Falling Balls

[Mr. T]

I want the balls in this programing to fall. I believe that the error is occuring in the whatdotcolour part of the code. Can someone please tell me what I'm doing incorrectly?

code:

View.Set ("offscreenonly") var itemI, itemQ : array 1 .. 15 of int procedure itemInitialization     for i : 1 .. 15         for q : 1 .. 30             for a : 1 .. 15                 itemI (a) := Rand.Int (1, 15)                 itemQ (a) := Rand.Int (1, 30)             end for         end for     end for end itemInitialization var fallBool : boolean := false proc drawItem (fall : int)     for a : 1 .. 15         drawfilloval (((itemI (a) - 1) * 20) + 10, (((itemQ (a) - 1) * 10) + 5) - fall, 2, 2, black) %Problem lies in the if statement below         if whatdotcolour (((itemI (a) - 1) * 20) + 10, (((itemQ (a) - 1) * 10) + 5) - fall) = white then             fallBool := true         end if     end for end drawItem itemInitialization var itemFall : int := 0 loop     delay (100)     View.Update     cls     drawItem (itemFall)     if fallBool = true then         itemFall += 10     end if end loop

[Cervantes]

your itemInitialization procedure is very inefficient. The first two for loops do nothing. Eliminate them.

The reason the balls don't fall has nothing to do with the whatdotcolour lines you pointed out. Rather, they don't fall because you never changed any variables. You need to decriment itemI (a) or itemQ (a). All you've done is draw them a few pixels away from their starting spots.

Use descriptive variable names. What in the world is I and Q? Somehow I and Q don't give me the idea of x and y coordinates.

Use records, instead of parallel arrays.

[Mr. T]

I do have an increment. Check the main loop. fallItem +=10 when fallBool = true. fallBool=true under the condition set by the whatdotcolour if statement. Furthermore, I know that the whatdotcolour if statement is causing the problem because if you take it out, and only have fallBool=true, then the balls DO fall.

[Cervantes]

Ah, so you do. Most of my reply was in response to your initial post (which you deleted), which didn't have such an incriment (or even this whatdotcolour stuff!) Arr!

I'll point out that you only have one fallBool variable, so either they all fall, or none do. Also, since it is never ever set to false except at initialization, if one ball statisfies the whatdotcolour condition to fall, then they all fall.

So this must mean that none of the balls satisfy the fall condition. This might have something to do with the fact that you View.Update, then cls, then do your whatdotcolouring. Try changing the order of these things. I'd recommend moving the View.Update and cls stuff to the end of the loop (it makes more sense, doesn't it?). So it becomes: call procedure; View.Update; delay; cls.

I don't have Turing on this computer, so you'll have to try some different things and report your successes/failures back here.

[Mr. T]

Sticking the cls and View.Update at the end worked! So that each ball falls on its own, I'll make fallBool into an array. Thanks for the help.

[Mr. T]

Ok, each ball (and boolean) is an element in an array. Nonetheless, the balls still fall at the same time. Any ideas as to why?

code:

View.Set ("offscreenonly") var itemI, itemQ : array 1 .. 15 of int procedure itemInitialization     for a : 1 .. 15         itemI (a) := Rand.Int (1, 15)         itemQ (a) := Rand.Int (1, 30)     end for end itemInitialization var fallBool : array 1 .. 15 of boolean proc drawItem (fall : array 1 .. 15 of int)     for a : 1 .. 15         drawfilloval (((itemI (a) - 1) * 20) + 10, (((itemQ (a) - 1) * 10) + 5) - fall (a), 2, 2, black)         %Problem lies in the if statement below         if whatdotcolour (itemI (a), itemQ (a)) = white then             fallBool (a) := true         end if     end for end drawItem itemInitialization var itemFall : array 1 .. 15 of int for i : 1 .. 15     itemFall (i) := 0 end for loop     drawfillbox (33, 424, 282, 55, blue)     drawItem (itemFall)     for a : 1 .. 15         if fallBool (a) = true then             itemFall (a) += 10         end if     end for     delay (100)     View.Update     cls end loop

[[Gandalf]]

Here's some incentive to use flexible arrays. If you do that, and start it off with no balls in the array, you can then add a timer which, when elapsed, spawns a new ball. This gives you control over the spawn rate and over how many balls you will allow in total.

[Mr. T]

I'm not trying to accomplish that. Rather I want a ball to fall ONLY when it is touching white.

[Cervantes]

Of course they all fall at the same rate: 10 pixels per loop. That's a hardcoded value. And as soon as the whatdotcolour condition for a particular ball to fall is met, it will fall forever. There's no way to turn falling off.

Cervantes wrote:

Use descriptive variable names. What in the world is I and Q? Somehow I and Q don't give me the idea of x and y coordinates.

Use records, instead of parallel arrays.

This still applies.

[Mr. T]

No, you're not understanding. The whatdotcolour if statement places a condition on the balls. The balls that are within the blue square SHOULD NOT fall, whereas the rest of the balls SHOULD. I don't know what's wrong with the whatdotcolour if statement?!

[[Gandalf]]

Mr. T, that this is a situation where you should be using records instead of parallel arrays (itemI, itemQ). That would make your code much more readable (added on to more descriptive naming), which in turn would make it easier for you to code and us to help you.

As for the reason why your whatdotcolour isn't working, I looked at it for a bit and couldn't figure it out. Possibly as a result of your slightly cryptic, and more than slightly disorganized code. My guess is that it's something to do with the proper colour not being detected because of the order in which things are drawn.

Really, general coding practices are more important than random problems with your code not working. That is where you must improve.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Nowhere in your code is fallBool set to false... Before you continue with this project, STOP, and do cervantes'/gandalf's suggestions... It'll save you a tonne of work later on, and if you keep using names and coding practices like this, people may just refuse to help you because your code is unreadable...

[TokenHerbz]

Here bud, have a look at this....

I hope i didn't make it to confusing lol, i tend to do that alot

code:

setscreen ("Graphics:maxx;maxx, title: Test") View.Set ("offscreenonly") %%id try using a class for this, but its to show Mr.T about records var mx, my, mb : int %%my mouse vars i want to use. var box_size : int := 20 %going to draw a box (you center it yourself if you want) type balls :     record         x, y : int         size : int         vy : int %%how fast it will fall         check : boolean %%%%%oooooooooo!!!!!         distance : int      %%im going to use this to see how far from top it is         %%can have more, like color, etc:     end record %%on your code you have a set amount of balls at one givin time? %%i will mimic this, but id use a flexable array with a timer %% too add balls the longer you play :) var ball : array 1 .. 15 of balls %%makes an array with the variables in the record %%now we can start to initialize everything like you have done. proc spawn_balls     for i : 1 .. upper (ball)         ball (i).size := Rand.Int (1, 10)         ball (i).distance := 0  %%hasn't moved any pixles         ball (i).x := Rand.Int (10, maxx - 10)         ball (i).y := maxy %%set at the top         ball (i).vy := Rand.Int (-5, -1)     end for end spawn_balls fcn allowable_boundries (num : int) : boolean     Mouse.Where (mx, my, mb) %too see where my mouse is     %%mb not needed unless you want to add smothing for it     %%number, for the specific ball     if ball (num).x >= mx and ball (num).x <= mx + box_size and             ball (num).y >= my and ball (num).y <= my + box_size then         result false        %%it collided     else         result true %can continue to fall     end if         %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%     %%%%%%%%%HOW EVER!!! YOU WANTED WHATDOTCOLOR     %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%         %i dont feel like making a good colition system for your tests, but this should work.      %  if whatdotcolor(ball(num).x,ball(num).y) = blue or whatdotcolor(ball(num).x + ball(num).size, ball(num).y + ball(num).size) = blue then    %    result false          % else    %    result true   % end if end allowable_boundries proc move_balls     for i : 1 .. upper (ball)         ball (i).check := allowable_boundries (i)         if ball (i).check = true then   %%not collided             ball (i).y += ball (i).vy %%move it down         end if     end for end move_balls proc draw_items     %%draw your blue box first to see the balls in it     Draw.FillBox (mx, my, mx + box_size, my + box_size, blue)     for i : 1 .. upper (ball)         Draw.FillOval (ball (i).x, ball (i).y, ball (i).size, ball (i).size, 7)     end for end draw_items spawn_balls loop     move_balls     cls     draw_items     View.Update     delay (20) end loop

[Mr. T]

TheOneTrueGod wrote:

Nowhere in your code is fallBool set to false... Before you continue with this project, STOP, and do cervantes'/gandalf's suggestions... It'll save you a tonne of work later on, and if you keep using names and coding practices like this, people may just refuse to help you because your code is unreadable...

This code is just a small segment of a larger game, so confusion on the part of other people is understandable.

Thanks for the help TokenHerbz

[Mr. T]

Ok, I was successfully able to implement your code into my game. Now, I need help with something new. My game runs on a 2d array grid system. Before the game even begins, certain cells are already coloured in, while others remain white. I want the little (falling) balls to be ONLY drawn in the coloured cells. How would go about determining which cells are coloured. And how would I use this information and apply it to the ball drawing section of code?