desktop and standalone

[tyarmsteadBUSuSfT]

this codes works great when I'm one the desktop. But doesn't as a standalone. I've used documents and engine.
put url ("File:" & specialFolderPath("documents") & "/CarBuildApp" & "/Receipt.txt")  into tSavedFile.

I check for the file at startup of the app. I know it's something simple but I just can't see it.
Thank you
Ty

[dunbarx]

Hi..

Um, which code was that?

And standalones may require inclusions, that if omitted will break things. We need to know more...

Craig

[tyarmsteadBUSuSfT]

on preOpenCard
local tToDoList, tCarNotes, tNotename, tCarNote, tNoteTime, tCarBuild, tTry,tName,tToDolistDataArray,tDGLines,tSavedFile
local tSavedFile2
set the itemDelimiter to tab
set the itemDelimiter to tab
put url ("File:" & specialFolderPath("documents") & "/CarBuildApp" & "/Receipt.txt")  into tSavedFile
repeat with x = 1 to the number of lines of tSavedFile
put item 1 of line x of tSavedFile into item 1 of line x of tName
put item 2 of line x of tSavedFile into item 2 of line x of tName
put item 3 of line x of tSavedFile into item 3 of line x of tName
put item 4 of line x of tSavedFile into item 4 of line x of tName
put item 5 of line x of tSavedFile into item 5 of line x of tName
put item 6 of line x of tSavedFile into item 6 of line x of tName
put item 7 of line x of tSavedFile into item 7 of line x of tName
put item 9 of line x of tSavedFile into item 9 of line x of tName
put item 10 of line x of tSavedFile into item 10 of line x of tName
end repeat

repeat with x = 1 to tLines
put item 1 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Create Date"]
put item 2 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Date"]
put item 3 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Store"]
put item 4 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Category"]
put item 5 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["CDate2"]
put item 6 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Cost"]
--put item 7 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["img"]
put item 9 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Taxes Paid"]
put item 10 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Image"]
end repeat
set the dgData of group "dgReceipt" of me to tToDolistDataArray

I hope this helps, it's overkill maybe.
Thank you
Ty

[dunbarx]

Hi.

A couple of things.

First, it does not seem, if that is the entirety of your scripts, that anything in them ought to affect a standalone as opposed to working in the IDE. That assumes, however, that the "datagrid" inclusion is selected in the standalone settings.

Second, this, for example:

Code: Select all

repeat with x = 1 to the number of lines of tSavedFile
      put item 1 of line x of tSavedFile into item 1 of line x of tName
      put item 2 of line x of tSavedFile into item 2 of line x of tName
      put item 3 of line x of tSavedFile into item 3 of line x of tName
      put item 4 of line x of tSavedFile into item 4 of line x of tName
      put item 5 of line x of tSavedFile into item 5 of line x of tName
      put item 6 of line x of tSavedFile into item 6 of line x of tName
      put item 7 of line x of tSavedFile into item 7 of line x of tName 
      put item 9 of line x of tSavedFile into item 9 of line x of tName 
      put item 10 of line x of tSavedFile into item 10 of line x of tName 
   end repeat

could be shortened a bit:

Code: Select all

repeat with x = 1 to the number of lines of tSavedFile
      put item x of line x of tSavedFile into item x of line x of tName
end repeat

But that is another subject entirely, to streamline your coding generally. We are here for just that sort of thing.

So going back to the standalone thing, do you have that inclusion?

Craig

[stam]

could be shortened a bit:

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repeat with x = 1 to the number of lines of tSavedFile
      put item x of line x of tSavedFile into item x of line x of tName
end repeat

But that is another subject entirely, to streamline your coding generally. We are here for just that sort of thing.

So going back to the standalone thing, do you have that inclusion?

Craig

I might be wrong, but your code would only work if the number of items = the number of lines, which is probably not the case
You need a nested loop (1 to run through the lines and 1 to run through the items).

There are some other issues with the OP's code. For example tLines is not declared or assigned a value, yet a loop is being run to it.
The reason the OP's code isn't working is probably the line:

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repeat with x = 1 to tLines

as no value has been assigned to tLines
I also can't see why you'd have the intermediary tName and not just assign the value direct to an array.
Also you can shorten the code by assigning key names through a variable.

This is my take on it and although completely untested, it should do what the OP intends:

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on preOpenCard
   local tToDolistDataArray, tSavedFile, x, tKeyNames
   set the itemDelimiter to tab
   put url ("File:" & specialFolderPath("documents") & "/CarBuildApp/Receipt.txt")  into tSavedFile -- removed unnecessary '&'
   
   put "Create Date,Date,Store,Category,CDate2,Cost,img,Taxes Paid,image" into tKeyNames - the array's key names (NOTE: no space after comma!)
   set the itemDelimiter to comma
   repeat for each line tLine in tSavedFile
      add 1 to x -- 'repeat for each' loops are much much faster than 'repeat with x = 1 to num' loops, but you still need a counter (declared as local var)
      repeat with y = 1 to the number of items of tKeyNames
         put item y of tLine into tToDolistDataArray[x][item y of tKeyNames]
      end repeat
   end repeat
   set the dgData of group "dgReceipt" of me to tToDolistDataArray
end preOpenCard

[stam]

On a related note, i wouldn't have that code directly in the preOpenCard handler, but would assign it to it's own handler which is then called via preOpenCard, but can also be used in other contexts, for example is you just want to refresh the data from the text file.

On a less related but perhaps useful note, i also don't assign the data directly to the data grid's dgData, because very frequently i will want to filter data in the data grid (if you're searching for something specific for example).

What i do instead is assign the data to a custom property of the data grid that contains the entire data set and then this can either be assign to the dgData or can be filtered into another array to be assigned to the dgData of the data grid.

Ie, the last line of the handler in my apps will usually be something like:

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   set the allData of group "dgReceipt" to tToDolistDataArray
   set the dgData of group "dgReceipt"  to the allData of group "dgReceipt"

then i can filter the allData of the group and assign that to the dgData, eg

Code: Select all

put the allData of group "dgReceipt" into tArray
filter elements of tArray where each["<key>"] contains "<search text>"
set the dgData of group "dgReceipt" to tArray

This way i can run any number of searches/filtering on the data grid without disturbing the full data set, and can always restore the data to the full data set by simply assigning the dgData to the custom property 'allData' of the data grid...

[dunbarx]

What Stam says.

I agree that the original offering was set up in such a way that my one liner worked just fine. But it also seemed that the structure itself always had the index used in just that way, regardless of the number of chunks. After all, this was not a general question, but an actual code segment for the tsk at hand. If that changed, then certainly such a radical simplification would not be appropriate. But I really was just making a streamlining point, wanting the OP to see that point.

All this begs the issue about the standalone problem, the only one actually of interest to the OP. Stam, you and I are both off in the weeds.

I like weed.

Craig

[stam]

The original problem was posted as inability to get what works in the IDE to work in the standalone.
I don't disagree with your comment Craig - we may indeed be both off in the weeds, but I can't see that this code should even work in the IDE (see the comment about tLines in my previous post).

breaking down the OP's handler into logical steps:
1. import a delimited text file into a variable
2. convert the deleted text in the variable into an array
3. assign the array to a data grid

Where it looks like it probably falls down is (2) - although without a working stack to step through the code in the debugger, it's difficult to know for sure.

As you say Craig, there is nothing in the code that suggests it shouldn't work in standalone - but i suspect the code might be the problem, not the inclusions.

The posted code benefits from refactoring - while i haven't tested my code it *looks* like it should work, perhaps the OP can feed back... you never know, that may sort the OP's issue.

@tyarmsteadBUSuSfT - if this doesn't fix your issue, can you share a stack (and an example text file) that shows the problem? Stepping through the code in the debugger and looking at the variable values is invaluable in tracking down the issue.

In general though it usually does help to create small stack with only the problem function in it - i do this a lot when trying to debug issues where no answer is evident. That way you minimise interaction with other code that may be causing issues (i've had situations where a LiveCode subsystem has stalled with an error but no error message was generated - but as a result nothing worked); it also helps you focus on the problem at hand.

HTH
Stam

[dunbarx]

What Stam said again.

So tyarmsteadBUSuSfT, I am taking you at your word when you say the stack works in the IDE. Please verify that, so Stam and I can have our inclusions/code battle in peace.

Craig

[tyarmsteadBUSuSfT]

I tried to attached the stack, but got the error of unsupported file extension.
Ty

[dunbarx]

Was the stack zipped? It has to be.

Craig

[tyarmsteadBUSuSfT]

Thank you, I forgot it had to be zipped.
Ty

[stam]

Thank you, I forgot it had to be zipped.
Ty

Could you also provide a text file with test data that fits your use case? Difficult to test without that

[tyarmsteadBUSuSfT]

Please see attached, thank yo
Ty

[stam]

Please see attached, thank yo
Ty

Unfortunately my main MBP has a butterfly keyboard and it's lost a couple of keys :-/
So i'm now using a much older MBP which i haven't used in a while and it's taking forever to get Xcode stuff on, so i can't build standalones right now :-/

2 notes:
- both your code and mine (as posted above) work fine in the IDE
- These should work as is on the desktop - but i note your app is set to build for iOS only. That also means that the specialFolderPath("documents") is not your Documents folder, but the sandboxed app-specific Documents for your mobile app. Could this be the reason it's not working for you?


so, to make your code more readable, i personally would change this:

Code: Select all

on preOpenCard
   local tToDoList, tCarNotes, tNotename, tCarNote, tNoteTime, tCarBuild, tTry,tName,tToDolistDataArray,tDGLines,tSavedFile
   local tSavedFile2, tLines
   set the itemDelimiter to tab
   --answer "preopening Receipt list card"
   set the itemDelimiter to tab
   put url ("File:" & specialFolderPath("documents") & "/CarBuildApp" & "/Receipt.txt")  into tSavedFile
   --put url ("file:" & specialFolderPath("engine") & "/CarBuildApp" & "/Receipt.txt")  into tSavedFile
   
   --put url "file:" & specialFolderPath("documents") & "/CarBuildApp" & "/Receipt.txt"  into tSavedFile
   --answer tSavedFile
   ---open file (specialFolderPath("engine") & "/CarBuildApp" & "/Receipt.txt") for read
   --read from file "Receipt.txt:" until EOF
   --put it into tSavedFile2
   answer tSavedFile
   repeat with x = 1 to the number of lines of tSavedFile
      put item 1 of line x of tSavedFile into item 1 of line x of tName
      put item 2 of line x of tSavedFile into item 2 of line x of tName
      put item 3 of line x of tSavedFile into item 3 of line x of tName
      put item 4 of line x of tSavedFile into item 4 of line x of tName
      put item 5 of line x of tSavedFile into item 5 of line x of tName
      put item 6 of line x of tSavedFile into item 6 of line x of tName
      put item 7 of line x of tSavedFile into item 7 of line x of tName  
      put item 9 of line x of tSavedFile into item 9 of line x of tName 
      put item 10 of line x of tSavedFile into item 10 of line x of tName   
   end repeat
   --answer tName
   filter tName without empty
   get number of lines in tName
   put it into tLines
   repeat with x = 1 to tLines
      put item 1 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Create Date"]
      put item 2 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Date"]
      put item 3 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Store"]
      put item 4 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Category"]
      put item 5 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["CDate2"]
      put item 6 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Cost"]
      --put item 7 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["img"]
      put item 9 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Taxes Paid"]
      put item 10 of line x of tName into tToDolistDataArray[X]["Image"]
   end repeat
   set the dgData of group "dgReceipt" of me to tToDolistDataArray
   get the dgNumberOfLines of group "dgReceipt"
   put it into tDGLines
end preOpenCard

into this:

Code: Select all

on preOpenCard
   populateGridFromFile
end preOpenCard

command populateGridFromFile
   local tToDolistDataArray, tSavedFile, x, tKeyNames
   set the itemDelimiter to tab
   put url ("File:" & specialFolderPath("documents") & "/CarBuildApp/Receipt.txt")  into tSavedFile
   put "Create Date,Date,Store,Category,CDate2,Cost,img,Taxes Paid,image" into tKeyNames
   set the itemDelimiter to comma
   repeat for each line tLine in tSavedFile
      add 1 to x
      repeat with y = 1 to the number of items of tKeyNames
         put item y of tLine into tToDolistDataArray[x][item y of tKeyNames]
      end repeat
   end repeat
   set the dgData of group "dgReceipt" of me to tToDolistDataArray
end populateGridFromFile

Both work, but for me, fewer words = always better.

If you build for desktop this will almost certainly work as expected. Note that your 'receipts.txt' file starts with a line that contains a tab - i don't know if this is intentional, but it means the first line of the data grid won't have any text in it - if you want to change this then just add some code to remove the lines that don't 'have any text in them.

Also note that if you're using a data grid as a table and not a form, you don't necessarily need an array if your source data is tab-delimited text. If formatted correctly (eg empty fields are denoted by 2 consecutive tabs, fields in correct order and so on), you can assign the tab delimited text directly to the dgText property of the data grid and it will populate it.

With respect to the mobile build: How are you getting the text file into the mobile sandboxed Documents folder? I wonder if this is the problem you're having?