Sub and Function Files for Perl?

[KLS]

Yeah plugins basically work like this. It's plugin not pluggin though.

[trevius]

Oops, typo. I fixed it, thanks.

So, I am guessing that plugins get loaded into memory when the server starts? That would probably explain why they only update when the server is restarted. Any possibility of a way to make them update without a restart? If not, no biggie, but it would be helpful for testing purposes. I plan to add a decent number of plugins now that I know how to use them somewhat.

I will still need to figure out how the "shift" works for using the arguments, but it doesn't seem too hard. I also need to to play around with it and see how well it works for returning data. I have read that for certain perl features similar to this to work, the result of the file must always be true. That is why the files all end with "1;" as the last line. I am not sure that this is required for our plugin system yet, but some testing can probably determine that.

[Derision]

require does work.

If I put this in /tmp/myfunc.pl

sub MyFunc {
        quest::say("This is MyFunc().");
}

return 1;

And this in Guard_Bixby.pl

require ("/tmp/myfunc.pl");

sub EVENT_SAY {
        quest::say("Before call to MyFunc().");
        MyFunc();
        quest::say("After call to MyFunc().");
}

It works fine. Apparently you need the 'return 1' at the end of the required .pl file to tell Perl any initialisation code in that file executed OK, otherwise it returns this error:

/tmp/myfunc.pl did not return a true value at Guard_Bixby.pl line 1.

[trevius]

Ahh sweet! Thanks Derision!

I kept messing with it, and did try returning a 1 result a couple of times, but I don't think I hit the right combo of how to get it to work. It may just have been that I didn't put a full path in the require and assumed that it would look for the file in the same directory as the NPC script was running from. That was on my list of things to try still, but hadn't gotten that far yet and not at home to test it out.

At the very least, using require should be a perfect way to test out plugins without having to reload the server to do so. Then, you just test them out with require and adjust the needed stuff afterward to use it as a plugin instead for the next restart.

[trevius]

Yup, I tested the require as Derision posted it, and it works perfectly as far as I can tell. Here is an example one that I made and tested tonight:

/home/eqemu/server/quests/functions/script_functions.pl
(note I added a new folder named "functions" to my quests directory)

# Script file to hold various subroutines and functions for multiple scripts to use

sub NPCWhisper {
	my $TextColor = 315;	#Set the Text Color for the Message (this one is beige)
	my $MyMessage = $_[0];	#Use the Message Supplied to the Function - "$_[0]" means to use the first argument given
	
	if ($client) {
		$client->Message($TextColor, "-");	#Spacer between Text messages to make them easier to read
		my $NPCName = $npc->GetCleanName();	#Get the clean name of the NPC sending the message
		$client->Message($TextColor, "$NPCName whispers, '$MyMessage'");	#Send a message to the player simulating a whisper directly to them from the NPC
	}
}

return 1;	#always leave this line at the end of the script_function.pl file as it is needed by require()

And here is an example NPC script that makes use of that function:

TestNPC.pl:

require '/home/eqemu/server/quests/functions/script_functions.pl';

sub EVENT_SAY { 
	if ($text=~/Hail/i)
	{
		NPCWhisper("Hello, $name.  How do you like my whisper?);
	}
}

The cool part about this function is that you can open almost any script and do a find/replace and replace the words "quest::say" with "NPCWhipster" and it should automatically convert all say messages into whispers that no one else can hear.

[KLS]

Plugins should be reloading when you do a #reloadqst.

[joligario]

Originally Posted by KLS

Plugins should be reloading when you do a #reloadqst.

FYI: Yes, plugins reload fine from what I tested.