Unprompted v9.0.0 - "The Big Syntax Update"

[ThereforeGames]

Hi folks,

As part of my ongoing effort to transform Unprompted into a full-featured programming language, I have finally addressed one of its biggest pain points: nested shortcode syntax! Writing logic-heavy templates is a whole lot simpler now.

Take, for example, a snippet of Unprompted code in the old syntax:

[if my_var=1]
	{if another_var=2}
		{{if third_var=3}}
			{{{sets fourth_var=4}}}
			{{{sets reaction="ew"}}}
		{{/if}}
	{/if}
[/if]

Keeping track of the number of squiggly brackets to use was a painful affair, and you better pray you didn't have to refactor large swathes of code.

Now, you just write your nested statements like you would in any normal language. Here's the new syntax:

[if my_var=1]
	[if another_var=2]
		[if third_var=3]
			[sets fourth_var=4]
			[sets reaction="wow so clean"]
		[/if]
	[/if]
[/if]

Of course, you could just combine all those [if] blocks into a single statement... but I'm trying to show off the nesting functionality!

This works with every block-scope shortcode that needed it, including [for] loops, [swich] blocks, and more.

The catch

The catch is, shortcodes that support the new nesting format will no longer parse {} like they used to. Old templates will have to be updated to the new format manually.

I have already updated the common/templates/functions files for you. If you want a closer look at the new syntax, please check common/templates/functions/bodysnatcher.txt - it covers a lot of ground.

Are secondary shortcode tags { } still needed?

There is one situation where you will still need to use secondary shortcode tags: use {} when you want to pass shortcodes directly into the arguments of other shortcodes. For example:

[file "{choose}some_file|another_file{/choose}"]

This is one limitation of the shortcode engine that does not bother me much. If anything, it might be easier to read this way as opposed to a shortcode with a bunch of square brackets nested into the arguments. The current implementation is at least visually distinct.

It is also worth noting that the new nesting syntax must be "applied" to the source file of every shortcode that should support it, like so:

def preprocess_block(self,pargs,kwargs,context): return True

I believe I already added this to all the relevant shortcodes, but if there are any I missed, they will default to the old {} syntax. Don't forget to use preprocess_block() if you're making your own shortcodes.

Other syntax changes

Unprompted v9.0.0 includes a few other changes to the language:

• The [choose] shortcode now pairs much better with [file]. Previously, you had to include your [choose][/choose] inside of a file itself. Now, you can do this: [choose][file somefile][/choose] and it will pick a random line from somefile. This makes it easier to import wildcard lists that were made for other extensions.
• Some shortcodes, such as [set] will now sanitize the content with the new Unprompted.Config.syntax.sanitize_block rule.
• You can now use advanced expressions with [sets], e.g. [sets my_var="1 + 1"] will set my_var to 2.

Please see the changelog for more details.

Thank you for your continued support, and have fun!

[Zhincore]

I have file that looks like this:

something |
something else

now the [choose][file somefile][/choose] creates something || something else, :/

[AvaCadava]

How to import a whole file now via [choose] instead of just a random single line ?!

I had a lot of (for example) :

[choose]
{file 001}
{file 002}
{file 003}
[/choose]

:( :( :(

[ThereforeGames]

Hi, I just saw your question.

The [choose] block can be configured to handle inner [file] statements however you please. Let me outline the different options for you below.

For all of these examples, file "example_one" contains this:

red
blue
yellow

And file "example_two" contains this:

orange
purple
green

---

Option 1. Treat linebreaks inside of [file] as individual options of the parent [choose] (it sounds like this is what you don't want, but a lot of people do)

[choose]
[file example_one]
[file example_two]
[/choose]

This produces a master list of red|blue|yellow|orange|purple|green and one will be returned at random.

---

Option 2. Use secondary tags to defer the processing of file content (this may not have worked at the time of your post, but it should work now)

[choose]
{file example_one}
{file example_two}
[/choose]

This produces a master list of {file example_one}|{file example_two} and the contents of the selected file will be returned.

---

Option 3. Use the _raw parg to block execution of all inner shortcodes except the one that is selected.

[choose _raw]
[file example_one]
[file example_two]
[/choose]

This produces a master list of [file example_one]|[file example_two] and the contents of the selected file will be returned.

I hope that helps.