Add Msg.db_receiver_external field. Resolve #2193.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
   list `PROTOTYPE_LIST` of dicts before loading all dicts in the module as prototypes.
 - New Channel-System using the `channel` command and nicks. Removed the `ChannelHandler` and the
   concept of a dynamically created `ChannelCmdSet`.
+- Add `Msg.db_receiver_external` field to allowe external, string-id message-receivers.
 
 ### Evennia 0.9.5 (2019-2020)
 

docs/source/Components/Msg.md

@@ -61,13 +61,17 @@ You can search for `Msg` objects in various ways:
 
 ### Properties on Msg
 
-- `senders` - there must always be at least one sender. This is one of [Account](./Accounts), [Object](./Objects), [Script](./Scripts)
+- `senders` - there must always be at least one sender. This is a set of
-  or _external_ - which is a string uniquely identifying the sender. The latter can be used by 
+- [Account](./Accounts), [Object](./Objects), [Script](./Scripts)
-  a sender-system that doesn't fit into Evennia's normal typeclass-system. 
+  or `str` in any combination (but usually a message only targets one type).
-  While most systems expect a single sender, it's possible to have any number of them.
+  Using a `str` for a sender indicates it's an 'external' sender and
-- `receivers` - these are the ones to see the Msg. These are again one of
+  and can be used to point to a sender that is not a typeclassed entity. This is not used by default
-  [Account](./Accounts), [Object](./Objects) or [Script](./Scripts). It's in principle possible to have
+  and what this would be depends on the system (it could be a unique id or a
-  zero receivers but most usages of Msg expects one or more.
+  python-path, for example). While most systems expect a single sender, it's
+  possible to have any number of them.
+- `receivers` - these are the ones to see the Msg. These are again any combination of
+  [Account](./Accounts), [Object](./Objects) or [Script](./Scripts) or `str` (an 'external' receiver).
+  It's in principle possible to have zero receivers but most usages of Msg expects one or more.
 - `header` - this is an optional text field that can contain meta-information about the message. For
   an email-like system it would be the subject line. This can be independently searched, making
   this a powerful place for quickly finding messages.

evennia/comms/models.py

@@ -196,19 +196,21 @@ class Msg(SharedMemoryModel):
             list(self.db_sender_accounts.all())
             + list(self.db_sender_objects.all())
             + list(self.db_sender_scripts.all())
-            + [self.db_sender_external]
+            + ([self.db_sender_external] if self.db_sender_external else [])
         )
 
     @senders.setter
     def senders(self, senders):
         "Setter. Allows for self.sender = value"
+
+        if isinstance(senders, str):
+            self.db_sender_external = senders
+            self.save(update_fields=["db_sender_external"])
+            return
+
         for sender in make_iter(senders):
             if not sender:
                 continue
-            if isinstance(sender, str):
-                self.db_sender_external = sender
-                self.save(update_fields=["db_sender_external"])
-                continue
             if not hasattr(sender, "__dbclass__"):
                 raise ValueError("This is a not a typeclassed object!")
             clsname = sender.__dbclass__.__name__
@@ -267,7 +269,7 @@ class Msg(SharedMemoryModel):
             list(self.db_receivers_accounts.all())
             + list(self.db_receivers_objects.all())
             + list(self.db_receivers_scripts.all())
-            + [self.db_receiver_external]
+            + ([self.db_receiver_external] if self.db_receiver_external else [])
         )
 
     @receivers.setter

evennia/utils/tests/test_create_functions.py

@@ -139,10 +139,15 @@ class TestCreateMessage(EvenniaTest):
     """
 
     def test_create_msg__simple(self):
+        # from evennia import set_trace;set_trace()
         msg = create.create_message(self.char1, self.msgtext, header="TestHeader")
+        msg.senders = "ExternalSender"
+        msg.receivers = self.char2
+        msg.receivers = "ExternalReceiver"
         self.assertEqual(msg.message, self.msgtext)
         self.assertEqual(msg.header, "TestHeader")
-        self.assertEqual(msg.senders, [self.char1])
+        self.assertEqual(msg.senders, [self.char1, "ExternalSender"])
+        self.assertEqual(msg.receivers, [self.char2, "ExternalReceiver"])
 
     def test_create_msg__custom(self):
         locks = "foo:false();bar:true()"
@@ -151,11 +156,11 @@ class TestCreateMessage(EvenniaTest):
             self.char1,
             self.msgtext,
             header="TestHeader",
-            receivers=[self.char1, self.char2],
+            receivers=[self.char1, self.char2, "ExternalReceiver"],
             locks=locks,
             tags=tags,
         )
-        self.assertEqual(set(msg.receivers), set([self.char1, self.char2]))
+        self.assertEqual(set(msg.receivers), set([self.char1, self.char2, "ExternalReceiver"]))
         self.assertTrue(all(lock in msg.locks.all() for lock in locks.split(";")))
         self.assertEqual(msg.tags.all(), tags)