get help at the Axmud Github page, if you need it!