Saving a string made with keyboard buffer

Questions
1

Hello! I’ve been trying to make a calculator that uses the keyboard buffer for input, but when I close the keyboard, anything that has been typed is gone. How do I fix this?

Thanks

2

You have to process the keys before closing the keyboard. You could also batch them up in a string and then process the string.

3

@Prynok Here’s a simple keyboard routine.


displayMode(FULLSCREEN)
supportedOrientations(PORTRAIT)

function setup()
    hideKeyboard()
    showKeyboard()
    str=""
    nbr=0   
end

function draw()
    background(40,40,50)
    rectMode(CENTER)
    fill(255)
    if keyboardBuffer() ~= nil then
        str=keyboardBuffer()
    end
    text("number  "..nbr,300,730)
    text("Enter number then press return",300,640)
    rect(300,600,200,50)
    fill(255,0,0)
    text(str,300,600)

end

function keyboard(k)
    if k==RETURN then
        hideKeyboard()
        nbr=str
        if nbr=="" or nbr==nil then
            nbr=0
        end
    end  
end

function touched(t)
    if t.state==BEGAN then
        showKeyboard()
    end
end
4

I think I see the problem, the error that pulls up says: bad argument #1 to ‘sqrt’ (number expected, got string.) So i’m guessing the keyboard buffer turns a integer into a string?

5

@Prynok In my example above, if I replace


text("number  "..nbr,300,700 

with

text("number  "..math.sqrt(nbr),300,730)

the square root calculation works. I’m not sure how you’re doing your keyboard routine.

6

This is weird… When I try it in my program it still thinks its a string


-- Calculator
   supportedOrientations(PORTRAIT_UPSIDE_DOWN)

function setup()
    str = ""
    nbr = 0
    display = false
    form1 = false
    displayMode(FULLSCREEN)
  --  Name of the app
liney = 900
lines = {}
for i = 1, 15 do
   
    table.insert(lines, vec2(WIDTH, liney))
     liney = liney - 60
    end
    Name = "Math Helper"
    finder  = ""
end

-- This function gets called once every frame
function draw()
    
   
    
    -- This sets a dark background color 
    background(255, 255, 255, 255)

  
    strokeWidth(2)
    stroke(97, 153, 229, 255)
--Code for the fancy blue lines
for i=1, #lines do
    line(0, lines[i].y, WIDTH, lines[i].y)
    end
    
    stroke(239, 45, 46, 183)
    line(60,0,60,HEIGHT)
    
    
    -- Math helper logo
    fill(25, 25, 25, 183)
     fontSize(35)
    font("Noteworthy-Bold")
text(Name, WIDTH/2, HEIGHT - 30)
   if form1 == false and keyboardBuffer() ~= nil then
 finder = keyboardBuffer()
            elseif form1 == true and keyboardBuffer() ~= nil then
        str = keyboardBuffer()
end


    if isKeyboardShowing() == true 
then
    fontSize(30)
            font("Didot")
        fill(192, 192, 192, 255)
       
    background(28, 29, 55, 255)
    text(finder, WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2)
end
   if keyboardBuffer() == "sqaure root" or keyboardBuffer() == "sqaureroot" or form1 == true or display == true then
    form1 = true
    
    
   -- text(math.sqrt(11) "x" math.sqrt(11) "= 11", 400, 200)
if display == true then
text(""..math.sqrt(nbr).. " X " ..math.sqrt(nbr).." = 11", WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2)
end
  --  line(WIDTH/2 - 50, HEIGHT/2, WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2 )
    end

end

function touched(call)
    if t.tapCount == 1 then 
        form1 = false
        display = false
showKeyboard()
else
    hideKeyboard()
    end
end

function keyboard(key)
if key == RETURN and form1 == true then
    hideKeyboard()
    form1 = false
    nbr=str
    if nbr == "" or nbr==nil then
        nbr = 0
    end
    
    
    if key == RETURN and str ~= "" then
        
        display = true
        
        end
    
    end
    
end
7

keyboardBuffer() returns a string of previously typed text. Typing in a number does not make it a number type, it is still a string. To use math functions on it, use tonumber(string).

8

@SkyTheCoder then how did @dave1707 make his work? :-/

9

@Prynok No idea. Well, idea. If he didn’t type in anything and press enter, it would be fine, since nbr is set to 0. If he typed something in, to would be a string, though.

Another thing to take into account while using the keyboard is that if someone presses the “hide keyboard” button (bottom right), you need to have a procedure to figure that out, so it doesn’t think you’re still typing. This can be done with isKeyboardShowing(), and a custom boolean to be set when you showKeyoard() or hideKeyboard(). Then you can just compare the two.

10

@SkyTheCoder ok, I’ve been trying to do the tonumber(nbr) method, but it still wants it to be a string, any ideas?

(I put it under the keyboard function

11

@Prynok In my code above, as long as I type a number or a decimal point, it works. If I key in a comma (12,345) then I get an error. One thing you can do is when you’re expecting just a number, add code in the keyboard routine to only allow a number or decimal point.

12 

-- Calculator
   supportedOrientations(PORTRAIT_UPSIDE_DOWN)

function setup()
    str = ""
    nbr = 0
    display = false
    form1 = false
    displayMode(FULLSCREEN)
  --  Name of the app
liney = 900
lines = {}
for i = 1, 15 do

    table.insert(lines, vec2(WIDTH, liney))
     liney = liney - 60
    end
    Name = "Math Helper"
    finder  = ""
end

-- This function gets called once every frame
function draw()



    -- This sets a dark background color 
    background(255, 255, 255, 255)


    strokeWidth(2)
    stroke(97, 153, 229, 255)
--Code for the fancy blue lines
for i=1, #lines do
    line(0, lines[i].y, WIDTH, lines[i].y)
    end

    stroke(239, 45, 46, 183)
    line(60,0,60,HEIGHT)


    -- Math helper logo
    fill(25, 25, 25, 183)
     fontSize(35)
    font("Noteworthy-Bold")
text(Name, WIDTH/2, HEIGHT - 30)
   if form1 == false and keyboardBuffer() ~= nil then
 finder = keyboardBuffer()
            elseif form1 == true and keyboardBuffer() ~= nil then
        str = keyboardBuffer()
end


    if isKeyboardShowing() == true 
then
    fontSize(30)
            font("Didot")
        fill(192, 192, 192, 255)

    background(28, 29, 55, 255)
    text(finder, WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2)
end
   if keyboardBuffer() == "sqaure root" or keyboardBuffer() == "sqaureroot" or form1 == true or display == true then
    form1 = true


   -- text(math.sqrt(11) "x" math.sqrt(11) "= 11", 400, 200)
if display == true then
text(""..math.sqrt(nbr).. " X " ..math.sqrt(nbr).." = 11", WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2)
end
  --  line(WIDTH/2 - 50, HEIGHT/2, WIDTH/2, HEIGHT/2 )
    end

end

function touched(call)
    if t.tapCount == 1 then 
        form1 = false
        display = false
showKeyboard()
else
    hideKeyboard()
    end
end

function keyboard(key)
if key == RETURN and form1 == true then
    hideKeyboard()
    form1 = false
    nbr=str
    if nbr == "" or nbr==nil then
        nbr = 0
    end
    nbr = tonumber(nbr) -- Change


    if key == RETURN and str ~= "" then

        display = true

        end

    end

end

Maybe that’ll work? I added one line of code. Also, by the way, it’s spelled square root, not sqaure root.

13

For my code also, I just put in numbers

14

@SkyTheCoder I’m not sure if thats how the tonumber function works, because now we are getting nil

15

tonumber will only convert a string to a number only if the string is a number. If the string contains anything other than a number you’ll get nil or inf.

16

@dave1707 but the only things I put in are numbers, any other things that might of caused this?

17

@Prynok Exactly what are you keying in, give me an example. Do you key “sqaure root” then return, a number then return.

18

Here is what I do, I type in the word square root, so my program knows thats what I want to do, then it switches to a different interger for the keyboard buffer, and it takes in the number. So I don’t see how any letters could get into the second one

19

Oh… I found the problem, for some reason the number also copies the operation name… How would I fix this?

Edit: Got it working, thank you so much guys!