object description rotation

This suggestion was made to me:

Another thing that would be handy would be some kind of list manager like in TADS or Inform that would make it easier to make things that change descriptions every time you look at them. For example:

long_desc

{

    rotate( "It's a door.", "It's still a door.", "Stop looking at it." )

}

Now, traditionally, you would do such a thing with code like this:

	object box "box"
	{
	article "a"
	noun "box"
	in startlocation
	misc 0
	is openable container
	long_desc
	{
	if self.misc < 3 ! no reason to increase it indefinitely
	self.misc += 1
	select self.misc
	case 1: "First desc."
	case 2: "Second desc."
	case 3: "Third desc."
	}
	}

view raw incremental desc hosted with ❤ by GitHub

But, of course, sure, some helper routines could be written for anyone who wants the functionality of the suggestion above.  Following is some example code for doing such a thing.  I guess I could add it to Roodylib if enough people think it'd be useful.

	property rotations ! objects with rotating descriptions need a property to hold
	! a value
	attribute recycle ! give this attribute to cycle back to the beginning when end
	! is reached
	!\ My Rotate routine can handle up to five descriptions. Of course, it could
	be expanded to do more. Unfortunately, there's no cool way to get the routine
	to just adapt to whatever arguments you throw it so it basically has to check
	every expected argument by hand.\!
	routine Rotate(arg1, arg2, arg3,arg4,arg5)
	{
	local n
	object.rotations += 1
	n = object.rotations
	select n
	case 1: print arg1 ! we'll assume this routine won't be used with one
	! "rotation" so we don't need to check for arg2
	case 2
	{
	print arg2
	if not arg3 ! if there are only 2 descriptions
	{
	if object is recycle ! should it cycle?
	object.rotations = 0 ! start back at the beginning
	else
	object.rotations -= 1 ! or just subtract one so it stays the
	! same next time
	return
	}
	}
	case 3
	{
	print arg3
	if not arg4
	{
	if object is recycle
	object.rotations = 0
	else
	object.rotations -= 1
	return
	}
	}
	case 4
	{
	print arg4
	if not arg5
	{
	if object is recycle
	object.rotations = 0
	else
	object.rotations -= 1
	return
	}
	}
	case 5
	{
	print arg5
	if object is recycle
	object.rotations = 0
	else
	object.rotations -= 1
	return
	}
	}
	!\ I sometimes like random descriptions, too, so I threw in a random description
	version \!
	routine RandomDesc(arg1, arg2, arg3,arg4,arg5)
	{
	local x,n
	if arg1: x++
	if arg2: x++
	if arg3: x++
	if arg4: x++
	if arg5: x++
	do
	n = random(x)
	while (n = object.rotations)
	object.rotations = n
	select n
	case 1:print arg1
	case 2: print arg2
	case 3: print arg3
	case 4: print arg4
	case 5: print arg5
	}

view raw Rotate hosted with ❤ by GitHub

And examples of objects that use these would look like:

	door red_door "red door"
	{
	noun "door"
	adjective "red"
	article "the"
	rotations 0
	long_desc
	{
	rotate( "It's a door.", "It's still a door.", "Stop looking at it.", \
	"I mean it.", "I really do.")
	}
	between startlocation east_room
	!is recycle ! uncomment if you want descs to cycle
	}
	object rock "rock"
	{
	article "a"
	noun "rock"
	in STARTLOCATION
	long_desc
	{
	RandomDesc("A rock.","2nd rock desc.", "3rd rock.","4th rock.")
	}
	rotations 0
	}

view raw rotate examples hosted with ❤ by GitHub

So, yeah, let me know if you guys want it in Roodylib or what.