The World of Avlis

I've written this script to put on doors of rooms people rent. It's designed to collect rent every 7 days from the time they've first opened the door with their key:


// Rent collection script that goes in the OnOpen for player's door

#include "datetime"





void main()
{


object oPC = GetLastOpenedBy();
object oKey = GetFirstItemInInventory(oPC);

int bAlreadyOpened = GetPersistantDynamicInt(oKey, "Rent Collection On");

string sNextPayment;
string sKeyTag;
string sDoorTagOwner = GetStringLeft(GetTag(OBJECT_SELF), 4);

struct DateTime sNow = getCurrentDateTime();
struct DateTime sRentCollectionTime =
addDateTime(GetPersistantDateTime(oKey, "Rent Start Time"), newDateTime(0,0,7,0));

// Check if the PC has the door's key
while (GetIsObjectValid(oKey))
{

// Check if sDoorTagOwner is the same as the first 4 letters of sKeyTag
// Key tag names are usually of the format <Character Name>Key, and door
// tag names for renters are usually of the format <Character Name>Door.

sKeyTag = GetStringLeft(GetTag(oKey),4);

if (TestStringAgainstPattern(sKeyTag, sDoorTagOwner))
{

// if this object is in fact the door key, check to see if this is
// the first time the door is being opened by the player. If it is,
// start the rent clock ticking. Collect rent every 7 days.

if (!bAlreadyOpened)
{
// Set key to Rent Collection Status ON
SetPersistantInt(oKey, "Rent Collection On", TRUE, 60, SCRIPTNAME_GENERAL);
// Set Rent Start time to Current Time
SetPersistantDateTime(oKey, "Rent Start Time", sNow);
}

// if the door has already been opened before, check the time on the key
// to see if 7 days have passed since the last Rent Start Time
// if more than 7 days have passed, collect the rent and reset the rent
// start time

else if (bAlreadyOpened
&& compareDateTime(sNow, sRentCollectionTime) >= 7
&& GetGold(oPC) >= 1000)
{
TakeGoldFromCreature(1000, oPC, TRUE);
SendMessageToPC(oPC, "1000 gold has been taken for your rent.");
SetPersistantDateTime(oKey, "Rent Start Time", sNow);
}
// if the player doesn't have enough gold after 7 days, destroy their key

else if (bAlreadyOpened
&& compareDateTime(sNow, sRentCollectionTime) >= 7
&& GetGold(oPC) <= 1000)
{
DestroyObject(oKey);
SendMessageToPC(oPC, "You do not have enough money to meet your rent!");
SendMessageToPC(oPC, "Your key has been destroyed. You will have to see a real estate agent.");
}

}

oKey = GetNextItemInInventory();
}



}

Nothing I can see from here, although I do not know the contents of "datetime," and I am guessing the SetPersistentDynamic functions are unique to your internal SQL database system.

Keep up the good work.

Looks fine. Only thing is rent will be collected multiple times if the player happens to have more than one key.

If I understand that correctly, you're planning to hardcode (=set in the toolset) the tags of the keys and doors, right ? Have you considered assigning numbers from 0000 - 9999 and use a database table that associates the number with the character (e.g. 0123 = 'Joe') ? May be easier to maintain in the long run.