SaveString() overwrite text in .txt file

Processing Coding Questions
21

-a- well you can start from a empty file,
-b- still new words should be checked for have no double
( i tell you that arrays are not funny, like deleting a double later is tricky )
-c- but reading a not existing file gives error ( so you could create one )

actually that is a big problem, easy we can exchange code here at the forum
but as soon files ( and subdir ) are involved the sharing is not so easy
( i can give you a zip, but would you want download a zip from a unknown source? )

22

No it does not append

1 Like
23

I think this code is a good challenge for me to learn, I will follow your indication like starting from an empty file.
I think is ok to have double so that the code can know witch one is the most ā€œusedā€ word otherwise they will be all the same size, no?

Yes reading a empty file give error but i was thinking to solve that problem laterā€¦

Yes I would download the zip from you. But I donā€™t want you to do the code for me I would like to learn how to develop it by my own.

24

actually i think there might come much more functionality to this,
so i doubt that on long terms you will be happy with that text file.
a database? how is your SQL?
processing works great with sqlite3, and same easy about file handling
like that text file you use now.
( can not compare with the install and use of MySQL 8 )

25

Well the code Iā€™m trying to develop is for an installation. Iā€™ll use only once for one evening. Iā€™m not an expert and so I trust what you say but creating a DB it seams to me not necessary for the use I will do of it. No?

Moreover I use SQL only onceā€¦

26

Not sure if this fits the case, but maybe thereā€™s no need to call expand nor append. Maybe concat is enough? concat returns a new array thatā€™s the combination of two arrays.

  String filename ="data/MyText.txt";
  String[] oldlines = loadStrings(filename); // load old words into a String array

  String answer = "bicycle flower"; // simulated answer
  String[] newlines = split(answer, ' '); // split answer into words (a String array)
  
  saveStrings(filename, concat(oldlines, newlines)); // save both arrays to the file

But if you know that the answer only contains one word, then thereā€™s no reason to split it by spaces, and itā€™s even shorter:

  String filename ="data/MyText.txt";
  String[] lines = loadStrings(filename);

  String answer = "bicycle"; 
  
  saveStrings(filename, append(lines, answer)); // save the old array + the new word

Which just adds one word to the file.

Now you should be able to create a function that adds a word to a file. It would look like this:

void addWordToFile(String word, String filename) {
  // I leave this as an exercise :)
}

You could call it like this:

addWordToFile("orangutan", "data/MyText.txt");

:slight_smile:

1 Like
27
28

Hey Hamoid
thanks for the elegant hint! It work out! :slight_smile:

this is the code

String wordFile = "data/H-Farm.txt";
String[] msg;

void webSocketServerEvent(String msg) {  //listen the input from microphone and add it in the string call msg
  println(msg); // print the line with voice input
  addWordToFile(msg, "data/H-Farm.txt"); // call addWordToFile
}

void addWordToFile(String msg, String wordFile) { // create two strings: msg and wordFile
    String[] oldlines = loadStrings(wordFile); // create a string (empty) call old.. and i fill it with what there's already in the text file
    String answer = msg ; // not clear what this line does.. 
    String[] newlines = split(msg, ' '); // create string and fill it with string "msg" splitted every empty space
    saveStrings(wordFile, concat(oldlines, newlines)); //save all 
}

I donā€™t understand why I am creating so many strings (msg, wordFile, oldlines, answer, newlines) those are all string right?
I comment each line with what i guess the code does, would you mind please to check my comment and see if they are right?
thank you a lot
as well for the exercise :wink:

29

Hi :slight_smile: Good that it works :slight_smile:

You have indeed a few extra variables.

  • You could delete the first two lines, because you are not using them anywhere. They are global variables, and they get overwritten by local variables with the same names.
  • After void addWordToFile I would not write ā€œcreate two stringsā€. They are actually arguments / parameters for the addWordToFile function. The values of those two variables are received from outside, from wherever you are calling the function.
  • You can also delete String answer = msg; since you are not using answer anywhere.

@GoToLoop in the guidelines it recommends not to post links or code without explanations :slight_smile:

2 Likes