Special Commands
Most command are
preceded with the name of the character followed by > and a space, for
example, merlin> blink. Below are some special commands that require extra
information supplied by your child. Some
are global (affecting all characters), so they are not prefaced with the
characters name. Type case (lower or upper) does not matter.
Pause (seconds) --- (seconds) should be replaced by a number. This is a pause before continuing program execution.
Interval (seconds) --- (seconds) should be replaced by a number. This is the time waited between action commands. Since some commands take a long time to complete, making the interval too short will interfere with subsequent commands. The default interval is 5 seconds between commands.
Sequential (true/false) --- (true/false) is replaced by true or false. The default is true. If true, then the commands are followed sequentially, one by one down the list of script lines. If false the commands are executed as fast as possible so that characters may be able to perform simultaneous actions. Look at the lets_go_nuts.csp script. There are three sequential statements in that script, two of them are true, and one is false. Try changing the false to true, and see that now each character does his do loop seperatly in the order of the script. Change it back to false and they go nuts!
Show (character) --- (character) should be replaced by the name of a character, e.g. Merlin, Plany, etc. The names can be seen in the Actions window. Multiple characters can be shown simultaneously. In a script if you refer to a character in a command, for example, plany> tickle 2 and Plany was not previously visible, it will be shown automatically.
Hide (character) --- (character) should be replaced by the name of a character, e.g. Merlin, Plany, etc. The names can be seen in the Actions window.
Hide all --- Hides all characters.
Character> Speak (words) --- In the Script window, (words) should be replaced by any word or words or funny sounding letters! If you have created an audio file and placed it in the wav directory (this is done automatically when audio recording is done in Merlin Programmer for Kids), you can use this file for lip-syncing. Simply place the filename after the Speak command. For example, the following line will have Merlin lip-sync the speech in the wave file my_voice.wav.
Merlin> Speak my_voice.wav
Look at the script file silly voice.csp for a functional example.
Character> MoveTo X,Y --- In the Script window, the X
,Y must be replaced by screen
coordinates, for example, 132, 200. At the bottom right of the main program
window the X,Y coordinates of the mouse cursor and the
character are displayed so that your child can drag t
he
character (mouse down on the character, press left button, and move) or move
the mouse cursor to a particular location on the screen where he/she wants the
character to move. He/she can then use those coordinates in the command.
Character> MoveTo random --- the computer will randomly choose the X,Y coordinates.
Character> MoveTo (character) --- In the Script window, the (character) should be replaced by the name of a character, for example merlin> moveto plany. The first character will move to the second characters position.
The MoveTo commands can have a speed parameter appended to them that will adjust the speed of the movements. The choices are slowest, slower, slow, medium, fast, faster, and fastest. For example, merlin> moveto random fastest would move Merlin to a random location very fast.
Character> StopMoving --- the character will stop moving ununconditionally..
Character> CharPos (X,Y) --- In the Script window, the (X ,Y) must be replaced by screen coordinates, for example, 132, 200. This command quickly sets the character to a new location on the screen. If the character is hidden the repositioning will occur without showing the character.
Character> Tickle (size) --- In the Script window, the (size) must be replaced by a number indicating how big a wiggle the character will make.
Character> CharSize (W,H) --- In
the Script window, the (W,H)
must be replaced by desitred width, height of
the character in pixels. The current and default settings are reported when
this command is double clicked in the Merlin
Actions window with the Show me
item selected.
Report (seconds) --- In the Script window, the (seconds) should be replaced by a number of seconds. For those commands where the character counts down or waits for something to happen, the character typically repeats some phrase every number of seconds. This command should precede those commands to have an effect. The default is every 5 seconds.
Character> Waitfor Time=(H:M AM/PM) ---
The (H:M AM/PM) should be replaced by a valid time, as shown at the bottom
left in the information panel of the program. For example, 
quiet to the end of the command to
stop the chatter, otherwise the character counts down every Report number of seconds (see Report command).
Character> Waitfor Time=(minutes) ---
In the Script window, the (minutes) should be replaced by a number of
minutes, which can be fractional; for example 1.5. The character will
continually say I am waiting for
., until the condition (countdown to zero)
is met or exceeded. You can add the word quiet
to the end of the command to stop the chatter, otherwise the character counts
down every Report number of seconds
(see Report command).
Character> Waitfor Key=(letter) ---
In the Script window, the (letter) should be replaced by the letter of
a key on the keyboard. The character will continually say I am waiting for
.,
until the condition (pressing the key) is met or exceeded. You can add the word
quiet to the end of the command to
stop the chatter, otherwise the character counts down every Report number of seconds (see Report command). Double clicking on the
character will cancel the wait and go to the next script statement.
Character> Waitfor Key=anykey ---
The character will continually say I am waiting for any key to be pressed.,
until the condition (pressing any key) is met. You can add the word quiet to the end of the command to
stop the chatter, otherwise the character counts down every Report number of seconds (see Report command). Double clicking on the
character will cancel the wait and go to the next script statement. You can
test for the key pressed with the If statement (see below).
Character> Waitfor Listen=anywords ---
The character will simply wait for something to be said. A small text box below
the character will indicate this. When the condition is met, that is, one of
the voice commands is spoken and understood by the character, execution will
continue. The character thinks the words that it is waiting for every Report number of seconds (see Report command). When it recognizes a
word or phrase then it speaks that word or phrase. You can add the word quiet to the end of the command to
stop the repeat. Double clicking on the character will cancel the wait and go
to the next script statement. You can test for the spoken word or words with
the If statement (see below). Voice commands that will be checked for
are introduced using the If statement. Speaking cancel script will
cancel the script.
Character> Waitfor Collide=(character)
--- In the Script window, the (character) should be replaced by
the name of a character. The character will wait for the two characters to
overlap each other on the screen before execution will continue. The character
will continually say I am waiting for
., until the
condition (characters bump each other) is met or exceeded. You can add the word
quiet to the end of the command to
stop the chatter, otherwise the character counts down every Report number of seconds (see Report command). Double clicking on the
character will cancel the wait and go to the next script statement. See the collide.csp script for a possible use of this command. In
that script Sequential is set to false otherwise the Waitfor Collide command is not executed until after the characters stop
moving. You would have drag the characters together to
satisfy the overlap condition.
Character> Waitfor Collide=anybody --- The character will wait for any other character to overlap it on the screen before execution will continue. The character will continually say I am waiting for ., until the condition (characters bump each other) is met or exceeded. You can add the word quiet to the end of the command to stop the chatter, otherwise the character counts down every Report number of seconds (see Report command). You can test which characters bumped with the If statement (see below).
Character> Waitfor GetOff=(character) --- In the Script window, the
(character) should be replaced by the name of a character. The character will
wait until the two characters are not overlapping on the screen before
execution will continue. The character will continually say I am waiting
for
., until the condition (characters to get off each other) is met or
exceeded. You can add the word quiet
to the end of the command to stop the chatter, otherwise the character counts
down every Report number of seconds
(see Report command). Double
clicking on the character will cancel the wait and go to the next script
statement. See the collide.csp script for a
possible use of this command..
Do .. Loop (number) --- These two commands are always used together. First insert the Do command in the Script window, then insert other commands, such as Moveto random, and finally insert the Loop (number) command, where (number) is replaced by the number of times the commands within the loop will be executed. For example,
Do
Moveto random
Speak I moved here!
This script will repeat the two commands within the loop 3 times.
If then, elseif then, else, endif --- These commands are used to check whether something has happened and then depending on the what happened to perform some commands. In the following example Merlin waits for a key press then depending on which key is pressed, the proper response is spoken. The commands between else and endif are executed if the key pressed was not a, b and c. You may put a do loop within the If statements. You may only have one If .. endif in a script.
There are three conditions that can be checked for with the If statement. They are
1. Key input. In the following example Merlin waits for a key and says something depending on which key was pressed.
Merlin> waitfor key=anykey
If key=a then
Merlin> speak the a key was pressed
Elseif key=b then
Merlin> speak the b key was pressed
Elseif key=c then
Merlin> speak the c key was pressed
Else
Merlin> speak some other key was pressed
Endif
2. Character collisions. In the following example Max and Peedy start jumping around on the screen and Merlin waits for either character to bump him; then depending on which character bumped him, the proper response is spoken.
interval 0
sequential false
do
max> moveto
random
loop 50
do
peedy> moveto
random
loop 50
merlin> waitfor
collide=anybody
interval 1
sequential true
if collision=max and merlin then
merlin> speak max you bumped me!
max> speak sorry
elseif collision=peedy
and merlin then
merlin> speak peedy
you bumped me!
peedy> speak sorry
endif
3. Voice input. In the following example Merlin waits for something to be said. The words that he will wait for are the ones checked for in the If endif statement. When Merlin recognizes one of the voice commands, the if statement will be executed and the response dictates what will follow.
interval 0
merlin> charpos 500,500
show merlin
merlin> waitfor listen=anywords quiet
if listen=hello then
merlin> speak Hi to you, too!
elseif listen=goodbye then
merlin> speak Goodbye.
hide merlin
elseif listen=Where is Max? then
merlin> speak He is coming now!
max> charpos 600,100
max> speak Hello guys!
max> speak please press the "g" key and I
will get tickled!
max> waitfor key=g
max> tickle 3
endif
See the scripts if_collision.csp , if_listenup.csp and choose_guys.csp for functional examples
Goto (Label) --- (Label) should be replaced by a special identifier (must be label1, label2, label3 label10) on any line; then, for example, the command Goto label1 will cause execution to jump to the line immediately following the label, label1. In the following script, Merlin waits for the spoken words goodbye or hello. If hello is spoken execution repeats because it jumps back to the line following label1, but if goodbye is spoken, execution eventually ends.
interval 1
label1
merlin> waitfor listen=anywords quiet
if listen=goodbye then
sound drumroll
elseif listen=hello then
sound applause
goto label1
endif
sound blip
See Goto.csp for this functional script.