Hi DM,

In the strings from text.dat, I know you can use @EXEC:..@ to have it run a JS or Baja module, but is there a way to have it directly execute a block of JS code instead of executing a file? In my most recent update to DDMsgReader, it replaces the AreYouThere string with an empty string so that the contents of the screen aren't affected, but I was also thinking of having it execute some JS code so that I'd have some more control on where the string is displayed, etc. I could have it execute a separate .js with @EXEC@, but I'm not sure I'd want to add a separate .js just for that. I'm wondering if there's a way to have it directly execute a block of JS code when used with bbs.replace_text()?

Nightfox

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Re: Replacing a text string to execute JS code directly
By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Wed Jan 29 2025 12:39 pm

Hi DM,

In the strings from text.dat, I know you can use @exec:..@ to have it run a JS or Baja module, but is there a way to have it directly execute a block of JS code instead of executing a file? In my most recent update to DDMsgReader, it replaces the AreYouThere string with an empty string so that the contents of the screen aren't affected, but I was also thinking of having it execute some JS code so that I'd have some more control on where the string is displayed, etc. I could have it execute a separate .js with @EXEC@, but I'm not sure I'd want to add a separate .js just for that. I'm wondering if there's a way to have it directly execute a block of JS code when used with bbs.replace_text()?

Not exactly as @-codes are pretty restrictive as to the contents (e.g. no space characters), so it'be pretty hard to put a code block within an @-code. One possibility is to define a JS property with a getter function and then you can invoke that getter function with the JS:propname @-code: https://wiki.synchro.net/custom:atcodes#external_content
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #45:
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Re: Replacing a text string to execute JS code directly
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Wed Jan 29 2025 01:15 pm

Re: Replacing a text string to execute JS code directly
By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Wed Jan 29 2025 12:39 pm

Hi DM,

In the strings from text.dat, I know you can use @exec:..@ to have it run a JS or Baja module, but is there a way to have it directly execute a block of JS code instead of executing a file? In my most recent update to DDMsgReader, it replaces the AreYouThere string with an empty string so that the contents of the screen aren't affected, but I was also thinking of having it execute some JS code so that I'd have some more control on where the string is displayed, etc. I could have it execute a separate .js with @EXEC@, but I'm not sure I'd want to add a separate .js just for that. I'm wondering if there's a way to have it directly execute a block of JS code when used with bbs.replace_text()?

Not exactly as @-codes are pretty restrictive as to the contents (e.g. no space characters), so it'be pretty hard to put a code block within an @-code. One possibility is to define a JS property with a getter function and then you can invoke that getter function with the JS:propname @-code: https://wiki.synchro.net/custom:atcodes#external_content

Here's an example:

Object.defineProperty(js.global, "prop", {
get : function () {
return "hello, world";
}
});

bbs.replace_text("Pause", "@JS:" + "prop@"); // @-code split for posting console.pause(); // will invoke the global 'prop' getter function

In this example, the "prop" getter function could do more stuff and just return an empty string if that's what's desired.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #37:
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Re: Replacing a text string to execute JS code directly
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Wed Jan 29 2025 02:43 pm

Not exactly as @-codes are pretty restrictive as to the contents (e.g. no
space characters), so it'be pretty hard to put a code block within an
@-code. One possibility is to define a JS property with a getter function
and then you can invoke that getter function with the JS:propname @-code:
https://wiki.synchro.net/custom:atcodes#external_content

Here's an example:

Object.defineProperty(js.global, "prop", {
get : function () {
return "hello, world";
}
});

bbs.replace_text("Pause", "@JS:" + "prop@"); // @-code split for posting console.pause(); // will invoke the global 'prop' getter function

In this example, the "prop" getter function could do more stuff and just return an empty string if that's what's desired. --

That's working. Thanks for the response and the example.

Nightfox

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Re: Replacing a text string to execute JS code directly
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Wed Jan 29 2025 02:43 pm

Object.defineProperty(js.global, "prop", {
get : function () {
return "hello, world";
}
});

bbs.replace_text("Pause", "@JS:" + "prop@"); // @-code split for posting

I'm following this pattern to replace AreYouThere, and it seems like after the get function executes and returns, it seems like something wonky is going on with screen refreshing. With DDMsgReader, it seems there is a bit of scrolling on the screen and/or something wonky is going on with cursor movement via cursor.gotoxy(). Within the get function though, I've used cursor.gotoxy() and output a message, that worked as expected.

I tried updating my get function to just return ""; and did a test with DDMsgReader. Before the the timeout warning, I had the user account looking at the message reading screen in DDMsgReader:

http://www.digitaldistortionbbs.com:81/synchronet_stuff/reading1.png

I waited for the configured amount of time, and after the get() was called for AreYouThere (returning ""), I pressed the down arrow, which should scroll the message down one line, and the screen was then as follows:

http://www.digitaldistortionbbs.com:81/synchronet_stuff/reading_AfterAYT_AD.png

If the getter is returning an empty string, I'm not sure what's causing the display to become messy. This does not happen if I replace AreYouThere with a simple empty string as follows:

bbs.replace_text(AreYouThere, "");

Nightfox

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Re: Replacing a text string to execute JS code directly
By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Fri Feb 07 2025 04:52 pm

Re: Replacing a text string to execute JS code directly
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Wed Jan 29 2025 02:43 pm

Object.defineProperty(js.global, "prop", {
get : function () {
return "hello, world";
}
});

bbs.replace_text("Pause", "@JS:" + "prop@"); // @-code split for posting

I'm following this pattern to replace AreYouThere, and it seems like after the get function executes and returns, it seems like something wonky is going on with screen refreshing. With DDMsgReader, it seems there is a bit of scrolling on the screen and/or something wonky is going on with cursor movement via cursor.gotoxy(). Within the get function though, I've used cursor.gotoxy() and output a message, that worked as expected.

I tried updating my get function to just return ""; and did a test with DDMsgReader. Before the the timeout warning, I had the user account looking at the message reading screen in DDMsgReader:

http://www.digitaldistortionbbs.com:81/synchronet_stuff/reading1.png

I waited for the configured amount of time, and after the get() was called for AreYouThere (returning ""), I pressed the down arrow, which should scroll the message down one line, and the screen was then as follows:

http://www.digitaldistortionbbs.com:81/synchronet_stuff/reading_AfterAYT_AD. png

If the getter is returning an empty string, I'm not sure what's causing the display to become messy. This does not happen if I replace AreYouThere with a simple empty string as follows:

bbs.replace_text(AreYouThere, "");

Probably because of this logic in the getkey():

if ((sys_status & SS_USERON) && *text[AreYouThere] != '\0') {
attr(LIGHTGRAY);
carriage_return();
cleartoeol();
restoreline();
}

So you'll probably want to bbs.replaceText(AreYouThere, "") in the getter, so you don't have this carriage-return, CLR-TO-EOL and restore line stuff going on.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #43:
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Re: Replacing a text string to execute JS code directly
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Fri Feb 07 2025 09:26 pm

If the getter is returning an empty string, I'm not sure what's causing
the display to become messy. This does not happen if I replace
AreYouThere with a simple empty string as follows:

bbs.replace_text(AreYouThere, "");

Probably because of this logic in the getkey():

if ((sys_status & SS_USERON) && *text[AreYouThere] != '\0') {
attr(LIGHTGRAY);
carriage_return();
cleartoeol();
restoreline();
}

So you'll probably want to bbs.replaceText(AreYouThere, "") in the getter, so you don't have this carriage-return, CLR-TO-EOL and restore line stuff going on.

That works. Thanks!

Nightfox

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