`@spawn` traceback within evennia.prototypes.prototypes.protfunc_parser

Brief summary of issue / Description of requested feature:

Based on https://github.com/evennia/evennia/wiki/evennia.prototypes.protfuncs, it seems like all protofuncs are preceeded by $ character. However, prototype values without preceding $ are getting treated as $protofunc.

Steps to reproduce the issue / Reasons for adding feature:

1. @spawn {'key':'stone(#1234)'}

Error output / Expected result of feature

18-10-24 01:46:49 [::] Traceback (most recent call last):
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/commands/cmdhandler.py", line 594, in _run_command
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     _progressive_cmd_run(cmd, ret)
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/commands/cmdhandler.py", line 193, in _progressive_cmd_run
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     value = generator.next()
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/commands/default/building.py", line 3098, in func
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     for obj in spawner.spawn(prototype):
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/prototypes/spawner.py", line 694, in spawn
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     create_kwargs["db_key"] = init_spawn_value(val, str)
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/prototypes/prototypes.py", line 735, in init_spawn_value
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     value = protfunc_parser(value)
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/prototypes/prototypes.py", line 583, in protfunc_parser
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     stacktrace=stacktrace, testing=testing, **kwargs)
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/utils/inlinefuncs.py", line 425, in parse_inlinefunc
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     retval = "".join(_run_stack(item) for item in stack)
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/utils/inlinefuncs.py", line 425, in <genexpr>
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     retval = "".join(_run_stack(item) for item in stack)
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/utils/inlinefuncs.py", line 423, in _run_stack
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     retval = "" if strip else func(*args, **kwargs)
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/prototypes/protfuncs.py", line 315, in obj
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     obj = _obj_search(return_list=False, *args, **kwargs)
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]   File "/usr/src/evennia/evennia/prototypes/protfuncs.py", line 295, in _obj_search
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::]     raise ValueError("$obj: Query '{}' gave no matches.".format(query))
18-10-24 01:46:49 [::] ValueError: $obj: Query '#1234' gave no matches.
18-10-24 01:46:49 [EE] User input was: '@spawn {'key':'stone(#1234)'}'.

Extra information, such as Evennia revision/repo/branch, operating system and ideas for how to solve / implement:

It seems like the parsing and its regular expression is incorrect?

Code lifted from evennia.prototypes.prototypes.protfunc_parser

import re
_RE_DBREF = re.compile(r"(?<!\$obj\()(#[0-9]+)")
v = 'stone(#1234)'
_RE_DBREF.sub('$obj(\\1)', v)
'stone($obj(#1234))'

[Griatch]

The $obj protfunc is more general since it allows you to free-form search for an object by key, alias or dbref. Having a separate $dbref() only for dbrefs could be pretty intuitive though, I agree.

The wiki is normally edited in-place, in the web interface. Usually no permission is needed. If you have some big change and are unsure about it you can always ask about it in IRC/Discord.

[Griatch]

Sounds good 😃