Special Edition Using® Macromedia® Director® MX

Chapter 21. Reading and Writing Data Files

In This Chapter
FileIO Xtra Basics	564
Reading Files	564
Writing Files	565
Choosing Files	565
FileIO Utility Handlers	566
FileIO Commands	568
File-Related Lingo Properties	570
Troubleshooting	572
Did You Know?	573

FileIO Xtra Basics

Using text files has always been more difficult in Director than it should be. Director MX is no different. It requires you to use the FileIO Xtra. This Xtra adds Lingo commands to handle reading and writing files.

Using an Xtra such as this is like using a behavior, except that the Xtra is referenced through a variable, not a sprite. Here is an example. To read a text file, use the following series of commands:

fileObj = new(xtra "FileIO") fileObj .openFile("myfile.txt", 1) text = fileObj.readfile() ...