SOLVED: Using a variable for screen name in Character object

[webryder]

Hi all,

I am trying to switch text boxes depending on certain in-game conditions. For example, a character's dialogue box changes depending on where he is on the screen.

I tried to do it this way, but it didn't work:

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define hiroshi = Character(None, screen=speech_"bubble")

where "bubble" is a string variable defined in the game. For example, "bubble = center".

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong in the character statement?

Thanks!

[philat]

Well, I don't know exactly how you're trying to implement anything but your current code combines a name (speech_) with a string ("bubble") in a way that probably throws up an error.

If what you're trying to do is eventually have screen be "screen_center" or "screen_left", etc., then it should probably be

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screen="speech_"+bubble

Haven't tested it, but the concatenation should work in principle.

[webryder]

I revised the character line to the following to try something different:

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define hiroshi = Character(None, window.background = "art/gui/Dialogue_"+bubble+".png")

but now I'm getting an error saying "Keyword can't be an expression." or something like that. THe idea is that bubble is a variable which can have string values like "center", "right", etc.

Any suggestions on how I get that dynamic filename to work?

[trooper6]

I don't know the answer to your question...but you could do this as a work around:

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define hLeft = Character(None, window.background = "art/gui/Dialogue_Left.png")
define hRight = Character(None, window.background = "art/gui/Dialogue_Right.png")
define hCenter = Character(None, window.background = "art/gui/Dialogue_Center.png")

init -1 python:
    def h(what, bubble="center", **kwargs):
        if bubble == "left":
            hLeft(what, **kwargs)
        elif bubble == "right":
            hRight(what, **kwargs)
        elif bubble == "center":
            hCenter(what, **kwargs)

label start:
    $h("This text will show up using the left bubble.", "left")
    $h("This text will show up using the right bubble.", "right")
    $h("This text will show up using the center bubble.", "center)

[webryder]

I feel like such a doofus - LOL.

The main problem is I used a dot instead of an underscore. It works when I do this:

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define hiroshi = Character(None, window_background = SpeechBubble)

And I define SpeechBubble initially in an init -1 python statement and it looks like I can change it as needed, changing the text box.