User:TheSatanicSanta/Mystcraft Wiki import/Writing desk

The Writing Desk is a toolblock used to organize a symbol collection, and to help organize pages for use in a descriptive book. It is also the only way to copy symbol pages. It is two blocks wide, and is placed similarly to a bed. To use it, place it in the world, and "use" the block (right-click by default). There is also an optional decorative backboard for the desk.

Usage (V10, V11.0)


Place the writing desk down like a bed (it is 2 blocks wide). Use it (right-click by default) to open the interface.

At the very top are two utility features. The "AZ" button sorts the pages in the selected notebook, but be warned that the sorting is bugged: it will misarrange pages if there are any duplicates. The Search box will hide any pages not including the given search string.

Below these are the main sections: The left area is dedicated to known symbols. The leftmost column is a list of books (or pages) stored in the desk. There are 25 slots, numbered from 0 to 24 in Dn'i numerals, with scroll buttons at top and bottom. At any given time, one of the slots is selected.

Next to this is a large dark area which may have pages displayed. This is the contents of the currently selected notebook. Pages can have any position, even overlapping each other. However, the positions of pages here, do not guarantee any particular order of pages in the book. There is unlimited space to place pages, and the scrollbar for this area will expand to suit the contents. You can also place linking or descriptive books here, but you will not be able to see any symbols that you did not place in the book. You can pick up and move pages by left-clicking them, or copy them (to the right side of the desk) by right-clicking on them.

On the right side are areas devoted to copying and managing pages. At the top are slots for paper and ink. The bar next to the ink bottles shows the level of the current ink bottle; when empty, an ink bottle from the top will become an empty bottle below it. Each bottle can write about 25 pages, but each page uses a full sheet of paper.

Below the paper slot is another slot, which can hold a book or symbol page. This is the working slot. When you copy a symbol, it shows up here, if there is a notebook in the slot, it will be added to the end of the notebook. If any book is placed here, the "track" in the middle of this section will appear to show the pages in the book. Ths track display resembles the book binder's, showing all the book's pages in one row, and unlike the left-side display, this does reflect the page order in the book. While there are no visible scroll buttons, you can still scroll along this track by clicking at the edges, and for a notebook you can also rearrange the pages. Again, for a descriptive book, you will only see the symbols you wrote yourself. The text box can be used to rename any book, and if used on a descriptive book, this effectively renames the age.

Finally, the player inventory is visible at the bottom. Pages, books, and supplies can be moved as appropriate among your inventory, notebooks, the table slots, and both page-display areas.

To use the writing desk, you can drag pages around physically (including to or from your inventory), or you can right-click pages in the left display area, which copies them to the right side (working slot). Everywhere on the desk, you can see the name of a page by hovering the cursor over it. This lets you organize your pages in multiple notebooks, or move and copy pages into a working notebook, eventually to be used in the book binder.

Usage (V11.1+)
The third of mystcraft's major tool blocks is the writing desk. This can conveniently organize and display multiple folders, portfolios, descriptive books, and even loose symbols. The writing desk is 2 blocks wide; place it where you want the left side of the desk to go (it will face you). Use it (right-click by default) to open the interface.

There are two main sections to the writing desk interface:

The left area is dedicated to displaying known symbols. The leftmost column is a list of books (or pages) stored in the desk. There are 25 slots, numbered from 0 to 24 in Dn'i numerals, with scroll buttons at top and bottom. Each slot can hold a symbol page, a folder or portfolio, or a descriptive book (but not a linkbook). At any given time, one of the slots is selected. Next to this is a large dark area, which displays the contents of the chosen slot. Pages will be automatically aligned to a grid, arranged in reading order. At the top of the section is a search box. Putting text in here will hide any symbol whose name does not include that text. With anything except D-books, you can pick up and move pages by left-clicking them. Alternatively, you can right-click a symbol to copy it over to the right side of the desk (including from D-books).

The interface will vary slightly depending on what is in the selected slot at the far left:
 * If it's an empty slot or an empty book, the panel will simply be blank. If it's a symbol page, only that symbol will show.
 * If you are viewing a folder, the pages within will appear in the folder's order. You can drag pages around, but they when released they will snap to the grid.  You can even leave empty spaces in the sequence, but not after the last page in the folder.
 * If viewing a portfolio, you will see all symbols it contains. These will be sorted alphabetically by name, with all copies of a given name collected into a single stack.  The "All" button will still work.
 * If viewing a descriptive book, you can see the pages explicitly written into the book, much like a folder. This includes the link page, but not any symbols added internally by the grammar.

On the right side are areas devoted to copying and sequencing pages:
 * At the top are slots for paper and ink. The bar next to the ink bottles shows the level of the current ink bottle; when empty, an ink bottle from the top will become an empty bottle below it. Each bottle can write about 25 pages, but each page uses a full sheet of paper.
 * Below the paper slot is the "working slot", which can hold a book or symbol page. When you copy a symbol, it shows up here; if there is a folder in the slot, it will be placed in the first empty space of the folder.
 * If a folder, book, or symbol is placed in the working slot, the "track" in the middle of this section will appear to show its contents. This track display resembles the book binder's: The pages are shown all in one row, in page order.  (this does not work for portfolios),  While there are no visible scroll buttons, you can still scroll along this track by clicking at the edges, and for a folder you can also rearrange the pages.  The text box here can be used to rename any book, and if used on a descriptive book, this effectively renames the age.   Again, for a D-book, you will only see the symbols you wrote yourself, plus the link panel. D-books cannot be altered, except that before they are used to link, you can copy symbols onto any blank pages that were bound into the book.
 * Finally, the player inventory is visible at the bottom. Pages, books, and supplies can be moved as appropriate among your inventory, notebooks, the table slots, and both page-display areas.

To use the writing desk, you can drag pages around physically (including to or from your inventory), or you can right-click pages from the left display area, to copy them to the right side (working slot). This lets you organize your pages in multiple portfolios, or move and copy pages into a working folder, eventually to be used in the book binder. Everywhere on the desk, you can see the name of a page by hovering the cursor over it.