chats.changes(chat,change,...)

chats.changes(chat,"subject")
chats.changes(chat,"topic",topic)
chats.changes(chat,"goto",goto)
chats.changes(chat,"tag",tag_name,tag_value)

This is a callback hook, replace to be notified of changes and possibly alter then, by default we print debuging information. Replace this function with an empty function to prevent this eg

chats.changes=function()end

chat = chats:get_subject(subject_name)
chat = chats:get_subject()

Get the chat for the given subject or the chat for the last subject selected with set_subject if no subject_name is given.

tag_value = chats:get_tag(tag_name,subject_name)

Get the tag_value for the given tag_name which can either be "tag_root/tag_name" or "tag_name". The subject_name is the default root to use if no tag_root is given in the tag_name.

output = chats:replace_tags(input,subject_name)

Tags in the input text can be wrapped in {tag_name} and will be replaced with the appropriate tag_value. This is done recursively so tag_values can contain references to other tags. If a tag does not exist then it will not expand and {tag_name} will remain in the output text.

Again if any tag name does not contain an explicit root then subject_name will be used as the default chat subject.

chat = chats:set_subject(subject_name)

Set the current subject for this chats object, this subject becomes the chat that you will get if you call get_subject with no arguments.

tag_value = chats:set_tag(tag_name,tag_value,subject_name)

Alter the value of the given tag_name. If the value string begins with a "+" or a "-" Then the values will be treated as numbers and added or subtracted from the current value. This allows for simple incremental flag values.

Again if the tag name does not contain an explicit root then subject_name will be used as the default chat subject.