[MUD-Dev] Alternate Character Sets (Telnet Question)

[Travis S. Casey]

On Sat, 9 Oct 1999, Chimera wrote:

> I hope this question hasn't been asked a zillion times before, but I
> couldn't find anything in the Mud-Dev list archive or on the net. I'd like
> to know how to use the extended character sets for terminals, specifically
> the line drawing character sets. One can get the escape codes for switching
> to the line drawing set, but how does one actually use the characters?

This is terminal-dependent; what you really need is to get a copy of the
manual(s) for the terminal(s) that you want to use.

> For instance, I would like to draw a grid for a map editing function. I'm
> hesitant to use the IBM ASCII codes because I'm not sure whether they will
> work with other terminals? Incidentally, is it bad practice to use line
> drawing codes?

I'd consider it so.  For one thing, it's very terminal-dependent.  Second,
a lot of terminal emulators are only partial implementations -- secondary
character sets tend to be one of the most common things that get dropped.

The IBM extended ASCII codes generally won't work with anything else but a
PC -- and they'll only work when you're "really" displaying to the PC --
they're not likely to work in a terminal emulator running on a PC.

If you want something reasonably portable, try using character codes from
a terminal that's often emulated -- e.g., the DEC VT terminals.  The
VT320's have an interesting feature -- you can define your own screen
fonts and use them!  See

http://vt100.net/vt320_soft_characters.html

for an example.  If you do this, I'd suggest finding several programs that
emulate the terminal you're using and testing them.  If you find some with
which it actually works, you may want to list those on your mud's web
pages.

The video terminal archive at:

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal/

is also a good place to look for info.

> Also, has anybody tried implementing enums in MudOS?

As in, enumerated types?  I haven't, but you should be able to simulate
them fairly easily, given MudOS's variety of data types.





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