Thank you @whale-av, that certainly helps. I didn't know about edit mode and although on my computer and version of PD it doesn't remove edit focus from the floatatom it is something I'll find useful in future. The subpatch opening in a new window and being closed using esc even when floatatom has edit focus does work and I don't get the error message so thank you.
escToClose.pd

I needed the floatatom to appear as a gop rather than in a separate window but I think I'll just have a commit button to take focus off the floatatom and hide the gop and floatatom input can provide a preview of the result before commit.

Thanks as always, much appreciated.

for those who don't want to get their console mucky...

editFocusError.pd

Here is a patch demonstrating the error message. Warning: PD requires a quit and restart after the error.

Hello, I've got some nested donecanvasdialogs controlling subpatches which I'm using to control different parameters of the same job. I'm using floatatoms to enter the values but when I close the subpatches (using escape via keyname) I get...
(Tcl) INVALID COMMAND NAME: invalid command name ".x96979f400.c"
while executing
"$tkcanvas focus $tag"
(procedure "pdtk_text_editing" line 4)
invoked from within
"pdtk_text_editing .x96979f400 {.x969564000.t967c0a380} 1 "
("uplevel" body line 53)
invoked from within
"uplevel #0 $docmds"(Tcl) UNHANDLED ERROR: bad window path name ".x96979f400.c"
while executing
"selection clear $tkcanvas"
(procedure "pdtk_text_editing" line 3)
invoked from within
"pdtk_text_editing .x96979f400 {} 0 "
("uplevel" body line 1)
invoked from within
"uplevel #0 $docmds"

This doesn't happen when I click outside the floatatom to deselect it before pressing escape. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get the floatatom to lose edit focus after I've committed the input?

Thank you in advance

~~

That's wonderful @oid, thank you. I didn't know how to use [sel] like that and [v] is new to me. Very helpful.

~~

Hello,

I wondered if there was a way to compare consecutive symbols in a list (chord symbols in my case but I suppose it applies to text too) to look for duplicates. I've attempted something but it's pretty long-winded and I'm sure there has to be a better way in PD. I'd be very grateful if anyone has any suggestions.

compare_consecutive_symbols.pd

Thanks

~~

Thanks @kyro - yes I've found that what you said works. The else library help files referred by @whale-av sets out the steps very clearly and has solved my problem. The [set] help file in vanilla was causing a great deal of confusion because even though it works in the [symbol fish]>[set -symbol pointer s] example I was just getting set: empty pointer when I recreated the help file verbatim.

Ah! Thank you @whale-av!

Thank you for your reply @whale-av. The graphical symbols have extended the scope of what I was looking for which was initially just text. Still struggling with the various components of data structures but many thanks for your help - certainly nudged me back on track.

Hello,

I'm just starting to learn about data structures in PD and at this stage I'm not sure if I'm exploring the appropriate path for what I need. I'm looking for a way to display a sequence of symbols arranged in a grid (like a lead sheet of chord symbols) which I can then click on to select and edit (using traverse next/get/set/append etc). Using a data structure seemed ideal but append isn't cooperating with symbols. I've seen a couple of posts which have raised the same issue from 2004 and 2013 re append not accepting symbols but I wondered if there was a way around this 12 years later or if anyone could offer another suggestion.

Thanks in advance
~~

@manuels thank you for your feedback. Still going to go through both with a fine tooth comb to try. to up my game!

@seb-harmonik.ar Thank you for taking the time to do this! It's amazing to see two working versions, one from @manuels and yours too. I'm now going to have fun going through to see how both versions work. The storing of variables was what was stumping me. Do you have any pointers on learning materials I could study to get better at thinking in a more logical way to help get me to the point of solving things like this? Thanks again - really appreciate your contribution and so impressed!

@manuels Thank you so much! This is exactly the output I was looking for. Could you possibly give me any pointers on learning material for the thought process that would help me get to the point where I'd be able to solve something like this for myself? I'm so impressed and grateful!

Hello, my first ever post on any forum on the internet! I have a question about recursive counts which I've seen named as dimensional counts. I wondered if anyone could help me achieve this in PD using two variables, the count value and the dimension value. Examples are a 2 dimensional countdown from 4 would be 4321 a 3 dimensional countdown from 4 would be 4321 321 21 1 a 4 dimensional countdown from 4 would be 4321 321 21 1 321 21 1 21 1 1. Can any of you clever people help please? Been scratching my head about this for a little too long now! I've been trying to make one patch which deals with any two variables. Thank you in advance.