wyvern.kernel.monsters
Class RandomMessages

java.lang.Object
  wyvern.kernel.monsters.RandomMessages

All Implemented Interfaces:

SelfExternalizable

public class RandomMessages

extends java.lang.Object

implements SelfExternalizable

A monster may choose to emit random messages, either during normal operation or during combat, by use of this class.

To use it, put one on the monster like so:

 
    Gragh!
    Brains!
 

 To do a different set of messages for non-combat moves, add
 another object to the property list under the name "random-msgs"
 instead of "combat-msgs". 


 If the first line in the bean body is "chance {num}", where num
 is a percentage chance that the monster will emit a message on
 that turn, the AI will use this percentage; otherwise it uses
 the default.

 At the moment there's no support for any fancier features, such
 as having the monster emote the message ("Ogre glares at you.")
 or having different probabilities for each message.  You can fake
 different probabilities to a limited extent by putting more common
 messages in the list more than once. 


 If you really need fancier messaging, you have a few options:

 

  
 You can subclass RandomMessages and have it read its
       own data format in from the XML file in readData().

  
 You can make a monster class that implements the
       wyvern.lib.properties.RandomTalker interface; the AI
       will look for this interface and call the monster
       directly to ask it for messages.
 




Version:
  
1.0, Oct 3, 2000
Author:
  
Steve Yegge










Field Summary




protected  int
chance_



           



static int
DEFAULT_CHANCE



          The chance a monster will emit a message during combat
 or when moving, depending on which property this object
 is stored under on the monster.



protected  java.util.List
messages_



           


 



Constructor Summary
RandomMessages()



          Constructs a new RandomMessages
 



Method Summary




 java.lang.String
chooseRandomMessage()



          Chooses a random message from the list.



 int
getChance()



          Returns the chance the monster will emit a message from this list.



 java.lang.String[]
getMessages()



          Returns the messages in this list.



 int
getSize()



          Returns the number of messages in this list.



 void
readData(org.w3c.dom.Node bean)



          Tells the object to parse its externalized representation from
 a list of lines.



 boolean
shouldWrite()



          Returns true if we should write the object at all.



 java.util.List
writeData()



          Tells the object to write its properties out to a text file.
 


 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 





Field Detail



DEFAULT_CHANCE
public static final int DEFAULT_CHANCE

The chance a monster will emit a message during combat
 or when moving, depending on which property this object
 is stored under on the monster.


See Also:
Constant Field Values




messages_
protected java.util.List messages_







chance_
protected int chance_








Constructor Detail



RandomMessages
public RandomMessages()

Constructs a new RandomMessages






Method Detail



readData
public void readData(org.w3c.dom.Node bean)
              throws java.lang.Exception

Tells the object to parse its externalized representation from
 a list of lines.


Specified by:
readData in interface SelfExternalizable


Parameters:
bean - the XML DOM representation of the externalized
 bean object.  Its child could be a text node, in which case
 the bean has to do all the parsing for the data.  It could
 also wrap a series of elements (e.g. archetypes), in which case
 the bean may wish to leverage the XML parsing utilities that
 the game provides in the ArchetypeManager and XMLWrapper. 

Throws:
java.lang.Exception





writeData
public java.util.List writeData()
                         throws java.lang.Exception

Tells the object to write its properties out to a text file.
 The object does not need to write the block braces; they
 are written to the stream by the system.


Specified by:
writeData in interface SelfExternalizable



Returns:
a String representation that can be written to the
 text file.
Throws:
java.lang.Exception





shouldWrite
public boolean shouldWrite()

Returns true if we should write the object at all.


Specified by:
shouldWrite in interface SelfExternalizable



Returns:
false if we're empty





chooseRandomMessage
public java.lang.String chooseRandomMessage()

Chooses a random message from the list.






Returns:
a message to emit, or null if we didn't roll high enough





getSize
public int getSize()

Returns the number of messages in this list.











getChance
public int getChance()

Returns the chance the monster will emit a message from this list.











getMessages
public java.lang.String[] getMessages()

Returns the messages in this list.