Thread: loading things from a text file into an array list

I'm trying to work out a way to save stuff in a text based game i'm making. The players inventory is an Array List. I worked out how to save the contents of it to a txt file but I have absolutely no idea about how to get that information back from the text file and reassign those values back to the array list. This is the code I've worked out.

Load.java

import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
 
public class Load {
 
	public void load() {
 
		ArrayList<String> test = new ArrayList<String>();
 
		try {
 
			File file = new File("save.txt");
			Scanner savedInv = new Scanner(file);
 
			while (savedInv.hasNext()) {
 
				String item = savedInv.nextLine();
				test.add(item);
				System.out.println(test);
 
			}
 
		}
 
		catch (Exception e) {
 
			System.out.println("Error loading file.");
 
		}
 
	}
 
}

Save.java

import java.io.*;
import java.lang.*;
import java.util.*;
 
public class Save {
 
	public void save() {
 
		player player = new player();
		userInput input = new userInput();
 
		input.getUserInput("Enter the item: ");
		player.inventory.add(input.input);
		input.getUserInput("Enter the item: ");
		player.inventory.add(input.input);
		input.getUserInput("Enter the item: ");
		player.inventory.add(input.input);
 
		try {
 
		PrintWriter save = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter("save.txt"));
		save.print(player.inventory + " ");
		save.close();
 
		}
 
		catch (Exception e) {
 
			System.out.println("error");
 
 
		}
 
	}
 
}

main.java

public class main {
 
	public static void main (String [] args) {
 
		player player = new player();
		Save save = new Save();
		Load load = new Load();
		userInput input = new userInput();
 
		input.getUserInput("Save or Load?");
 
		if (input.input.equals("save")) {
 
			save.save();
 
		}
 
		if (input.input.equals("load")) {
 
			load.load();
 
		}
 
	}
 
}

player.java

import java.util.*;
 
public class player {
 
	ArrayList<String> inventory =  new ArrayList<String>();
 
	public void add(String item) {
 
		inventory.add(item);
 
	}
 
}

The only problem is that when things are loading back in it takes the whole first line as one string making it one part of the array list when it should be 3 separate parts. any ideas?

I saved a,b,c in the text file which came to [a,b,c]. When I loaded it did this:

Save or Load?
load
[[a,]
[[a,, b,]
[[a,, b,, c]]
Press any key to continue . . .

This is the userInput class:

import java.io.*;
 
public class userInput {
 
	String input = null;
 
	public String getUserInput(String prompt) {
 
		System.out.println(prompt + " ");
 
		try {
 
			BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
			input = reader.readLine();
 
			if (input.length() == 0)
			return null;
 
			return input;
 
		} catch (IOException e) {
 
			System.out.println("IOException: " + e);
 
		}
 
		return input;
	}
 
}

Whenever I save the array list it will be the values in brackets with commas. I know I can change that after its saved but if i wanted to use this as a save format for a game it would be annoying for the user to change it. And yes that does fix the problem with the extra brackets and commas.

I meant that when I saved the array list to the file its format was [a,b,c]. I said that I knew you could take the brackets off after the file was saved (making the saved file look like "a,b,c") but it would be annoying for the user to half to go into their save file to take the brackets out. I changed my save try block you what you gave me and it saves without the brackets but it puts a comma after the c. Is there any way of preventing that? The deal with loading is that I need the values from the text file to be put back into the player inventory array list, not an the array of strings called element in the load try block you gave me.

Originally Posted by sp11k3t3ht3rd

I meant that when I saved the array list to the file its format was [a,b,c]. I said that I knew you could take the brackets off after the file was saved (making the saved file look like "a,b,c") but it would be annoying for the user to half to go into their save file to take the brackets out. I changed my save try block you what you gave me and it saves without the brackets but it puts a comma after the c. Is there any way of preventing that?

There is, but you don't need to, since the last comma is ignored when you load the file.

Originally Posted by sp11k3t3ht3rd

The deal with loading is that I need the values from the text file to be put back into the player inventory array list, not an the array of strings called element in the load try block you gave me.

I'm guessing you've never seen foreach loops before and you don't know what .split() does.

.split returns an array, which is why I instantiated the array elements. The string passed to split is just what character separates the items in the list.

String[] elements = savedInv.nextLine().split(",");

Then, I put all of the elements in the player inventory array list.

 for (String str : elements) {
     test.add(str);
     System.out.println(test);
 }

I'm also assuming that test is the player inventory array list. If it isn't, then you're going to need to do this (I'm using the static solution I outlined from your other thread for this, meaning you have to make inventory in player.class static)

 for (String str : elements) {
     player.inventory.add(str);
     System.out.println(test);
 }

Thanks so much!

Originally Posted by sp11k3t3ht3rd

Thanks so much!

Don't forget to mark this topic as solved by changing the topic title to "[SOLVED] loading things from a text file into an array list" ^____^

I added a line that prints out the array elements. And here's what it prints out:

Welcome to the game!

-------------------------
| mine - Go to the mine |
| shop - Go to the shop |
| save - Save your game |
| load - Load your game |
-------------------------

Enter your choice:
load
[Ljava.lang.String;@69b332

Does anyone have any ideas because I got really confused by putting this debug statement in.