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[GregWS]

Hi, so I'm working on an ASCII game in GM and I'm setting it up so that users can use Notepad to create additional levels.  So far it's worked pretty well, but I'm having trouble putting together a level select list in the game.  What I'm trying to do is "scan" the Levels folder in the game directory to find out how many level files are in there, and then assign each file a place on an array.  The array part will be easy, but I can't seem to "scan" the folder; when I debug the method I'm using, I just keep getting "0" files back.  Here's my code:

    levels = 0;
    level_array[0] = file_find_first('working_directory*\Levels   
                     \level_****.txt',fa_readonly);
    while(file_find_next() != ""){
        levels += 1;
    }
    file_find_close();

I'm a little unsure about the part of the function where I used "fa_readonly," and the GM help file is pretty confusing when it comes to some of these file functions; the other options seemed worse.  If you're not familiar with these functions though, I would recommend checking out the GM help file and see what you can make of it.

Thanks!   

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

There's actually a command for this in GML, search the files section.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Found it. Look up file_find_next(), it should work exactly as you need here. When it returns -1, that's the end.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Oh, I see you're already using that function, I didn't look at your code.

I suspect your problem is that you need to change != "" to != -1, because it never returns "", it returns -1 when it fails.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Wait, no, you're right, it does say it returns an empty string, weird.

Your code should work, the way I'm reading it. I'll test it out and see why it doesn't.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I see your problem now.

Change

    level_array[0] = file_find_first('working_directory*\Levels   
                     \level_****.txt',fa_readonly);

to

    level_array[0] = file_find_first(working_directory + '\Levels   
                     \level_****.txt',fa_readonly);

Putting working directory in quotes won't work.

[GregWS]

OK, I'll give that a try; thanks so much for all the help!   

I taught myself GML almost entirely from the help file (and my existing C++ and Java skills), so that's always my first place to check.  Ironically, since learning GML a few years ago, I've completely forgotten how to code in both C++ and Java, so now GML is all I've got left.   

[GregWS]

It worked!!!