How do I display the full / initial room description when the player looks?

Question

I want to have more descriptions of rooms when they're first entered, which is well handled by the usual [if unvisited] method. I can then write a new, concise description in the [otherwise] section. This works well, but I want the player to be able to re-read the initial description if they want, i.e., when they explicitly ask to look at the room again. I can't seem to figure out how to reuse the initial description. I haven't tried, but I wouldn't think resetting the room to unvisited if they look is a good idea, as it might screw with other things that rely on knowing if the room is unvisited.

Is there a good way to get this to happen while still having all the text nicely consolidated in the room's description, or will this require special rules and conditions?

Pretty Landscape is a room. "[if set to unabbreviated room descriptions]Rich, descriptive imagery![otherwise]You are here. You can do this and that."

Instead of looking:
    now use verbose descriptions;
    say room description;
    now use brief descriptions;
[this isn't flexible, it would rest whatever description setting was there initially]

Comments

the markdown is kindof weird, backticks don't seem to work for code, and it's wrapping all weird.

Answer 1

Here's one way you could do it.

Pretty Landscape is a room. The description of Pretty Landscape is "[if long-desc is active]Long description goes here[otherwise]Short description goes here[end if]."

To decide if long-desc is active:
    if the location is unvisited:
        decide yes;
    if the player's command exactly matches the text "look", case insensitively:
        decide yes;
    if the player's command exactly matches the text "l", case insensitively:
        decide yes;
    decide no.

Comments

Rather than testing the player's command I'm sure you could directly check whether the current action is looking.

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@Dannii--I would, but I don't know how to do that and still make the short description show when you enter a visited room. I was testing the player's command as a way of distinguishing between an automatic looking action that happens when you enter a room, and a manual looking action.