NWE Help: MOO: Digging: Editing

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Quite frankly, editing MOO objects can be a pain. However, if you're using the tkMOO-lite editor from the NWE labs or from home, you can have an easier time of it. See below.

In many cases, it's easier to redo something rather than edit it. For example, if you want to change your description, you can type @edit me.description, but it's probably easier to just type @describe me as "I am a walrus." (or whatever you'd like your new description to be).

If you're working from home, keep in mind that you CAN cut and paste from the MOO to other applications. So feel free to copy stuff from the MOO into a word processor, edit it, and paste it back into a MOO window when you're done.

You can use the @edit command. However, it's very arcane, and you won't like it unless you're willing to put up with something like edlin or vi (if you don't know what those are, don't touch @edit).

With tkMOO-light

Using the tkMOOlight MOO client from Rolfs Hall (or your home computer, if you've installed it there), log in to MOOville and type @editoptions +local. This enables the tkMOO external editor.

Now try editing something -- for example, your description (@edit me.description). The MOO will tell tkMOO to display its editor instad of the MOO's ugly @edit. You will see a window that looks like this:

tkMOO-lite editing window

The first line of this text is the MOO command the editor will run when you are done. The last is a period, which tells the MOO to stop the command. Don't change either of these lines! However, you can change the text in the middle. You can also do find and replace (under the "View" menu). And unlike in the MOO, you can use the mouse.

When you're done editing the text, just choose "Send and close" from the "File" menu of the editor. This will save the text you've edited to the MOO. You'll see the MOO display something like "Property changed" or "Verb programmed" after the editor is done.

If you're doing a very long editing session, don't choose "Send and close" -- just choose "Send" -- that saves your work to the MOO but doesn't close the window.