Tips & tricks: working with files (loading and writing)

[CosmoMyzrailGorynych]

Though there is a way to save games with localStorage, sometimes it is needed to load/write external files. Though this topic is widely covered by a js community and not a subject to be covered by ct.js functionality (as every API is pretty high-level already and there is no point for adding new catmods or core API for that), it is not obvious for game developers as they expect this to be a part of a game engine.

What needs to be documented:

• the use of include folder in ct.js projects;
• the use of fetch API with examples of loading images & data from include and the web. Possible use cases/examples include:
  • fetching a latest game's version on itch, which is a JSON file (e.g. https://itch.io/api/1/x/wharf/latest?target=comigo/ct&channel_name=win64, see butler docs at itch.io);
  • loading a heavy background image to speed up the loading process (as seen in Shifted).
• working with the file system in desktop apps (ct.fs). Use cases/examples may include:
  • reading a directory's contents (e.g. discovering user-made levels);
  • writing and reading JSON files;
  • deleting files.

Possibly, fs functionality may be abstracted and presented as a ct.js API in ct.desktop.

[CosmoMyzrailGorynych]

See also https://github.com/ct-js/ct-js/issues/139 as it solves the same problem

[ghost]

So how can I use the file system? I'm developing a game that will read user-made contents.

[CosmoMyzrailGorynych]

@sketchysketch See docs for ct.fs module.