txt. file that can be added to without removing previous data

Question

My assignment is to recreate a game. One of the requirements is to have a txt. file that saves the top 10 scores in the game and updates them as the user continues to play. The file should also be accessible to the user to view.

So far, I've been able to create the file and add the score to it but I've tried over and over to add new scores without erasing the old ones, I've tried new FileWriter("file", true) and other methods that were suggested on-line but none of them work.

I can't see how I can sort the data and replace the scores as higher scores come in if I can't even keep more than one score on the txt. file. Please let me know an easy way to do this, I'm extremely new to programming.

public static void scores() {
  PrintWriter output = null;
  try {
    output = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter("/Users/name/Desktop/javaoutput.txt"));
  } catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  }
  output.println(counter);
  output.close();
}

It makes sense to me logically to create an array, something is still wrong though. Any idea how I should fix it from here?

UPDATED CODE:

public static void scores() {
  int temp;
  int line;
  PrintWriter output = null;
  try {
    output = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter("/Users/name/Desktop/javaoutput.txt"));
  } catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  }

  BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
  BufferedReader input = null;
  try {
    input = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("/Users/name/Desktop/javaoutput.txt"));
  } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  }
  try {
    line = (Integer.parseInt(input.readLine()));
  } catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    try {
      topscores[i] = (Integer.parseInt(input.readLine()));
    } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
  topscores[10] = counter;
  for (int i = 0; i < 11 - 1; i++) {
    for (int j = 0; j < 11 - 1 - i; j++) {
      if (topscores[j] > topscores[j + 1]) {
        temp = topscores[j];
        topscores[j] = topscores[j + 1];
        topscores[j + 1] = temp;
      }
    }
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    output.println(topscores[i]);
  }
  output.close();

  for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    topscoress.setText(" " + topscores[i]);
  }
}
}

more explanation needed for this Q – Shanteshwar Inde Jan 21 '19 at 05:40 — Shanteshwar Inde, Jan 21 '19 at 05:40

Prashant Zombade · Answer 1 · 2019-01-21T05:52:28.560

Short Answer: Read this question from stackoverflow on how to append text to existing file.

Solution to your problem: Do following when you get a new score.

Read existing lines from the file and store that in int array.
Add the new score in the array (only if it is greater than lowest existing score).
Sort the array (if it is updated with new score. google Comparator and Comparable for sorting).
Write array to the file (if it is updated with new score).

txt. file that can be added to without removing previous data

1 Answers1