[z-machine] [Inform mntce] [I7] Inform 7, blorbs and the Z-machine

[Graham Nelson]

On 4 Mar 2006, at 03:23, samwyse wrote:
> Just a few questions that come immediately to mind.
> Is there a suggested size?  32x32, 256x256 or 2048x2048, perhaps?

The I7 proto-documentation recommends 960x960,
but I've intentionally not made the three example blorbs
all have the same size cover image as each other. It's
not mandatory to be square, either, but recommended.

960x960 seemed plenty, really: enough for a print
quality image of CD-inlay size, and divisible by many
factors, making it fairly good for shrinking down to
thumbnails of different sizes.

>> where the <description>, a back cover text, has been somewhat
>> abbreviated: it will usually be two or three paragraphs of text.
>
> Are HTML paragraphs allowed, or is there another way to delimit the
> individual paragraphs?

A paragraph break in the description is indicated
as "<br/>" or "<br></br>". The text in the description
isn't HTML, despite superficial appearances.

>> In addition, all I7-generated Z-machine story files, whether embedded
>> in blorbs or not, are branded with the unique ID text: they each
>> contain a ZSCII string array in byte-accessible memory
>
> This could have an impact on the currently-dormant Z9 spec.  Is there
> any way imagined for a program to find this string other than a
> sequential scan of byte-accessible memory?

 From the outside, only a sequential scan. From the
inside, it's printed as part of the VERSION command
output (so, actually, you could mechanically run the
file through dumb-frotz with redirected output and a
script consisting of VERSION then QUIT...)

But having to recover the UUID from the story file alone
is meant to be a desperation measure. The story file
shouldn't get loose from its blorb coating; this UUID
is there to help repair or replace the blorb coating
if it does so get loose.

--
Graham Nelson