Variable in Mid-string, GM7

Hey, I need to know how to set a variable in the middle of a string
something like
var_string = "Whats going down [delay=5] yall?"
But I need to make [delay=5] be executed as only changing a value, not appearing the the string. Delay is the variable determingin the text speed

So it would be like
(at the speed of 2) Whats going down (at the speed of 5) yall?

I dont care how complicated the code is, does anyone know how to do this?

You could do something like:

But this does limit you to having to declare the string outside of whatever function you're using.

I'm assuming you're making an animated text box similar to this topic here. Pick an escape character such as %, and place both it and the new speed into the string as shown:

Because you don't want the speed modifier to appear, you will need to build your message one letter at a time, and you'll want to modify it to check for your escape character.

Here's a rough example which mashes up both of the examples in that other topic:

if you want to be able to set variables other than delay, you'll need to be able to parse a more complicated escape sequence. Might be easiest to parse everything between two %'s and run execute_string on it, but that would be unsafe to use on user input.

This post has been edited by exenefevex on Oct 18 2009, 01:22 PM

real()

Because you don't want the speed modifier to appear, you will need to build your message one letter at a time, and you'll want to modify it to check for your escape character.

Here's a rough example which mashes up both of the examples in that other topic:

if you want to be able to set variables other than delay, you'll need to be able to parse a more complicated escape sequence. Might be easiest to parse everything between two %'s and run execute_string on it, but that would be unsafe to use on user input.

Im assuming that large code replaces the alarm[0] event?

Yeah.

Mind you I haven't tested anything and it's probably going to break miserably, but for now I'd plug that into alarm[0] and see what happens.

Well, it keeps giving this one error. I think its because Im not defining some variables correctly. You gave me Variables "position" and "c". How do I define these in the create event without causing some sort of error? Also, what exactly do these vars stand for? (sorry)

ALSO when I define the variables as 0 in create, it says "error in real()"

post the error(s)

When I define "c" and "position" as 0

when I dont

Position is your position progress within the textbox. It starts at 0 1! see following posts.

C is the next character to be added to draw_string unless that character is '%'. I originally called it "char" but there are already several variables, functions, and people all named char. C is a temporary variable, so you should declare it using var at the beginning of alarm[0]. You do not need to give it an initial value because it's set moments later.

delay = real(string_char_at(string_to_draw,position+1)) should not be causing an error in real. But just in case:

place that line immediately before the line with real() in it so we can see what's happening.

This post has been edited by exenefevex on Oct 18 2009, 03:08 PM

"hello, World!" is the message im using. But I dont get what this error means (Im not basic with GML, I just dont use this type of code)

"hello, World!" is the message im using. But I dont get what this error means (Im not basic with GML, I just dont use this type of code)

show_error is basically show_message with a bunch of extra information thrown at you, that's why I had you use it.

I made some edits to my original post so I can't be sure this is what you're seeing but here's what the message should mean:

string_to_draw == "%2Hello, %5World!"
position == 0 (or more precisely, position+1 == 1)
We already know that the 0th character in string_to_draw is "%" (otherwise you wouldn't see this message)
The (0+1)th character in string_to_draw is "%"

This makes absolutely no sense, unless
[opens gamemaker *type type type click*]
AHA found your problem. Strings in GM7 are (apparently) one-indexed, not zero-indexed. Furthermore there's a bug in string_char_at in GameMaker, wherein instead of causing an error when index is 0, it returns the 1st character instead. This makes your script think it found a "%" before it actually did. Not good.

But to solve your problem, all you have to do is initialize position to 1 instead of 0 in the create event.

This post has been edited by exenefevex on Oct 18 2009, 03:30 PM

It works! Thanks to Retroxyz, exenefevex, and char(i guess?)

lol what did i do

I'm using the auto-enter code you put up in the other topic