mirror of
https://github.com/ganelson/inform.git
synced 2024-07-01 06:24:58 +03:00
70 lines
3.1 KiB
OpenEdge ABL
70 lines
3.1 KiB
OpenEdge ABL
What This Module Does.
|
|
|
|
An overview of the index module's role and abilities.
|
|
|
|
@h Prerequisites.
|
|
The index module is a part of the Inform compiler toolset. It is
|
|
presented as a literate program or "web". Before diving in:
|
|
(a) It helps to have some experience of reading webs: see //inweb// for more.
|
|
(b) The module is written in C, in fact ANSI C99, but this is disguised by the
|
|
fact that it uses some extension syntaxes provided by the //inweb// literate
|
|
programming tool, making it a dialect of C called InC. See //inweb// for
|
|
full details, but essentially: it's C without predeclarations or header files,
|
|
and where functions have names like |Tags::add_by_name| rather than just |add_by_name|.
|
|
(c) This module uses other modules drawn from the compiler (see //structure//), and also
|
|
uses a module of utility functions called //foundation//.
|
|
For more, see //foundation: A Brief Guide to Foundation//.
|
|
|
|
@h The Index.
|
|
All users of the Inform GUI app are familiar with the Index: it's a sort of
|
|
mini-website giving a detailed picture of the content of the story being
|
|
created. In the current design, there are seven colour-coded "pages", each
|
|
divided up into two or more parts called "elements".
|
|
|
|
In fact, this is only one of the possible "index products". It's also possible
|
|
to generate an EPS (encapsulated PostScript) file of a spatial map, for example.
|
|
|
|
Until 2021 the Index for a project was generated by the main //inform7// compiler,
|
|
but a radical refactoring then moved the entire //index// module into //inter//
|
|
instead. Index products are now generated from trees of Inter code, not from
|
|
Inform projects as such:
|
|
= (text)
|
|
source text
|
|
|
|
|
| inform7
|
|
\|/
|
|
inter tree
|
|
/ \
|
|
inter / \ inter
|
|
(final module) / \ (index module)
|
|
| |
|
|
\|/ \|/
|
|
generated code Index products
|
|
|
|
|
| inform6 (or similar)
|
|
\|/
|
|
Executable products
|
|
=
|
|
|
|
@ The //index// module has a very simple API: point it at a tree of Inter code,
|
|
say what sort of index you want, and go. See //Indexing API// for the details,
|
|
though the details are not much more than that.
|
|
|
|
@h Localisation.
|
|
A new and somewhat experimental addition in 2021 is the ability to localise the
|
|
Index, that is, to produce an Index in a language other than English. This does
|
|
not of course aim to translate source text: simply to translate subheadings, notes,
|
|
and other fixed-wording text in the Index.
|
|
|
|
As a demonstration, try running a project with:
|
|
= (text as Inform 7)
|
|
Use French language index.
|
|
=
|
|
You should then find that the index has a French-titled Contents section -- only
|
|
a couple of strings have been localised at present, and those not localised
|
|
revert to English, so the index still looks basically English. This is all really
|
|
just laying groundwork.
|
|
|
|
For how to write localisation files, see //html: Localisation//, or follow
|
|
the example of |inform/inform7/Internal/Languages/English/Index.txt|.
|