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SharpMUSH

The Application Builder

The Application builder makes a portal application without any code: a form players fill in, a sheet that shows a character’s values, or a widget for other pages. It walks through four steps and keeps the result as JSON in an attribute, which a softcoder can still edit by hand afterwards.

The examples follow God building a Watch Duty form for the Harbour Watch, and Marrow filling it in.

Starting an app

Section titled “Starting an app”

Open Build & manage, Application builder (/build/apps). Every player except guests can use it, and saves what they build on an object they control. Pick a starting point:

  • Blank: one empty page.
  • Character sheet: a few details, traits as chips and scores as tiles.
  • Request form: a subject, a kind and details.
  • Profile editor: a form that shows a character’s profile values and saves their changes.

Watch Duty starts from Request form.

What it is

Section titled “What it is”

Give it a Name, shown as its title and in the menu. The address name follows it, so Watch Duty becomes /apps/watch-duty. Then say whether people read it or fill it in and send it, and whether it is a page of its own or a widget placed on other pages.

Laying it out

Section titled “Laying it out”

The Lay it out step: the outline with Page 1, a section and two fields, the Which watch field's label, key and choices, and a preview of the form

  1. The outline: pages, sections and the fields in them. Add to Section adds a field, and the ... beside one deletes or duplicates it.
  2. The chosen field’s label and key. The key names the value and follows the label until you change it.
  3. A pick-one field’s choices. Stored as is what is saved, and Shown as what the player sees.
  4. The preview, at page, widget or phone width.

For Watch Duty, the Subject field is deleted and the kind field becomes Which watch, with the key watch and three choices: dusk, midnight and dawn.

Values

Section titled “Values”

The Values step: the watch and details keys, each read from and saved to an APP`WATCH-DUTY attribute

  1. Read from is the attribute that fills the field in when the form opens.
  2. Save to is the attribute a sent form writes on the sender. Ticking Save to the same attribute uses the one it reads from.
  3. Fill empty ones names every empty attribute after the app and the key.

A form only writes attributes on the person who sends it, and only ones they could set themselves with &. A view or sheet reads the viewer’s own attributes, or those of the character being looked at when it is a widget, and shows only what the viewer could read with get().

Saving

Section titled “Saving”

The last step checks for problems and asks for the object to keep it on. Saving is refused on an object you do not control. Watch Duty goes on the Watch Office, #55, which God controls. The step lists the attributes it writes there, DATA`APP`WATCH-DUTY and three beside it, and then offers:

  • Save and show adds it to the portal at once, as a page in the Play menu or as a widget in the layout editor. This needs the applications.admin permission.
  • Only save it keeps it on the object, for staff to show later under Applications (/admin/applications).

Without applications.admin there is only a Save button, and the page says to ask staff to show it.

Filling it in

Section titled “Filling it in”

Marrow opens /apps/watch-duty, picks a watch and sends it:

The Watch Duty form as Marrow sees it: Which watch set to Midnight to dawn, Details reading Can cover the north quay, and a Submit button

The form saves the stored value, not the words shown:

> think get(me/APP`WATCH-DUTY`WATCH) / [get(me/APP`WATCH-DUTY`DETAILS)]
midnight / Can cover the north quay.

When Marrow opens the form again, it shows what was sent last time, because each field reads from the attribute it saves to. Staff softcode can read the same attributes to draw up the rota.

Changing it later

Section titled “Changing it later”

Your apps, on the builder’s first screen, lists apps kept on your own character and apps already shown in the portal. Open one to change it. For one kept elsewhere and not shown yet, such as Watch Duty on #55 after Only save it, give the object and address name under Open a saved one.

The game’s apps lists portal apps whose layout is kept beside their route on the HTTP handler, such as ones packages install. Changing one needs control of the handler, so it is usually staff work. When a package upgrade changes a layout you changed, the package manager asks which to keep.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”