App Review Command

The app method provided by the Chargen plugin is meant to be generic. It provides hooks so you can add whatever processing is needed to alert the user to problems with their character application: Points overspent, missing required skills, etc.

In the chargen app template (aresmush/plugins/chargen/templates/app.erb) you’ll see a section:

<% if AresMUSH::FS3Skills.is_enabled? %>
<%= section_title(t('chargen.abilities_review_title')) %>
<%= abilities %>      
<% end %>

This is for the built-in FS3 plugin, and will not appear if FS3 is disabled. You’ll want to add your own similar section right after that:

<%= section_title(t('cortex.cortex_review_title')) %>
<%= cortex_abilities %>      
<% end %>

Then inside the app template renderer (aresmush/plugins/chargen/templates/app_template.rb), add the cortex_abilities method needed by the ERB file. This calls out to the Cortex app review method:

  def cortex_abilities
    Cortex.app_review(@char)
  end

Finally we need to define the app review method itself. This has a number of pieces.

def self.app_review(char)
  text = Cortex.attribute_point_review(char)
  text << "%r"
  text << Cortex.skill_point_review(char)
  text << "%r"
  ...
  text
end

One of those pieces is checking the total number of attributes spent.

def self.attribute_rating_review(char)
   total = 0
   char.cortex_attributes.each do |a|
      total += Cortex.points_for_attribute(a.die_step)
   end
   max = Global.read_config("cortex", "starting_attribute_points")
   message = t('cortex.total_attribute_points_check', :total => total, :max => max)
   status = total <= max ? t('chargen.ok') : t('chargen.too_many')
   Chargen.format_review_status message, status
end

Here we’ve calculated the total number of attribute points spent (using a helper method to convert a die_step like ‘d6’ to a cost in attribute points) and then compared it to our configured ‘starting_attribute_points’ value.

We use the Chargen helper method Chargen.format_review_status to create a line in the app review screen like:

36 attribute points spent. (40 max)                    < OK! >

It will use either ‘OK’ or ‘Too Many’ depending on how many points were spent. The Chargen helper has several built-in status values:

Green (OK)

t('chargen.ok')  --> < OK! >

Yellow (Warnings)

t('chargen.missing')       < Missing %{missing} >

Red (Errors)

t('chargen.too_many')      < Too Many! >
t('chargen.not_enough')    < Not Enough! >
t('chargen.not_set')       < Not set! >
t('chargen.oops_missing')  < Oops! Missing %{missing} >

You are not limited to these, of course, but using the standard that people are familiar with will help players to understand your system.