269 Release Notes

• Fixed: Dream Maker should no longer crash when loading lots of simultaneous files. This involved quite a bit of internal restructuring, so be on the lookout for bugs.

• Fixed: Dream Maker was having problems creating new maps when there were compilation errors in the project. (Erocl)

• Fixed: Dream Maker's full-map view wasn't properly displaying the entire map in certain cases. (EbonShadow)

• Fixed: variable definitions such as the following were not compiling: var/my_var = 50 in 1 to 100 The assignment of a default value was interfering with the specification of additional "input type" information used by the map editor to validate user input. (Erocl)

• Fixed: saving maps containing objects with stuff in their contents list was generating garbled .dmp output. (Al)

• Fixed: Dream Seeker no longer moves the panels around when you minimize and restore the window. (Galithean)

• Fixed: DMI Icons with more than 256 total pixmaps weren't always being saved and loaded properly.

• Fixed: (maybe) Dream Seeker was sometimes popping up multiple windows when querying for verb arguments. We never reproduced this bug over here, but we did add some extra security so hopefully it won't happen anymore. If you do see this problem, please give us as much info as possible. (Ebonshadow, Galithean)

• Fixed: savefiles were getting exclusively locked when simply reading from them. Now any number of worlds may simultaneously read a savefile. Only writing requires exclusive access.

• Fixed: jumping to a new mob was causing the client to switch out of lazy_eye mode, which was especially noticable on a map that fit within one screen and which therefore applied lazy_eye mode automatically to avoid needless scrolling around on the screen.

• Fixed: Dream Seeker was generating a BUG message in some cases when the user tried to do a tab expansion in a command containing server-expanded arguments. (Zilal, Guy T., Gazoot)

• Fixed: Stylesheets inserted in normal output will no longer have a lasting effect. Only stylesheets in DM Script (.dms) files stay in effect. This measure protects against recurrences of the infamous Zilal vs. Deadron style attack. (Zilal, Deadron)

• Fixed: There was a tiny glitch in the client map. When drawing a modified object that is not completely defined yet on the client, it falls back on the previous appearance (if any). The glitch was that it sometimes tried to apply a new icon state to an old image. Possibly relevant to some games (like DragonSnot)? Probably not, but please test.

• Preprocessor macros that take arguments can now substitute those arguments into embedded text expressions. Previously, everything inside the double quotes was ignored, including embedded expressions, which is not what one would expect, given that macros which don't take arguments are active within embedded expressions. Example: #define HELLO(x) "Hello, [x]!"

• prompt(), when targeted on a mob without a player (mob.client is null), now returns the default response if one was specified. It used to return null if that was a valid response, but now it only does that if no default response was specified. So the only case in which prompt() will crash in this situation is if no default value was specified and null is an invalid response.

• Changed some of the hotkeys in the menus to be consistent with other programs (eg: edit/Copy -> 'C', not 'o') (Erocl)

• Dream Seeker now no longer goes invisible upon closure. It used to do this to reduce the window clutter during the time needed to contact the pager, but unfortunately this caused some problems for certain platforms. Now you may have to wait a few moments for this shutdown to occur. If you hit 'quit' more than once, the window will close immediately without updating the pager appropriately. None of this is a concern when you aren't online.

• Dream Seeker now has an option to download existing keys into your key.txt file. This is mainly useful for new users who have created accounts via the web page (you'll see more of this functionality in the next weeks). When they first use the client, they will get a dialog that allows them to either create a new key or download an existing key. This same dialog can be used at a later time via the 'Create/Retrieve' key option. The Login menu is also accessible now via a menu option (under Options).

• Dream Seeker's browser no longer displays the temporary URLS used for cache files (eg- text output to browse(), etc.).

• You can use either the ESC or DEL keys to clear Dream Seeker's command line.

• The CGI object (defined in html/CGI.dm) now supports a new form of authentication. To turn it on, you compile your project with CGI/authenticate=1. This is a nicer interface than the basic .htaccess method of authentication, and it is also more secure. For generality, the old .htaccess method is still supported by Dream Daemon, but we will no longer be maintaining a global BYOND password file for it on polaris, since that is now an unnecessary security risk.

  The new method uses cookie certificates that are unique to each internet domain. This avoids the basic .htaccess authentication behavior of transmitting your password across the internet for every operation. Now, even when authenticating a user in a normal web domain, the user's password is only ever transmitted across a secure channel (secure.dantom.com), which then issues a certificate for use in the target domain.

  Don't be scared off by all this verbiage. The bottom line is if you need to know the identify of the user in a CGI application, you can do so by inserting the line CGI/authenticate=1.

• The reference has been updated. The most notable changes are in the following sections:
  • turn()
  • SendPage()
  • icons
  • CGI var (client)
  • getenv proc
  • html_encode proc
  • html_decode proc
  • PayDimes proc (client)
  • view var (world)
  • show_verb_panel var (client)
  • browse_rsc proc
  • hub var (world)
  • status var (world)
  • version var (world)
  • layer var
  • overlays var