In all of the examples so far, the command language manipulated or accessed the database, but also changed the user interface of the database. For example, the #VIEW Weapons command will change the current database to the Weapons view. zMUD also has a powerful way to perform scripts in the background without effecting the user interface. The user can be editing a different view of a different database while your script is running. Only if your script accessing the same record that the user is editing does a conflict occur, with whoever saves the record last taking priority.
To work in the background, use the #DBOFFLINE command. Now, all database commands and functions will work as normal, but no changes will be displayed in the database user interface. To return to "live" mode, use the #DBONLINE command.
The %find and %query commands already work in Offline mode so you don't have to worry about them. Also, the column functions: %sum, %average, %stdev, %count, %dblist, %dbmin, and %dbmax already work in Offline mode.
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