changing out letters and adding symbols

Programming Questions

martine14..

changing out letters and adding symbols

in Programming Questions • 4 months ago

Hi! I'm very new at Processing, and would appreciate some help!

What I'm trying to do is to make a pronunciation-translation code. I want to find certain characters in a textfile and replace them with others. I would also like to put in certain symbols on top of the letter.

Soo.. What I want to do is change the first letters to the second ones.

O -- Å

CCH -- KK

CH -- K

CI -- TSJI

CCI -- TSJI

GLI -- JLI

U -- O

ZI -- DZI

CCE -- TSHE

CE -- TSHE

GI -- DJI

GGI -- DJI

GE -- DJE

GGE -- DJE

After that I want to place a symbol on top, with size varying on the length of the word the letters are placed in.

This is the code I have so far, so as you can see, I need some help. hehe

PFont f;

void setup(){

size(500,700);

background(255);

noStroke();

smooth();

noLoop();

// load

f= loadFont ("Lane-Narrow-20.vlw");

}

// variables

int yp=80;

void draw(){

String quote1[] = loadStrings("BM1.txt");

//Decides the font and the fill color.

textFont (f,20);

fill(0);

for (int c=0; c<quote1.length; c++) {

String[] words = split(quote1[c], ' ');

println(words);

char[] chars = quote1[c].toCharArray();

println(chars);

}

for (int i=0; i<quote1.length; i++){

text((quote1[i]),40,yp);

yp=yp+40;

}

noLoop();

}

Hope someone would like to help me, it would be much appreciated

Replies(12)

benj.n.su..

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

The Processing docs say that Processing has access to all of the Java String methods so there are more things you can do than just the 6 or so methods Processing explicitly talks about. The one you might be interested in is the replace method which as you might hope, takes a sequences of target characters replaces each occurrence with a sequence of your choosing. Here's a tutorial which gives some easy examples: http://javarevisited.blogspot.com/2011/12/java-string-replace-example-tutorial.html Here's a little test I did:

String original = "Replace CCH with KK, and CCE with TSHE";
println(original);
String replaceCCH = original.replace("CCH", "KK");
println(replaceCCH);
String replaceCCE = replaceCCH.replace("CCE", "TSHE");
println(replaceCCE);

What you can do is setup two String arrays, one for the targets, and the other for the replacements. Then, setup a for loop, something like this (warning: impending untested psuedocode):

String[] targets = {"O", "CCH", "CH", "CI"};
String[] replacements = {"A", "KK", "K", "TSJI"};
String text = "This is the text I wish to replace.";
for(int i = 0; i < targets.length; i++){
text = text.replace(targets[i], replacements[j];
}

As far as special characters, I"m not sure. I don't think the processing API has the extended ASCII table in it. For example, the ASCII code for a capital U with an umlout is 154. What you'd normally do is something like this:

char umloutU = char(154);
println(umloutU); //prints ?

There's got to be a way to do it. People use it to internationally for there not to be a way. You might have better luck if you post specifically about that.

martine14..

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

Thank you so much!

It was a lot of help, I have managed to change out all the letters in the text.

What I need to do now is to make a variable based on the coordinates of the letters I changed out to place a image on top of it. You would´t happen to know how to do that aswell? :)

benj.n.su..

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

sorry. was out of town for a bit.

that's a tough one because you'll need to know how large each character both in width and height and this changes if it's a capital letter, a letter that crosses the bottom (g, j, etc), and different widths (m vs n for example). if you're willing to have the same amount of space between each letter I suppose it wouldn't be too onerous.

If you wanted to go the array route, you could have two arrays of equal size; one of letters, the other of boolean values. The array of boolean values would be to indicate whether the image should be displayed. Then in your draw loop():

void draw(){
for(int i = 0; i < letters.length; i++){
if(image[i] == false){
text(letters[i], x, y);
} else if(images[i] == true){
img(myImage, x, y);
}
}
}

PhiLho

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

@benj.n.sugar: Pet peeve of me: use the booleans for what they are! The boolean cannot be something else than true or false, so the second test is redundant. And no need to test for equality with a constant...
So your test can be:

void draw() {
for (int i = 0; i < letters.length; i++) {
if (shiowImages[i]) {
img(myImage, x, y);
} else {
text(letters[i], x, y);
}
}
}

I inverted the test because ! after a parenthesis isn't super-readable, I admit.
Minor quibble.

GoToLoop

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

Following the philosophy of CS/Python, here's the same solution above w/ less curly braces:

void draw() {
  for (int i = 0; i != letters.length; i++)
    if (images[i])   image(myImage, x, y);
    else           text(letters[i], x, y);
}

PhiLho

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

I follow the opposite philosophy, I put braces everywhere, including around single lines, except interruption keywords (return, break, continue...).
It is too easy to do an error with the above style. Eg.:

if (b1)
if (b2)
doStuff();
else
doOtherStuff();

Here, indentation is misleading...

GoToLoop

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

Indeed, the excerpt above would be interpreted as:

if (b1)
  if (b2)  doStuff();
  else     doOtherStuff();

And even Processing's auto format is unable to guess it right!

Now, if that was something like CoffeeScript or Python, it'd be understood as:

if (b1) {
  if (b2)  doStuff();
}

else  doOtherStuff();

The problem is that else always pairs w/ nearest loose if line.

And to avoid that auto association, we have to enclose an if w/ { } to define it ends there,

just like we use ( ) on math to change operator priorities!

I concede that C-like languages like Java & JavaScript are not 100% fit to exclude { } in all situations.

But it's undeniable that diminishing the # of brackets helps a lot w/ reading a source code!

PhiLho

Re: Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

" diminishing the # of brackets helps a lot w/ reading a source code!"
Then let's say readability is in the eye of the beholder! Like position of opening braces, usage of space, and such.

benj.n.su..

Re: Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

This thread about readability really took off while I was away! I actually think this is a really valuable conversation. Processing has a unique place as both a tool that has a low barrier of entry, and suited well for learning, while at the same time allowing robust and expressive programs that are professional grade. I think this makes for a very unique community; a mix of beginner and well seasoned coders both with different needs and expectations. I have some opinions on this but it feels like the conversation is becoming big enough to warrant it's own thread. I'd love to hear more from a variety of experiences. Would anyone mind if I started a new thread? Perhaps entitled: Coding Readability and Style?

martine14..

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

I'm a bit confused now.. :)

For now I have managed to replace the letters as I want, and upload the symbol for the replacement.

But how can I make the image display as many times as the letter occurs in the text, with x,y coordinates according to the placement of the letters? As the script is now, the image can only be displayed one time if the letter exists in the text.

Sorry about the mess in the script and the obviously stupid questions, but I have a deadline for tomorrow, and need to try to fix this!

Thank you so much for your replies!

PFont f;

PImage S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9, S10, S11, S12, S13, S14;

void setup() {

size(600, 800);

background(255);

smooth();

f=loadFont ("Lane-Narrow-20.vlw");

S1=loadImage ("1.gif");

S2=loadImage ("2.gif");

S3=loadImage ("3.gif");

S4=loadImage ("4.gif");

S5=loadImage ("5.gif");

S6=loadImage ("6.gif");

S7=loadImage ("7.gif");

S8=loadImage ("8.gif");

S9=loadImage ("9.gif");

S10=loadImage("10.gif");

S11=loadImage("11.gif");

S12=loadImage("12.gif");

S13=loadImage("13.gif");

S14=loadImage("14.gif");

}

int yp=150;

void draw() {

String quotes[] = loadStrings ("GP1.txt");

for (int c=0; c<quotes.length; c++) {

println (quotes[c]);

println ("..........");

String replaceNON = quotes[c].replace("o", "o");

String replaceO = replaceNON.replace("o", "å");

println (replaceO);

String replaceU = replaceO.replace("u", "o");

println (replaceU);

String replaceCH = replaceU.replace("ch", "k");

println (replaceCH);

String replaceCCH = replaceCH.replace("cch", "kk");

println (replaceCCH);

String replaceCI = replaceCCH.replace("ci", "tsji");

println (replaceCI);

String replaceCCI = replaceCI.replace("cci", "tsji");

println (replaceCCI);

String replaceGLI = replaceCCI.replace("gli", "jli");

println (replaceGLI);

String replaceZI = replaceGLI.replace("zi", "dzi");

println (replaceZI);

String replaceCE = replaceZI.replace("ce", "tshe");

println (replaceCE);

String replaceCCE = replaceCE.replace("cce", "tshe");

println (replaceCCE);

String replaceGI = replaceCCE.replace("gi", "dji");

println (replaceGI);

String replaceGGI = replaceGI.replace("ggi", "dji");

println (replaceGGI);

String replaceGE = replaceGGI.replace("ge", "dje");

println (replaceGE);

String replaceGGE = replaceGE.replace("gge", "dje");

println (replaceGGE);

fill(0);

text(replaceGGE, 100, yp);

yp=yp+35;

tint(255, 80);

imageMode (CENTER);

if (replaceNON.indexOf("o") >= 0) {

image (S1, 50, 10, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf("u")>=0) {

image (S2, 50, 50, 30, 30 );

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf("ch")>=0){

image (S3, 50, 90, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf("cch")>=0){

image (S4, 50, 130, 30,30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf("ci")>=0){

image (S5, 50, 170, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf ("cci")<=0){

image (S6, 50, 210, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON. indexOf ("gli")<=0){

image (S7, 50, 250, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf ("zi")>=0){

image (S8, 50, 290, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf ("ce")>=0){

image (S9, 50, 330, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf ("cce")>=0){

image (S10, 50, 370, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf ("gi")>=0){

image (S11, 50, 410, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf ("ggi")>=0){

image (S12, 50, 450, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf ("ge")>=0){

image (S13, 50, 490, 30, 30);

}

if (replaceNON.indexOf ("gge")>=0){

image (S14, 50, 530, 30, 30);

}

noLoop();

}

GoToLoop

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

Have you read my answers @?

http://forum.processing.org/topic/place-image-on-top-of-the-coordinate-of-a-certain-character

W/o organizing your many variables as Arrays or as a class, a practical solution isn't possible!

benj.n.su..

Re: changing out letters and adding symbols

4 months ago

I may be late to the game on this one but here goes.

Disclaimer: It's harder to tell what is occurring without being able to run the program. It would be ideal if you can edit your code (no need to repost just edit) and comment what is happening. This will help me better understand what's in your mind since this is not the natural way for me to go about it. Your millage may very as low as zero.

At any rate.

What you can do is keep track of an index where the last "hit" was found in the "target". Right now it is continually checking the same index (>=0) and finding the first each time. If you create a variable and continually set it to the last time the index was found you will disregard any of the text you previously checked.

Assuming that your letters are from left to right, you'll also need a way to track where along the x axis your letter is being displayed. That's going to be hard for reasons I've stated previously. You might have to add a little more space between the letters to clear each one. For example:

REGULAR: This is a sentence.

CONST MARGIN: T h i s i s a s e n t e n c e .

If you're willing to do that, conceptually speaking, something like this might work:

int ceIndex = 0;
int spaceBetween = 2;
if (replaceNON.indexOf ("ce") >= ceIndex){
image (S9, spaceBetween * ceIndex, 330, 30, 30);
ceIndex = replaceNON.indexOf("ce")
}

Unfortunately your implementation requires that you create a separate index tracker for each String. But hey, you're on a deadline and deadlines don't have to be perfect they just have to work. Refinement can come on the next iteration.

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