How to create a text file that can be read again?

Question

I have taken a basic class on Java, but my knowledge is very little. I have created a text based rpg over the last month or two since I am getting more familiar with Java. I was wondering if there was any way I could have the program create a "save" file to be stored in a certain folder and prompt the user if they would like to open a saved character. I have not learned any of the object oriented parts of Java yet. What could I do to implement this?

Answer 1

I was wondering if there was any way I could have the program create a "save" file to be stored in a certain folder and prompt the user if they would like to open a saved character.

Writing and reading a text file is a solid beginner way to save states for games.

There are many ways to write to files listed here, but here's one example:

PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter("filename.txt");//create the writer object
out.println(text);//write
out.close() //when you're done writing, this will save

Now, here's a simple way to read a file found from here:

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("filename.txt"));//objects to read with
try {
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();//use to build a giant string from the file
    String line = br.readLine();

    //loop file line by line
    while (line != null) {
        sb.append(line);
        sb.append(System.lineSeparator());
        line = br.readLine();
    }
    String everything = sb.toString();
} finally {
    br.close();//always close!
}

There are many tutorials online just a Google away. |=^]

NOTE: Always remember to close readers/writers/scanners/etc. Else wise you'll get resource errors which you can read more about here.

Answer 2

That’s the class I built to save text,

import java.io.*;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

public class Savetext {

    /**
     * Saves text to a <i>.txt</i> file with the specified name,
     * 
     * @param name the file name without the extension
     * 
     * @param txt the text to be written in the file
     * 
     * @param message the message to be displayed when done saving, if <tt>null</tt> no
     * message will be displayed
     */
    public static void Save(String name, String txt, String message) {
        name += ".txt";
        gtxt(name, txt, message);
    }

    private static void gtxt(String name, String txt, String mess) {
        JFileChooser fc = new JFileChooser();
        fc.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
        File file = null;
        fc.showSaveDialog(null);
        file = fc.getSelectedFile();
        String path = file.getPath();
        path += "\\";
        path += name;

        File f1 = new File(path);
        try {
            PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(
                    new FileWriter(f1)));
            wrtxt(out, txt, mess);
        } catch (IOException e) {

            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, e.getMessage().toString());
        }

    }

    private static void wrtxt(PrintWriter out, String txt, String mess) {
        out.println(txt);
        out.flush();
        out.close();
        if (mess != null)
            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, mess);
    }

}

you should call the static save() method,without making an instance of the class,