[PD] Problem with Textfile and line with float

[Jonathan Wilkes]

The problem occurs because Pd has several built-in message types, and the float message is one of them.  
Pd expects any message that has the "float" selector to have one argument, and that argument should be a 
float-atom (e.g., "float 1").  So if you type "float foo" in a message box and click it, Pd complains about 
"bad arguments" because (I think) when the message box tries to parse the message, it sees the "float" 
selector and thus expects a number for the argument, but instead it gets the symbolic-atom "foo."

In your example patch, if you disconnect all the objects from the outlet of [textfile] and click 
the [bng], you'll notice that you don't get an error.  I would take this to mean that [textfile] does its 
job-- its just that once you try to do anything with the message "float toto 0 1 2" by connecting 
[textfile]'s outlet to another object, Pd will catch the badly formed message and report an error.

(On the other hand, if your example text file had the line "float 3 0 1 2," the first argument ("3") would be 
the right type of atom, so Pd would just silently truncate 
everything after the first argument.  But you'd still get an error from the 
right inlet of [select float] because, ironically, by making the first argument of [select] the word
"float" instead of a float-atom like "3," you are instantiating a [select] object that expects symbol 
messages and not floats.)

As far as a solution, you could begin each line of your text file with the selector "list", or a word that 
is not the selector of Pd's builtin messages.  If you're reading in arbitrary data and you can't control 
whether each line starts with something that could be confused for a built-in Pd message type, I'm not sure 
what the best solution is.

-Jonathan



________________________________
From: Pedro Lopes <pedro.lopes at ist.utl.pt>
To: matohawk <matohawk at gmail.com>
Cc: pd-list <Pd-list at iem.at>
Sent: Tue, June 29, 2010 6:49:44 PM
Subject: Re: [PD] Problem with Textfile and line with float

humm.. I see what you mean now. It gives a error with the float argument when it arrives at the objects after the textfile. I'm trying to figure out the reason for that. 


On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 11:42 PM, Pedro Lopes <pedro.lopes at ist.utl.pt> wrote:

I did that, but what are you expecting your patch to do? 
>Should it send each object read from text file separately? 
>
>'Cause here (with the patch I explain in my previous reply) the textfile reads your file and outputs all the values to a [print list] so then its just a matter of manipulating that into what you want.
>
>I used your file for the tests. I can try to look and guess what do you intend, but its probably less ambiguous if you explain the purpose. :)
>
>Best of luck,
>Pedro 
>
>
>
>On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 11:36 PM, matohawk <matohawk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>Hi Pedro,
>>Sorry I think I'm not very with explanation.
>>I know how textfile works it's not my problem
>>Have a look of this patch and textfile, it's better to understand the problem:
>>http://www.th-th.fr/DOCS/Patch/bug-texfile.pd
>>http://www.th-th.fr/DOCS/Patch/text-float.txt
>>
>>Download the twho files, open the patch and click on bang
>>
>>Cheers,
>>Thomas
>>
>>Pedro Lopes a écrit :
>>
>>I'm not following the "concept" behind your code.
>>>
>>>Notice that you can connect a message box "print" and send that command to textfile. And it reads your file to the pd shell correctly.
>>>
>>>[read your-file.txt]
>>>|   [print(  <-- this is a message
>>>| /
>>>|/
>>>|  [bang] <-- hit this to read,.
>>>| /
>>>|/
>>>[textfile]
>>>|
>>>|
>>>[print list]
>>>
>>>And it works. Take a look at the help file, it shows hot to use it. I hope I'm understanding your issue, if not, hopefully someone does :)
>>>
>>>Best of luck,
>>>Pedro
>>>p.s: remember to use the "rewind" message to textfile, because otherwise it doesn't read the line again! Because it moves forward with the seek file pointer.
>>>
>>>
>>>On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 10:37 PM, thomas thiery <matohawk at gmail.com <mailto:matohawk at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>   Hi pd-list,
>>>
>>>   test this patch, I saw a curious problem. I need to read line with
>>>   "float" at the begining of a line and textfile can't do this.
>>>   It's a pity
>>>
>>>   --     Matohawk alias Th-Th
>>>   www.th-th.fr <http://www.th-th.fr>
>>>
>>>   _______________________________________________
>>>   Pd-list at iem.at <mailto:Pd-list at iem.at> mailing list 
>>>
>>>   UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management ->
>>>   http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>-- 
>>>Pedro Lopes
>>>contacto: jazz at radiozero.pt <mailto:jazz at radiozero.pt> 
>>>
>>>website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes
>>>
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Pd-list at iem.at mailing list
>>UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
>>
>
>
>-- 
>Pedro Lopes
>contacto: jazz at radiozero.pt
>
>website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes 
>


-- 
Pedro Lopes
contacto: jazz at radiozero.pt
website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes 



      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.puredata.info/pipermail/pd-list/attachments/20100629/bdbb165d/attachment-0001.htm>