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Overview

The DragonRealms experience monitoring system provides real-time tracking of skill experience gains with configurable display options. The DRExpMonitor module manages background reporting threads and inline experience displays.

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DRExpMonitor

The DRExpMonitor module provides methods to control experience gain tracking.

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start

Starts the background experience reporter thread. 
DRExpMonitor.start
Behavior:
  • Creates a background thread that reports skill gains every second
  • Displays info message if already active
  • Returns early with error if exp-monitor.lic script is running (conflicts)
  • Thread automatically reports aggregated skill gains until stopped
Example: 
# Start monitoring experience gains
DRExpMonitor.start
# => "DRExpMonitor: Experience gain reporting is already active" (if already running)

# Skill gains will be reported as:
# => "DRExpMonitor: Evasion(+2), Athletics(+1)"

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stop

Stops the background experience reporter thread. 
DRExpMonitor.stop
Behavior:
  • Terminates the reporter thread gracefully
  • Displays info message if already inactive
  • Thread cleanup happens automatically
Example: 
DRExpMonitor.stop
# => "DRExpMonitor: Experience gain reporting is already inactive" (if not running)

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active?

Checks if the experience reporter is currently running. 
DRExpMonitor.active?
Returns:
  • true if the reporter thread is running
  • false if stopped
Example: 
if DRExpMonitor.active?
  echo "Experience monitoring is active"
else
  DRExpMonitor.start
end

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inline_display?

Checks if inline experience display is enabled. 
DRExpMonitor.inline_display?
Returns:
  • true if inline display is enabled
  • false if disabled (default)
Behavior:
  • Lazy-loaded from database on first access
  • Defaults to false - must be explicitly enabled
  • Uses persistent storage (survives restarts)
  • Includes SQLite retry logic with max 10 attempts
Example: 
if DRExpMonitor.inline_display?
  echo "Inline experience display is ON"
end

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inline_display=

Enables or disables inline experience display. 
DRExpMonitor.inline_display = value
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value
boolean
required
Enable (true, "on", "yes") or disable (false, "off", "no") inline display
Behavior:
  • Accepts boolean or string values (“on”, “true”, “yes” for true)
  • Persists setting to database for future sessions
  • Modifies EXP output to include cumulative gained experience
  • Includes SQLite retry logic with max 10 attempts
Example: 
# Enable inline display
DRExpMonitor.inline_display = true

# Disable inline display
DRExpMonitor.inline_display = "off"

# Experience output will show:
# BRIEFEXP ON:  "     Aug:  565 39%  [ 2/34] 0.12"
# BRIEFEXP OFF: "    Augmentation:  565 39% learning      0.12"

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format_briefexp_on

Formats a BRIEFEXP ON line to include cumulative gained experience. 
DRExpMonitor.format_briefexp_on(line, skill)
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line
string
required
The original BRIEFEXP ON format line
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skill
string
required
The skill name to look up gained experience
Returns:
  • Modified line with gained experience appended
  • Original line unchanged if inline display is disabled
Example: 
original = "     Aug:  565 39%  [ 2/34]"
formatted = DRExpMonitor.format_briefexp_on(original, "Augmentation")
# => "     Aug:  565 39%  [ 2/34] 0.12"

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format_briefexp_off

Formats a BRIEFEXP OFF line to include cumulative gained experience. 
DRExpMonitor.format_briefexp_off(line, skill, rate_word)
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line
string
required
The original BRIEFEXP OFF format line
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skill
string
required
The skill name to look up gained experience
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rate_word
string
required
The learning rate word (e.g., “learning”, “pondering”)
Returns:
  • Modified line with gained experience appended
  • Original line unchanged if inline display is disabled
Example: 
original = "    Augmentation:  565 39% learning     "
formatted = DRExpMonitor.format_briefexp_off(original, "Augmentation", "learning")
# => "    Augmentation:  565 39% learning      0.12"

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Constants

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MAX_SQLITE_RETRIES

Maximum number of SQLite retry attempts before giving up. 
DRExpMonitor::MAX_SQLITE_RETRIES # => 10
Prevents infinite loops when database is locked.

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BOOLEAN_TRUE_PATTERN

Regular expression for matching boolean true values. 
DRExpMonitor::BOOLEAN_TRUE_PATTERN # => /\A(on|true|yes)\z/i
Anchored pattern prevents partial matches (e.g., won’t match “money” or “trust”).

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Command Line Usage

The experience monitor can be controlled via the display command: 
;display expgains          # Toggle on/off
;display expgains on       # Turn on
;display expgains off      # Turn off
Cannot run simultaneously with exp-monitor.lic script. Use ;kill exp-monitor first if needed.

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Integration with DRSkill

The experience monitor integrates with the DRSkill module to access skill data: 
# Get cumulative gained experience for a skill
gained = DRSkill.gained_exp("Evasion")
# => 2.45

# Access the gained skills queue
DRSkill.gained_skills
# => [{skill: "Evasion", change: 2}, {skill: "Athletics", change: 1}]

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Thread Safety

The experience monitor is thread-safe:
  • Uses class variables for state management
  • Reporter thread runs in background
  • Cleanup handler registered via at_exit
  • Automatic stop on disconnect or exit

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Error Handling

Robust error handling includes:
  • SQLite busy exception retry logic (max 10 attempts)
  • Conflict detection with exp-monitor.lic script
  • Graceful degradation on database lock
  • Error logging for debugging ($DREXPMONITOR_DEBUG)

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