ifmapper 1.0.0 → 1.0.6

data/IFMapper.gemspec

@@ -1,28 +1,29 @@
-require "rubygems"
-
-spec = Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
-	spec.name = "ifmapper"
-	spec.version = '1.0.0'
-	spec.author = "Gonzalo Garramuno" 
-	spec.email = 'GGarramuno@aol.com, ggarra@advancedsl.com.ar'
-	spec.homepage = 'http://www.rubyforge.org/projects/ifmapper/'
-	spec.summary = 'Interactive Fiction Mapping Tool.'
-	spec.require_path = "lib"
-	spec.files = ['IFMapper.rbw'] + ['bin/IFMapper'] + 
-		     ['IFMapper.gemspec'] +
-                     Dir.glob("lib/IFMapper/*.rb") + 
-                     Dir.glob("lib/IFMapper/locales/*/*.rb") + 
-                     Dir.glob("lib/IFMapper/locales/*/*.sh") + 
-		     Dir.glob("maps/*.ifm") + Dir.glob("maps/*.map") + 
-		     Dir.glob("icons/*")
-	spec.description = <<-EOF
-	Interactive Fiction Mapping Tool.
-EOF
-	spec.add_dependency("fxruby", ">= 1.6.0")
-	spec.add_dependency("pdf-writer", ">= 1.1.1")
-	spec.extra_rdoc_files = ["HISTORY.txt", "TODO.txt"] + 
-				Dir.glob("docs/*/*")
-	spec.has_rdoc = true
-	spec.rubyforge_project = 'ifmapper'
-	spec.required_ruby_version = '>= 1.8.0'
-end
+require "rubygems"
+
+spec = Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
+	spec.name = "ifmapper"
+	spec.version = '1.0.6'
+	spec.author = "Gonzalxo Garramuno" 
+	spec.email = 'ggarra13@gmail.com'
+	spec.homepage = 'http://www.rubyforge.org/projects/ifmapper/'
+	spec.summary = 'Interactive Fiction Mapping Tool.'
+	spec.require_path = "lib"
+	spec.files = ['IFMapper.rbw'] + ['bin/IFMapper'] + 
+		     ['IFMapper.gemspec'] +
+                     Dir.glob("lib/IFMapper/*.rb") + 
+                     Dir.glob("lib/IFMapper/locales/*/*.rb") + 
+                     Dir.glob("lib/IFMapper/locales/*/*.sh") + 
+		     Dir.glob("maps/*.ifm") + Dir.glob("maps/*.map") + 
+		     Dir.glob("icons/*")
+	spec.description = <<-EOF
+	Interactive Fiction Mapping Tool.
+EOF
+	spec.add_dependency("rake-compiler", ">= 0.7.1" )
+	spec.add_dependency("fxruby", ">= 1.6.0")
+	spec.add_dependency("pdf-writer", ">= 1.1.1")
+	spec.extra_rdoc_files = ["HISTORY.txt", "TODO.txt"] + 
+				Dir.glob("docs/*/*")
+	spec.has_rdoc = true
+	spec.rubyforge_project = 'ifmapper'
+	spec.required_ruby_version = '>= 1.8.0'
+end

data/IFMapper.rbw

@@ -1,31 +1,31 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env ruby
-
-
-# cd to install path, so modules are found locally
-install_loc = $0.sub(/\/?[^\/]*$/, '')
-install_loc = '.' if install_loc == ''
-Dir.chdir(install_loc)
-$LOAD_PATH << './lib'
-require 'IFMapper/FXMapperWindow'
-
-if __FILE__ == $0
-  # Make application
-  application = FXApp.new("IFMapper", "gga")
-
-  # Make window
-  m = FXMapperWindow.new(application)
-
-  # Create the application windows
-  application.create
-
-  # Run the application
-  begin
-    application.run
-  rescue => e
-    m.autosave
-    $stderr.puts e
-    $stderr.flush
-    raise e
-  end
-end
-
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+
+
+# cd to install path, so modules are found locally
+install_loc = $0.sub(/\/?[^\/]*$/, '')
+install_loc = '.' if install_loc == ''
+Dir.chdir(install_loc)
+$LOAD_PATH << './lib'
+require 'IFMapper/FXMapperWindow'
+
+if __FILE__ == $0
+  # Make application
+  application = FXApp.new("IFMapper", "gga")
+
+  # Make window
+  m = FXMapperWindow.new(application)
+
+  # Create the application windows
+  application.create
+
+  # Run the application
+  begin
+    application.run
+  rescue => e
+    m.autosave
+    $stderr.puts e
+    $stderr.flush
+    raise e
+  end
+end
+

data/TODO.txt

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-
-- Make internationalization recognize the OS language directly.
-- Add SVG output
-- Do Printing
-- Cleanup code 
-- Improve window scrolling (seems like an FXRuby bug)
-- Add Undo (at least for delete)
+
+- Make internationalization recognize the OS language directly.
+- Add SVG output
+- Do Printing
+- Cleanup code 
+- Improve window scrolling (seems like an FXRuby bug)
+- Add Undo (at least for delete)
+- Add configurable hotkeys and mouse

data/bin/IFMapper

@@ -1,31 +1,31 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env ruby
-
-
-# cd to install path, so modules are found locally
-install_loc = $0.sub(/\/?[^\/]*$/, '')
-install_loc = '.' if install_loc == ''
-Dir.chdir(install_loc)
-$LOAD_PATH << './lib'
-require 'IFMapper/FXMapperWindow'
-
-if __FILE__ == $0
-  # Make application
-  application = FXApp.new("IFMapper", "gga")
-
-  # Make window
-  m = FXMapperWindow.new(application)
-
-  # Create the application windows
-  application.create
-
-  # Run the application
-  begin
-    application.run
-  rescue => e
-    m.autosave
-    $stderr.puts e
-    $stderr.flush
-    raise e
-  end
-end
-
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+
+
+# cd to install path, so modules are found locally
+install_loc = $0.sub(/\/?[^\/]*$/, '')
+install_loc = install_loc + '/../'
+Dir.chdir(install_loc)
+$LOAD_PATH << './lib'
+require 'IFMapper/FXMapperWindow'
+
+if __FILE__ == $0
+  # Make application
+  application = FXApp.new("IFMapper", "gga")
+
+  # Make window
+  m = FXMapperWindow.new(application)
+
+  # Create the application windows
+  application.create
+
+  # Run the application
+  begin
+    application.run
+  rescue => e
+    m.autosave
+    $stderr.puts e
+    $stderr.flush
+    raise e
+  end
+end
+

data/docs/en/start.html

@@ -355,6 +355,7 @@ community.&nbsp; IFMapper can read:<br>
 - .ifm files (Dave Chapeski's IFM, a popular free Unix mapping/walkthru tool)<br>
 - .gmp file (GUEmap's maps, a commercial mapping tool for Windows)<br>
 - .inf files (Inform6 source code files)<br>
+- .inform files (Inform7 source code files)<br>
 - .t3m or .t files ( TADS3 makefiles or source code files )</p>
 <p><br>
 <b><font size="4"><a name="Locking Maps">Locking Maps</a></font></b><br>
@@ -506,8 +507,8 @@ the game's puzzles are anything but easy. <br>
 </font><b><font size="4"><a name="Contacting the Author">Contacting the Author</a></font><br>
 </b><br>
 Currently, I can be reached at:</p>
-<p>ggarra AT domain</p>
-<p>(Where &quot;domain&quot; is advancedsl.com.ar )<br>
+<p>ggarra13 AT domain</p>
+<p>(Where &quot;domain&quot; is gmail.com )<br>
 <br>
 &nbsp;</p>
 

data/docs/en/start.html~

@@ -0,0 +1,516 @@
+<html>
+
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="es">
+<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0">
+<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
+<title>Interactive Fiction Mapper</title>
+</head>
+
+<body>
+
+<p align="center"><b><font color="#000080"><u><font size="5">Interactive</font><font size="5"> 
+Fiction Mapper (IFMapper)<br>
+</font></u><font size="5">by Gonzalo Garramu�o</font></font></b></p>
+<p align="center"><b><u><font size="4" color="#000080">User's</font><font size="4" color="#000080"> 
+Manual</font></u></b></p>
+<ol>
+  <li><a href="#Introduction">Introduction </a>
+  <ul>
+    <li><a href="#What are Interactive Fiction Games">What are Interactive 
+    Fiction Games?</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#What is IFMapper">What is IFMapper?</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Features of IFMapper">Features of IFMapper</a><br>
+&nbsp;</li>
+  </ul>
+  </li>
+  <li><a href="#Installation">Installation</a><ul>
+    <li><a href="#What youll need">What you'll need</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Where to get the stuff">Where to get the stuff</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Installing from a zip file">Installing from a zip file</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Installing or Upgrading using rubygems">Installing or 
+    Upgrading using rubygems</a><br>
+&nbsp;</li>
+  </ul>
+  </li>
+  <li><a href="#Starting IFMapper">Starting IFMapper</a><br>
+&nbsp;</li>
+  <li><a href="#Using IFMapper">Using IFMapper</a><ul>
+    <li><a href="#The Interface">The Interface</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Navigation">Navigation</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Creating Locations">Creating Locations</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Creating Connections">Creating Connections</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Deleting Rooms or Connections">Deleting Rooms and Connections</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Complex Connections">Creating Complex Connections</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Moving Rooms in Map">Moving Rooms Around</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Dealing with Multiple Sections">Dealing with Multiple Sections</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Searching">Searching </a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Preferences">Preferences </a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Saving and Loading Maps">Saving and Loading Maps</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Saving and Loading Maps">Locking Maps</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Mapping Games from Transcripts (Automapping)">Automatically 
+    Creating Maps from Transcripts (Automapping)</a><ul>
+      <li><a href="#How does the automapper distinguish locations">How does 
+      Automapping work</a></li>
+      <li><a href="#Limitations on Automapping">Limitations on Automapping</a><br>
+&nbsp;</li>
+    </ul>
+    </li>
+  </ul>
+  </li>
+  <li><a href="#Creating a new Inform/TADS3 game">Creating a new game for TADS3 
+  or Inform</a><br>
+&nbsp;</li>
+  <li><a href="#Appendix">Appendix</a><ul>
+    <li>
+    <a href="#I am new to Interactive Fiction. What games would you recommend">I 
+    am new to Interactive Fiction.&nbsp; What games would you recommend?</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#Contacting the Author">Contacting the Author</a></li>
+  </ul>
+  </li>
+</ol>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><font size="5" color="#000080"><a name="Introduction">Introduction</a></font></b></p>
+<p><b><a name="What are Interactive Fiction Games"></a>What are Interactive 
+Fiction Games?</b></p>
+<p>These are adventure games, which usually contain little or no graphics but 
+use prose to describe locations, events and, hopefully, a good story.&nbsp; The 
+first interactive fiction game was created in the late 1970s and was known as 
+Adventure (or. Colossal Cave), albeit the genre became widely popular and 
+developed most of its conventions with the creation of Infocom in the 1980s.<br>
+If you have never played an interactive fiction game, perhaps the best 
+comparison is that they are a grown-up version of &quot;Dungeons and Dragons&quot; or the 
+&quot;Choose Your Own Adventure&quot; series of children's books.&nbsp; <br>
+Still, just like any good novel, interactive fiction has evolved into all sorts 
+of different styles, genres, and level of interactivity.&nbsp; And you can find 
+adventures being developed today in a lot of languages like English, Spanish, 
+Italian, German, etc.&nbsp; See the section:&nbsp; &quot;I am new to Interactive 
+Fiction.&nbsp; What games would you recommend?&quot;</p>
+<p><b><a name="What is IFMapper"></a>What is IFMapper?</b><br>
+<br>
+IFMapper is a tool for easily mapping these interactive fiction games.&nbsp; As 
+these games rely mainly on text descriptions and often use compass directions 
+for navigation around the game world, it is relatively easy to get lost.&nbsp; 
+In the old days, players would use grid paper to draw their maps, using boxes 
+and lines to show each location and its exits.&nbsp; IFMapper is basically, the 
+21st century version of that old practice.<br>
+Albeit IFMapper is mainly a mapping tool, it can also be used as a design tool 
+in the early stages of development of new games (for either Inform6 or TADS3).</p>
+<p><b><a name="Features of IFMapper">Features of IFMapper</a></b></p>
+<ul>
+  <li>Multiplatform</li>
+  <li>Very simple click interface</li>
+  <li>Complex paths supported (paths that loop on themselves or connect two 
+  remote nodes)</li>
+  <li>Automatic connection of rooms thru complex paths using an A* algorithm</li>
+  <li>Mousewheel support for zooming in/out</li>
+  <li>Middle mouse scrolling</li>
+  <li>Rooms can have objects and tasks listed</li>
+  <li>Automatic numbering of rooms</li>
+  <li>Multiple map editing</li>
+  <li>Ability to easily move rooms in map with arrow keys</li>
+  <li>Written in a simple and great scripting language (Ruby)</li>
+  <li>Acrobat PDF output</li>
+  <li>Can read and save IFM files</li>
+  <li>Can read and save Inform/TADS3 source code files</li>
+  <li>Locking of maps</li>
+  <li>Search for keywords in room names, objects or tasks</li>
+  <li>Can automap games from Infocom-like transcripts, even while you play them</li>
+  <li>Free<br>
+&nbsp;</li>
+</ul>
+<p><b><font size="5" color="#000080"><a name="Installation">Installation</a></font></b></p>
+<p><b><a name="What youll need">What you'll need</a></b></p>
+<p>In order to use IFMapper, you need to have the Ruby scripting language 
+installed and FXRuby.&nbsp; IFMapper was originally developed to run under 
+ruby1.8 and FXRuby1.2, but it will probably be compatible with later versions, 
+too.<br>
+To print PDF documents, you will also need Austin Ziegler's PDF::Writer module.</p>
+<p><b><a name="Where to get the stuff">Where to get the stuff</a></b></p>
+<p>If your platform is Windows, your best bet is to download the One-Click Ruby 
+Installer from:<br>
+<a href="http://rubyforge.org/projects/rubyinstaller/">
+http://rubyforge.org/projects/rubyinstaller/</a></p>
+<p>This installer comes with the latest stable ruby version and also with the 
+latest fxruby.&nbsp; It also comes with rubygems (see rubygems later).</p>
+<p>If your platform is Linux or OSX, you may need to compile ruby from source 
+(note that OSX currently comes with ruby pre-installed, but a pretty old version), 
+albeit you might want to surf the web or do a search for some binaries first, so 
+you save yourself the hassle.&nbsp; For details on compiling ruby, see:</p>
+<p><a href="http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyOnMacintosh">
+http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyOnMacintosh</a><br>
+<a href="http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyOnLinux">
+http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyOnLinux</a></p>
+<p>After you have ruby up and running, you should then proceed to install fxruby.&nbsp; 
+You can do this by first installing rubygems (what I'd recomment) or by not 
+using it.&nbsp; If you want to use rubygems, proceed to the &quot;Using Rubygems&quot; 
+section.</p>
+<p>FXRuby can be found at:<br>
+<a href="http://www.fxruby.org">http://www.fxruby.org</a></p>
+<p>After you have fxruby installed, you should then be able to install ifmapper.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><a name="Installing from a zip file">Installing from a zip file</a></b></p>
+<p>After you have ruby and fxruby properly installed, download the ifmapper zip 
+file from:</p>
+<p><a href="http://rubyforge.org/projects/ifmapper">
+http://rubyforge.org/projects/ifmapper</a></p>
+<p>Use unzip, winzip or some other zip decompression tool to open the archive.&nbsp; 
+All files will be placed inside an IFmapper directory.&nbsp;&nbsp; You should be 
+ready to start IFMapper.</p>
+<p>If you want to output PDF files from IFMapper, you will also need to install 
+the PDF::Writer library.&nbsp; You can do so using rubygems or by downloading 
+the PDF::Writer library from:</p>
+<p><a href="http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-pdf/">
+http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-pdf/</a></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><a name="Installing or Upgrading using rubygems">Installing or Upgrading 
+using rubygems</a></b></p>
+<p>Rubygems is a manager of ruby libraries that should help with automatically 
+installing any library dependencies that ifmapper may need.&nbsp; Rubygems comes 
+pre-installed with the One-Click Installer for Windows.&nbsp; For other 
+platforms, you can obtain it from:</p>
+<p><a href="http://rubyforge.org/projects/rubygems/">
+http://rubyforge.org/projects/rubygems/</a></p>
+<p>Once rubygems is installed, you can then open a windows console or a shell 
+window and do:</p>
+<p><font face="Courier New">&gt; gem install -r ifmapper</font></p>
+<p>This will download the latest version of ifmapper, as well as all the 
+libraries needed for ifmapper to run (in case they are not installed on your 
+system).&nbsp; If you don't have fxruby installed, it will get installed for you.&nbsp; 
+On Unix systems, you will probably still need to compile it yourself.</p>
+<p>IFmapper (and other libraries) will then be placed inside your ruby install 
+directory, like:<br>
+<font face="Courier New">C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ifmapper-{VERSION}</font></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><font size="5" color="#000080"><a name="Starting IFMapper">Starting 
+IFMapper</a></font></b></p>
+<p>Once installed, you can then run IFMapper by either clicking on the 
+IFMapper.rbw file inside the ifmapper directory or, invoking IFMapper.rbw from 
+any shell or console.</p>
+<p>Assuming everything is installed properly, you should then see the IFMapper 
+window popup with an empty map.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><font size="5" color="#000080"><a name="Using IFMapper">Using IFMapper</a></font></b></p>
+<p><font size="4"><a name="The Interface">The Interface</a></font></p>
+<p><img border="0" src="../images/IFMapper_main.gif" width="800" height="600"></p>
+<p>The IFMapper interface consists of a menu that allows you to access common 
+operations (open/save maps, change settings, etc), a toolbar with a similar 
+functionality, and one or more windows displaying a map canvas.</p>
+<p>IFMapper allows you to edit multiple maps simultaneously.<br>
+Each map can have multiple &quot;sections&quot;, so as to keep different parts of the 
+games organized. Note that these sections have nothing to do with how printing 
+is done and two or more sections could end up being printed <br>
+together in a page or a single section may end up getting split into a multiple 
+page document once printed.</p>
+<p>When you start IFMapper for the first time, you should be placed in an empty 
+map that shows a grid of where rooms and straight connections can be placed.<br>
+&nbsp;</p>
+<p><font size="4"><b><a name="Navigation">Navigation</a></b></font></p>
+<p>Use your mouse for navigation. If your mouse supports a mousewheel, this can 
+be used for zooming in or out of the map easily.<br>
+To pan around the map, use the <b>Middle Mouse Button</b> or, alternatively, <b>
+ALT + Left Mouse Button</b> (These hotkeys mimic the behavior of Maya and 3dmax, 
+both popular 3d packages).&nbsp; You can also scroll the map using the 
+scrollbars around the canvas.<b><font size="4"><br>
+&nbsp;</font></b></p>
+<p><b><font size="4"><br>
+<a name="Creating Locations">Creating Locations</a><br>
+</font></b>
+<img border="0" src="../images/room_small.gif" align="right" width="342" height="377"><b><font size="4"><br>
+</font></b>You create new Locations or Rooms in the map by just clicking on any 
+of those template boxes. The new location will then be given a default name and 
+settings ('New Location').<br>
+Each room added will automatically receive a number, based on creation order.<br>
+To modify the name and settings of a location, you can then double click on it 
+and a requester will pop up allowing you to do so.<br>
+If you want the requester to pop up as soon as a new room is created, you can 
+turn on <b>Map-&gt;Options-&gt;Edit on Creation.</b><br>
+This requester also has options to allow you to mark the room as in darkness and 
+to add a list of objects present in the room.<br>
+As you play the game, you can also choose to list the tasks that you need to do 
+in the room to progress further (providing you some with a rudimentary walkthru/hint 
+functionality).<br>
+This requester can be left open so as to quickly change from room to room.</p>
+<p>Besides using the mouse, you can also use the numeric keypad with Num Lock on 
+and use the numbers from <b>1 to 9</b> to create a new room in the appropiate 
+direction.<br>
+&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><font size="4"><br>
+<a name="Creating Connections">Creating Connections</a></font></b></p>
+<p>You can then create connections among rooms by clicking on the non-boxed 
+areas of the map. Depending on where exactly you click, a simple connection will 
+be made between two rooms.<br>
+<br>
+In its default configuration, you can also click to create a connection on an 
+area where no rooms yet exist. IFMapper will then create the missing rooms 
+automatically for you, in addition to the connection.<br>
+<br>
+Note that you can change the behavior of how nodes and connections are created 
+from the <b>Map-&gt;Options</b> menu:<br>
+<b>Automatic Connection - </b>will create a connection to the previous room for 
+each new room you create.<b><br>
+Create on Connection - </b>will allow you to add both the connection and the 
+missing rooms when you click on some connection area in the map.<br>
+<img border="0" src="../images/connection.gif" align="right" width="332" height="118"><br>
+Connections can also be modified similarly to rooms, by clicking twice on them. 
+The connection requester allows you to specify the connection as a free, door, 
+locked or special connection.&nbsp; It also allows you to make the connection 
+travel in a single direction or in both directions.&nbsp; Finally, you can also 
+add text to the connections to indicate that connection takes you Up/Down or In/Out.</p>
+<p>Changing the connection to<img border="5" src="../images/connection_menu.gif" align="right" width="342" height="241"> 
+be one way can also be done by just <br>
+clicking on them several times, without opening the requester.<br>
+<br>
+Finally, selecting a connection and using the right mouse button gives&nbsp; you 
+access to a context-sensitive menu that allows you to flip the direction of a 
+connection or to shift the connection to some other exit in the room.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><font size="4"><br>
+<a name="Deleting Rooms or Connections">Deleting Rooms or Connections</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+To remove a room or connection, just select it by clicking on it with<br>
+the left mouse button. Then, press the Delete or Backspace key.<br>
+Note that there is currently no Undo, so deleted nodes or connections<br>
+cannot be restored.<br>
+<br>
+<font size="4"><br>
+<b><a name="Complex Connections">Complex Connections<img border="5" src="../images/complex_connection.gif" align="right" width="338" height="308"></a></b></font><br>
+<br>
+A lot of text adventures have mazes with exits that lead nowhere and exits that 
+change direction from one room to the next. We refer to these as complex 
+connections.<br>
+To create a complex connection, type the letter <b>'x'</b> or use the <b>Edit-&gt;Add 
+Complex Connection </b>menu option. Afterwards, click on the exit next to the 
+first room you want to connect and then click on<br>
+the exit of the second room.<br>
+If you want to get out of the add complex connection mode, just hit Esc at any 
+time.<br>
+IFMapper will then try to calculate a path along the map to take you from your 
+first room to the second one. <br>
+For a complex connection to happen, the path between those nodes has to be 
+'free' of other rooms. IFMapper will also try to avoid inter-crossing 
+connections as much as it can, but will still allow them.<br>
+To create exits that just loop onto themselves, you can do a complex connection 
+by clicking twice on the same exit or, you can just use<b> CTRL + Left Mouse 
+Button </b>without needing to go into the Complex Connection mode.<br>
+<br>
+<b><font size="4"><br>
+<a name="Moving Rooms in Map">Moving Rooms in Map</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+When building large maps on complex games, you will probably run into the need 
+to shift nodes around. To do so, select on the nodes you want to move by <b>CTRL-LMB
+</b>on them, and then use the arrow keys to shift the nodes one grid unit at a 
+time.<br>
+You can also use <b>SHIFT-LMB</b> to drag a box around the rooms to select. <br>
+If there are any simple or complex connections, IFMapper will keep recalculating 
+those connections on the fly as you move the nodes.<br>
+Note that complex connections can sometimes 'fail'. In those cases, you will see 
+the complex connection become taut and tinted red.<br>
+&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><font size="4"><a name="Dealing with Multiple Sections">Dealing with 
+Multiple Sections</a></font></b></p>
+<p>Some adventure games can be rather large and might be split into chapters.&nbsp; 
+In those cases, you may want to take advantage of using multiple sections in 
+your map.&nbsp; This will keep your map organized and may help you with printing 
+them also later on.</p>
+<p>You can create and delete sections from the menu, in <b>Map-&gt;Sections-&gt;Create 
+Section</b> and <b>Map-&gt;Sections-&gt;Delete Section.</b></p>
+<p>To move from one section to another, you can use the Arrows located in the 
+right section of the toolbar or <b>Map-&gt;Sections-&gt;Next/Previous Section.</b></p>
+<p><br>
+<br>
+<b><font size="4"><a name="Searching">Searching</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+You can search for words in locations, objects, tasks or descriptions in the 
+current section or in the whole map, using regular expressions.<br>
+The search is interactive, a la Emacs, meaning that as you type, the rooms that 
+match the search get hilited.<br>
+The number of matches for the map and the section is display in the status bar.<br>
+You can use the Next/Previous button to keep centering your view on each match (and 
+automatically moving thru sections if you are matching stuff in the whole map)<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<b><font size="4"><a name="Preferences">Preferences</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+IFMapper allows you to change and set preferences on a per map basis (colors, 
+editing options, etc). You can also save your preferences so that IFMapper will 
+boot with those settings in place for creating new maps.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<font size="4"><b><a name="Saving and Loading Maps">Saving and Loading Maps</a></b></font></p>
+<p>To save a map you are editing, you can go to <b>File-&gt;Save</b> or <b>File-&gt;Save 
+As</b>.&nbsp; The internal format of IFMapper's maps is the .map format, which 
+is binary format.&nbsp; This format saves all your map preferences as well as 
+all the connections and descriptions.<br>
+To load a map, you can then use <b>File-&gt;Open</b>.&nbsp; Besides IFMapper's own 
+.map format, IFMapper also supports other popular formats within the IF 
+community.&nbsp; IFMapper can read:<br>
+- .ifm files (Dave Chapeski's IFM, a popular free Unix mapping/walkthru tool)<br>
+- .gmp file (GUEmap's maps, a commercial mapping tool for Windows)<br>
+- .inf files (Inform6 source code files)<br>
+- .t3m or .t files ( TADS3 makefiles or source code files )</p>
+<p><br>
+<b><font size="4"><a name="Locking Maps">Locking Maps</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+Once you finish an adventure game, you can then lock the map for distribution.<br>
+You can do so by going into <b>Map-&gt;Map Information</b> and click on the Read-Only 
+switch and making sure you save the map as .map file (IFMapper's native format).<br>
+Making the map read-only will not allow you to modify the map anymore (and thus 
+will prevent accidentally moving or changing room descriptions by<br>
+mistake).<br>
+When reading any IFM file, Read-Only mode is entered automatically, as it is 
+assumed these maps were created and finished elsewhere. If you need<br>
+to modify them, just untick the Read-Only switch in the Map Information box 
+again.<br>
+<br>
+<b><font size="4"><br>
+<a name="Mapping Games from Transcripts (Automapping)">Mapping Games from 
+Transcripts (Automapping)</a><br>
+</font></b><br>
+New to v0.8, the feature of automapping was added. The way automapping works is 
+that it will read a transcript or log of your game, and will attempt to parse it 
+to generate rooms and connections (even while you are playing it!).<br>
+<br>
+To use automapping, go to your game and start a transcript. Usually this is done 
+by doing:</p>
+<p><b>&gt; verbose<br>
+&gt; script</b></p>
+<p>and then specifying the name of the file.<br>
+<br>
+Then, go to IFMapper and go to a map (usually an empty one) and do:<img border="0" src="../images/automap.gif" align="right" width="413" height="428"><br>
+<b>Map-&gt;Automap-&gt;Start</b>. This will pop up a file requester for you to feed 
+IFMapper the name of the transcript.<br>
+Then, you will be asked thru a requester to select some options.<br>
+The options include how will the automapper identify locations as being unique. 
+The automapper can determine whether you are in a new location by comparing the 
+room description (the default) or by comparing just the short name of the room. 
+Games that have rooms with the same short names (usually, mazes) will benefit 
+from being identified by the room description while games that often change the 
+room description on several visits to it might be mapped better using just short 
+names.&nbsp; Note that you can also switch from one method to another at any 
+time later on.<br>
+Another option allows you to specify what type of transcript you are dealing 
+with. Most games use the &quot;Classic&quot; format, albeit some old Infocom games (mainly 
+Witness and Moonmist) used a tad different format.<br>
+And voila. Immediately, you should see IFMapper get to work and start creating 
+locations and connections. <br>
+If you continue playing your game and the 'script' command is still in operation, 
+IFMapper will try to interactively map your game. This works very well for games 
+running under WinFrotz, for example, albeit some other interpreters might not 
+append text to transcripts as soon as you run a command, leading to a less 
+interactive automapping (you'll probably have to type several commands before 
+the interpreter will update the transcript file).<br>
+Besides trying to parse for locations and movements, automapper will also try to 
+parse for objects in the room, by monitoring your 'get' or 'take' commands and 
+remembering where each object was first found, so as to add it to the appropiate 
+room.<br>
+Note that, at any point during your mapping, you can pop up the automapper 
+properties again to switch from automapping using descriptions to using short 
+names.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<b><font size="4"><a name="How does the automapper distinguish locations">How 
+does the automapper distinguish locations?</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+As we said before, the automapper will parse all the game text, looking for room 
+descriptions.&nbsp; Not just the replies to moving commands.<br>
+This is done so that teleporting commands (such as magical words) or special 
+events that take you other places will work.<br>
+Room locations are determined by finding the room's short name: a string of text 
+where all of its words of 4 or more letters are capitalized (or where the string 
+follows the format specified, in case of Witness/Moonmist format). <br>
+The paragraph following that is assumed to be a room description.<br>
+Depending on your automapper settings, the automapper will give preference to 
+the room description or to the room's short name to determine whether a certain 
+room has already been visited.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<b><font size="4"><a name="Limitations on Automapping">Limitations on 
+Automapping</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+Albeit automapping is very cool and powerful, there are some limitations on it 
+you should be aware of.<br>
+First, it only works with games written in English.<br>
+Second, you should try to use automapping with verbose mode. Automapping will 
+try to rely on the room description to distinguish one room from the next, 
+instead of just the room's short name.<br>
+If your game is in brief or normal mode, automapping could end up getting 
+confused about interpreting a previously visited location as a new location, as 
+it could interpret an object or a character description as part of the<br>
+room description.<br>
+Even with full verbose mode, automapping may get confused if the&nbsp; 
+description changes dramatically (like the demolished house in Hitchhiker's 
+Guide to the Galaxy).<br>
+Automapping also may not help much when it comes to mazes, where all their 
+descriptions are identical or in cases where exits are chosen at random (Adventure/Colossal 
+Cave).<br>
+Some games don't follow the Infocom standard of labelling locations using a 
+short capitalized description (for example, FailSafe). These games cannot be 
+automapped.<br>
+Finally, the layout algorithm used in the automapper is not exceptional and it 
+can lead to maps with intercrossings or with rooms placed too far apart.<br>
+Remember, thou, that you can still help the automapper by manually moving or 
+removing rooms at any time if you are interactively automapping a transcript.<br>
+If for some reason the automapper does not detect a room automatically, you can 
+also at any time create that room yourself and from then on, the automapper will 
+be aware of it.<br>
+<br>
+<b><br>
+<font size="4"><a name="Creating a new Inform/TADS3 game">Creating a new 
+Inform/TADS3 game</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+IFMapper now allows you to also spit out Inform or TADS3 source code for a map.<br>
+This means you can now use IFMapper to easily create the basic skeleton for a 
+new game from scratch. <br>
+With IFMapper, you can place your objects, your NPCs and locations with their 
+doors/exits in your game.&nbsp; You can also type in your descriptions for each 
+location.<br>
+To do this, make sure to activate the display of room descriptions:</p>
+<p><b>Map-&gt;Display-&gt;Location Description</b></p>
+<p>You can then type in all your room descriptions and objects manually and then, 
+once your map is finished, use:<b><br>
+<br>
+File-&gt;Export-&gt;Export to Inform<br>
+File-&gt;Export-&gt;Export to TADS3<br>
+</b><br>
+These option will create a set of Inform or TADS3 source files (one per map 
+section), which you can then immediately compile and play with.<br>
+Obviously, for a real game, the .inf or .t files you get out of IFMapper are 
+just a skeleton, as you will still have to code manually all the logic in your<br>
+game.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><b><font size="5" color="#000080"><a name="Appendix">Appendix</a></font></b></p>
+<p><b><font size="4">
+<a name="I am new to Interactive Fiction. What games would you recommend">I am 
+new to Interactive Fiction. What games would you recommend?</a></font></b><br>
+<br>
+If you can get a copy of it (Lost Treasures of Infocom or similar), I think 
+Wishbringer from Infocom is probably one of the nicest introductory games. <br>
+Its puzzles are not that tricky and are also pretty logical.<br>
+Once you master it, you could then try Planetfall, which has one of the most 
+lovable characters in any adventure game.<br>
+Assuming you cannot get hold of those Infocom games, Emily Short's City of 
+Secrets is a very nice introductory game and probably one of the most polished 
+adventures I have seen.<br>
+Andrew Plotkin's Dreamholder is also somewhat a nice introductory game as the 
+game will help you with your commands a little as you begin. Note, however, that 
+the game's puzzles are anything but easy. <br>
+<font size="5"><br>
+</font><b><font size="4"><a name="Contacting the Author">Contacting the Author</a></font><br>
+</b><br>
+Currently, I can be reached at:</p>
+<p>ggarra AT domain</p>
+<p>(Where &quot;domain&quot; is advancedsl.com.ar )<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;</p>
+
+</body>
+
+</html>