File IO functionality for Documents and Dropbox

Suggestions
1

I really would like some actual lua file io functionality within the codea dev environment would be really nice.

2

What exactly would you like? I fine read/write local, project and global to be great. You can eaisly read and write from dropbox as well.

3

Here is some code to write to and read from a file. The file is written to the Documents folder. The file seems to show in the Documents folder only after Codea is closed and open again and it needs a .png extension. It doesn’t work if I try to write to the Dropbox folder. Maybe I don’t have the correct path name. Also, I haven’t found a way to do a directory list, so keep track of what files you write.


function setup()
    local file = os.getenv("HOME").."/Documents/myFile.png"
    local testData = "This is test data to be written to a file."
    
    writeData(file,testData)    
    readData(file)
end

function writeData(file,td)
    print("----- start write -----")
    wFd = io.open(file,"w")
    wFd:write(td)
    wFd:close()
    print("----- stop write -----\
")
end

function readData(file)
    print("----- start read -----")
    rFd = io.open(file,"r")
    while 1 do
        data=rFd:read()
        if data==nil then
            rFd:close()
            break
        end
        print(data)
    end
    print("----- stop read -----\
")
end
4

@dave1707 that is elegant. The likes if the os.getenv function is not exposed in the codea reference library.

@BriarFox I really am wanting to create files with any extension, write to and read from these files for the likes of 3d modelling and cad purposes using a predefined file specification

5

Ok dave I have tested the above sample and it works perfectly. I also tested using the file extension .txt this did not show up in the sprite pack as codea has a selective filter over te sprite pack viewer but when I synced my Dropbox it transferred out my txt file.

6

My next question does anyone have enough knowledge on the iOS Filesytem to allow me to save straight to Dropbox with out syncing. Ie does OS.getenv change to (“Dropbox”)

7

@dave1707

I have tried your example changing the .png file extension to .txt. I then plugged ipad into my PC & browsed using IExplorer and indeed found that the file had been created, now from what I can see from the codea app structure to send a fil to the Dropbox you need to have the path as …/Documents/Dropbox.spritepack/myFile.png.

Hope this helps you some I know you helped me out

8

To save directly to dropbox you might want to look into http.request() and dropbox api.

9

@briarfox

I seen that as there are no folders containing a respoitry for files which are queued for upload simply a folder containing cached files

10

.@michaelmaguin Thanks for the path to Dropbox. Since I’m just using an iPad, I don’t have access to the file system to see how the paths are made. A lot of stuff I do is just trial and error. I still would like to see a directory command.