unique_preset_test.pd

Is it possible to write a unique text file from an abstraction, and have each instance of that abstraction be able to also write text files that won't be confused with each other?

Does this question make sense? Basically I'm trying to create some presets using multiple versions of my abstraction, and i'd rather not have to make a new folder for each version of the abstraction.

Let me know what you think. I tried adding $0 to the name of the textfile, but that didn't seem to work.

thanks, nick

@nicnut
$0 is a VERY bad idea, as its value can change when reopening the patch, depending on other patches and abstractions already open. You will end up with text files with meaningless unpredictable names
It is great though for keeping messages private within a patch or an abstraction....

Also a $1 in a message box takes the value of the first atom of an incoming list ($2 the second), and is not the value of an argument of the abstraction. $1, $2 etc. only take the arguments of an abstraction when they are in an object box.

You can use a float, or a symbol as an argument.
Symbols can be easier to "follow" though the patch and the text file names, as they carry more meaning.
Give your abstractions its arguments (or just one if the text file name is all you need... $1) ....... [abstr 1 x y woof]...... [abstr 2 z a howl] etc.....
Then use one of them to name the text file to write....... so writing $4.txt would write woof.txt for the first and howl.txt for the second.
Writing $1.txt would write 1.txt for the first and 2.txt for the second....
Writing $2.txt would write x.txt for the first and z.txt for the second....
Etc.
Here is an example........ example.zip
[mother] contains two copies of [abstr]........ [abstr 1] and [abstr 2].
You will see that the 1, or the 2, replace the [$1] value which is then sent to the $1 in the write message.
If you want to use a symbol then replace [$1]... the float object...... with [symbol $1]....... as in the [abstr] example.
David.

Ok thanks for the info. I'm using a lot of $0 in my patch so I definitely think I need to number my abstractions. Just for fun I tried using a number and a symbol, but that didn't seem to work for saving the text file, it just came up with the number.

Maybe the best solution for me is to have different abstractions that save to different folders, and everything else will be the same, so I can still use the $0 and all those objects can be local to their abstractions. It wouldn't take that long for me the create those folders and change the "write...." message in the different versions of this abstraction.

If you have a more elegant solution I'd love to hear it.

thank you very much for all your help and input.

Nick

@nicnut here is an example on how to do it with symbols and floats: write-text-file.zip

Keep in mind that messages need explicit symbols (if not floats) to replace $-placeholders.

So this works:
[symbol something(
[
[message $1(

But this does not:
[something(
[
[message $1(

You can feed messages to the [symbol] object to convert them to explicit symbols. Also checkout [makefilename] to do some more difficult conversion.

All this doesn't mean not to use $0 in abstractions. On the contrary, $0 is very important to separate stuff within abstraction from one another and should always be used.

@ingox wow this is really cool. A great thing to know. I had no idea you could use a symbol and a number. thanks. I think this will work for my situation.

thanks, Nick