All,

Is it possible to use Grabber files with Allegro 5? From what I'm reading, the answer is no. It looks like zip files and multiple commands for interfile locations etc. I was just hoping I was misunderstanding.

Thanks.

That looks like a good way to deal with it. What are your internals like?

In my FileSystem I can load a manuscript with simple lines like this :

mouse = mysha.png
cat = garfield.jpg
meow = meow.ogg
eek = eek.ogg
music = backgroundmusic.ogg

and it will load them all and make them available under the shortcut names.

Simple enough for my needs and supports zip files transparently as if they were a folder :

archive = Data/data.7z
music = Data/data.7z/music.ogg

Sadly it still involves a cast from a base* or a void* at some point. Can't be avoided completely.

loading

destroying

//from kill/shutdown function
if (m_data_file)
{
  delete this->m_data_file;
  this->m_data_file = nullptr;
  std::cout << "Datafile Destroyed" << std::endl;
}

using

// draw function
ALLEGRO_BITMAP* logo = this->m_data_file->get<ALLEGRO_BITMAP*>(DATAFILE_BITMAP_LOGO);

al_draw_scaled_bitmap(logo,
  0.0f, 0.0f,
  (float*)al_get_bitmap_width(logo),
  (float*)al_get_bitmap_height(logo),
  0.0f, 0.0f,
  (float*)al_get_bitmap_width(this->m_buffer),
  (float*)al_get_bitmap_height(this->m_buffer), 0);

ALLEGRO_FONT* font = this->m_data_file->get<ALLEGRO_FONT*>(DATAFILE_FONT_MYSTICORA);
string_t* text = this->m_data_file->get<string_t*>(DATAFILE_TEXT_TITLE);
al_draw_text(font, color::map(0xffffff), 50, 200, 0, text->c_str());

If you're ambitious and realize I will probably update/modify the code in the future, you can check out my github repository.

EDIT: Modified what the code, so what I wrote here is not valid. You'll just have to check out the app that is in the repository that uses the library.

Are you knowledgeable on STL? Or maybe namespaces?

My naming convention might be confusing:
"datafile" is the name of the namespace
"datafile_t" is a class that wraps an std::vector<void*>

// how to open file and create datafile_t object
datafile_t* dfile = datafile::read(const string_t& filename);

// how to access the objects (pointers)
ALLEGRO_BITMAP* bitmap = (ALLEGRO_BITMAP*)(*dfile)[index];
ALLEGRO_BITMAP* bitmap = (ALLEGRO_BITMAP*)dfile->get(index);

Seems I didn't upload the latest also, I changed it so vector now wraps a std::shared_ptr<void>. However, it also removed ability to directly access the void* array. Object access is still the same.

// no longer valid
void** array_data = datafile_t::data();
ALLEGRO_BITMAP*bitmap = (ALLEGRO_BITMAP*)array_data[index];

Can't do that now that they are shared pointers.

I am thinking about making a similar product, but much much simpler. Still uses the same text file processing, but the datafile itself is simple.

Header file will be something simple like this:

load_datafile will return an array of datafile_t;

It would return an array. The last element's data pointing to null.

The datafile array is the end product of parsing a text file. Do not confuse the two.

This does not function the same was as Allegro4's datafile loading. That was a complete file with all objects stored in it. Mine only reads a single text file in a folder that has other files and folders where assets are stored.

I wrote individual functions that parse each type.

All I'm doing is writing some functions to simplify loading multiple files.

Put it all in a zip file and use PhysFS.

Option one: Open files
{"name":"613356","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/f\/b\/fbccfce10e1c37d0267b1afeaf350d4e.png","w":248,"h":278,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/f\/b\/fbccfce10e1c37d0267b1afeaf350d4e"}

Option two: zip file
{"name":"613357","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/4\/a\/4a35a423e83698b3918ef8ee86867f46.png","w":249,"h":295,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/4\/a\/4a35a423e83698b3918ef8ee86867f46"}

I plan on implementing option two. Eventually.

Yesterday, I started working on a standalone app that just outputs the header file. I kept changing thing and the header file would get corrupt, which would lead to errors in my app.

I also implemented nested datafiles. Don't know if needed, but older Grabber/Datafile had nested datafiles.

/* */
/* */
/* Date:  7:12:01 a.m. 10/08/2023 */ 
/* Do not hand edit! */

constexpr auto DATAFILE_TEXT_TITLE = 0;            /* TEXT */
constexpr auto DATAFILE_BITMAP_LOGO = 1;           /* BITMAP */
constexpr auto DATAFILE_BITMAP_ICON = 2;           /* BITMAP */
constexpr auto DATAFILE_BITMAP_ICON_SHEET = 3;     /* BITMAP */
constexpr auto DATAFILE_FONT_MYSTICORA = 4;        /* FONT */
constexpr auto DATAFILE_BUSTER = 5;                /* DATAFILE */
constexpr auto DATAFILE_BUSTER_TEXT_TITLE2 = 0;    /* TEXT */

I do too. I haven't used PhysFS either. Working on other issues first. I'll get around to it.

Simplified things a bit. I messed with it last night. Thought I was done, but realized it's broken. It works as is as long as you don't use nested datafiles. Will fix that in a bit. It's a fairly simple fix.

also think about just making it it's own repository.

If you don't care about adding custom types, then all you need is these two functions:

datafile_t* load(const string_t& filename);
void destroy(datafile_t* datafile);

It will parse your text file, load the assets, create an datafile_t array. The size of the array 1 more than the number of objects. The data value of the last argument is NULL. That's how you know it's the end of the array.

In your game, you can use as such

ALLEGRO_BITMAP* bitmap = (ALLEGRO_BITMAP*)datafile[index].data;

I tried to make the final product similar to Allegro 4's datafile. It's just the loading is different as it's not one file.

If you want custom objects, then you can register your own type with custom parse and deleter. the other functions are used to access the data from the text file. I hid the actual data inside parse_data_t to make it cleaner.

Sorry Edgar, I meant no disrespect. I wasn't implying the program didn't work as intended, only that i didn't know what it ws supposed to do. The included picture is what I ran. I clicked on file and tried to open a BMP file but nothing happened.

Nice Daniel. Thanks for the update.

Ace, that program is from Eagle 4 GUI. That's the old version of Eagle.

{"name":"613362","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/5\/8\/58a979be29f12e7989bec37a31556fb2.png","w":1030,"h":534,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/5\/8\/58a979be29f12e7989bec37a31556fb2"}
Oops. I forgot the closing " at end of tag in picture

{"name":"613361","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/4\/5\/45b12507f1c3329bae11a2dbbe1612b1.jpg","w":791,"h":620,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/4\/5\/45b12507f1c3329bae11a2dbbe1612b1"}

As for Eagle, that is a GUI, and I'm sure Edgar can explain more.