reading txt files - GameCreators Forum

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Bob_42

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Location: Guernsey

Posted: 21st Sep 2006 20:43

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ok, i've searched through the forums high and low, and i still haven't found exactly what i am looking for, i found out how to write to a txt file and read it, but it only seems to read the first line...

all i really want, is the program to read the .txt file for a list of settings, for example;

speed = 10
range = 100
model = model.x

how would i so something like this?

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Latch

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Posted: 22nd Sep 2006 01:46

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Hello There,

You have to loop through the file until you reach it's end.

Take a look... replace f:\ with whatever directory path you want

+ Code Snippet

rem text file

rem make sure to delete exisiting file or we get an error
if file exist("f:\gamestats.txt")
   delete file "f:\gamestats.txt"
endif

rem create the file and store some strings in it
open to write 1,"f:\gamestats.txt"
write string 1,"score = 10"
write string 1,"health = 5"
write string 1,"put the rest"
write string 1,"of your text messages"
write string 1,"one after the other"
a$="or use string variables"
write string 1,a$

rem we're done writing so close it
close file 1

rem now we want to read back our data
open to read 1,"f:\gamestats.txt"

rem test to see if we reached the end of the file
rem if not read the next string (each string is stored
rem as a single line with chr$(13) and chr$(10) at the end of it)
while file end(1)<>1
   read string 1,a$

   rem print the line
   print a$
endwhile

close file 1

Enjoy your day.

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Ginga

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Location: Dorset, England

Posted: 22nd Sep 2006 16:44

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Latch has got it right, but one thing i norm do, is add a number at the very top of the file for how many times u have to read sumit in. the text document (gamestats.txt) would look sumit like EG:

3
speed = 10
range = 100
model = model.

say the file is already in the same directory, the code to read this in would b quite simple

+ Code Snippet

REM I use stri$ as a string variable to read into then transfer 
REM that to an array or what ever
REM OPEN FILE
Open to read 1, "gamestats.txt"

REM Read Line Count
Read String 1, STRI$ 
Count = val(STRI$)
Dim Info(Count)

REM Read the rest in
For A = 1 to Count
Read String 1, STRI$ : Info(A) = stri$
Next A

REM Close File
Close File 1

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Bob_42

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Location: Guernsey

Posted: 22nd Sep 2006 19:58

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how would i make it so that when the text is read that, (in my example) speed = 10, rather than info(1) = "speed = 10". Because i want to add it to my game so that i can say move object 1,speed.

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Latch

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Posted: 22nd Sep 2006 20:38 Edited at: 23rd Sep 2006 22:55

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[EDIT] I must've sent this late, it was supposed to appear right after Ginga's post - It's not a response to Bob's second post.

[Old]
@ Ginga

That's really clever and so simple!

@ Bob

With Ginga's suggestion, you could have sections of different data within your file. Each section identified by a count to indicate how many lines of info are included for that section.

Let's say you have two sections of three lines of info. The first line has the count of lines + 1 (the plus one indicates that there is another section following this one and to get the next count variable when this one is one it's last count).

4
speed = 10
range = 100
model = model
3
score = 100
health = 50
rate = 5

You can get as fancy as as you want - using multidimensioned arrays to get at specifc indexes of data, etc. etc.

Enjoy your day.

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Bob_42

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Location: Guernsey

Posted: 22nd Sep 2006 22:19

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but that doesn't help, i want to make each line into a variable, so speed will equal 10, range will equal 100. So i can then refer to this when controlling the model in various ways, i was thinkning maybe another way, the file could be converted into a dba file (using the rename command) and then use it in the main program, but i'm not entirely sure on how to do...

would i use the "#include" command?

maybe something like this:

+ Code Snippet

rename "file.txt", "file.dba"
#inlcude "file.dba"

do

<commands>

loop

or is there a better way?

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Ginga

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Posted: 23rd Sep 2006 14:35 Edited at: 23rd Sep 2006 14:37

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OK. Try it this way then. I've just edited my code a wee bit, This will be based on the assumption your txt file wont read 'speed = 10' it will just read '10' (trust me, ALOT easier to figure out in code, tho its a GOOD idea to write another txt file to remind you how you formatted it, i'll give example under code), (i'll write new stuff in CAPS)

+ Code Snippet

REM I use stri$ as a string variable to read into then transfer 
REM that to an array or what ever
REM OPEN FILE
Open to read 1, "gamestats.txt"

REM Read Line Count
Read String 1, STRI$ 
Count = val(STRI$)
Dim Info(Count)

REM Read the rest in
For A = 1 to Count
Read String 1, STRI$ : Info(A) = stri$
Next A

REM Close File
Close File 1

REM NOW TO CONVERT THE INFO(A) INTO WHAT EVER VARIABLE YOU WANT
SPEED = INFO(1)
RANGE = INFO(2)
MODEL = INFO(3)

REM NOW YOU CAN CALL UP SPEED,RANGE OR MODEL AND IT WILL BE RIGHT

ok, 2 more examples of your text files you should have (at least the way i see it)

Text File 1 - Variable values (gamestats.txt)
should read:

+ Code Snippet

3
10
100
mymodel

Now your second text file, (format.txt) has nothing to do with the game, and once the game is completed you could delete it, as its only a referance to you.

+ Code Snippet

This File tells me what is what for the following files
- Gamestats.txt -
Line 1 - Variable (line) Count
Line 2 - Speed value
Line 3 - Range Value
Line 4 - Model Name

Follow this and you should be fine. I use it for all my programs.

EDIT : somerthing wacky is happening with my code statements :S

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Bluestar4

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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 23:09

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back to the original quesiton, you could make an array of strings and use the load/save array commands.

example:

+ Code Snippet

dim strings$(20)
strings$(0)="10"
strints$(1)="100"
strints$(2)="model.x"
save array "somefile.dat",strings$(20)

load array "somefile.dat",strings$(20)
speed = val(strings$(0)
range = val(strings$(1)
model$ = strings$(2)

alternativly , you could also make a label called settings and use the data command to make a set of default values and then read these values back into the local variables (see manual)

Bluestar4~
http://www.geocities.com/bluestar4games

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