EFFECTS                                             MAJIK MUDLIB DOCUMENTATION

   Effects are things that happen to player and last a specific time, or until
   specific action that cancels the effect. Good example might be player 
   drinking a potion which boosts his strength for ten minutes. 

   We will use a strength potion as an example. The code for the potion in 
   compilable form can be found from /doc/example/example_effect.c. Note that
   you shouldn't create potions this way; there will be a separate potion 
   inheritable for that :).
   
   It is assumed that you have some basic knowledge about how add_action() 
   works. 
   
   The following is a couple of snippets from the example:
============

  inherit ITEM;

  #define EFFECT        "dazzt_str_potion"                                 (1)
    ...
	
  init()
  {
     add_action("do_drink", "drink");                                      (2)
  } 

  do_drink()
  {
	THIS->add_hb_effect(EFFECT, 5 * 60, "potion_on", "potion_off");        (3)
  }
  
  potion_on()
  {
    THIS->set_str(THIS->query_str() + 3)                                   (4)
  }
  
  potion_off()
  {
    THIS->set_str(THIS->query_str() - 3)                                   (5)
  }

==============
 
  The effect needs to have a name that separates it from the other effects.
  The name _must_ be unique or the effect might not work properly if the same
  name is used by another effect. I used #define to set the effect's name (1) 
  in a single place to avoid typing errors in the names. For the naming 
  convention I suggest that you use the form
  
  "<coder>_<what it affects>_<where it came from>"
  
  unless you really have better (and unique!) name. Using this convention,
  my potion's effect will be named "dazzt_str_potion".
  
  Then we need something to trigger the effect, the drinking. I made an 
  add_action() to perform this task (2). When player drinks this potion, 
  do_drink() function will be called.
  
  In the do_drink() we will now start the effect. The syntax for starting an
  effect with specific duration is:
  
  THIS->add_hb_effect("dazzt_str_potion", 600, "potion_on", "potion_off");
  
  We already have the effect name and now decide that the potion's effect 
  should last ten minutes (10 * 60 = 600 seconds).
  
  
	                                                                +) Dazzt
	                 
	 
MAJIK MUDLIB DOCUMENTATION            29.12.1997                         MAJIK