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gdevelop5:all-features:filesystem [2019/01/24 14:12]
wendigo [File system extension] 		gdevelop5:all-features:filesystem [2020/12/26 13:56] (current)
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-# File system extension+# File system
 This extension gives you access to the file system of the pc the game is running on. This extension gives you access to the file system of the pc the game is running on.
-<note>This only works on Windows, Linux and MacOS. Mobile games and web games are currently not supported.</note>+<note>This works only on Windows, Linux and MacOS. Mobile games and web games are currently not supported.</note>
  
 ## File system versus Storage extension ## File system versus Storage extension
-pass+GDevelop offers two different ways to save data permanently. The storage extension and the file system extension. 
 + 
 +Since GDevelop is built upon web technology, at the time of writing, every game is basically a website that either runs directly in a browser (Web export) or inside a stripped-down browser container "Electron" (Windows, macOS, Linux) / "Apache Cordova" (Android, iOS). 
 + 
 +All these platforms offer web storage, integrated into the browser component of their runtimes where data can be saved in a dictionary-like key/value style. 
 + 
 +For security reasons, web browsers don't let websites write any data to the file system of the computer they are executed on. Only games exported for Windows, macOS, or Linux can use this functionality. 
 + 
 +### Storage 
 + 
 +- It is available on all platforms, a game can be exported to. 
 + 
 +- It can only hold text and numbers, binary data like screenshots can't be saved to the web storage. 
 + 
 +- Its maximum capacity is limited to a few megabytes, depending on the type of web browser the player uses. 
 + 
 +- The player has no direct access to web storage.  
 + 
 +### File system 
 + 
 +- It is only available on Windows, Linux and macOS. 
 + 
 +- You can save any kind of data. 
 + 
 +- You are free to choose a folder to save your data. 
 + 
 +- There are no limits on the file size. 
 + 
 +- The player can edit the files (i.e. manually correct a wrong screen resolution in a config file with a text editor) 
  
 ## Asynchronous execution ## Asynchronous execution
-pass+By default, actions get executed synchronously in GDevelop. This means that the game loop waits for each action to finish its execution before it runs the following event. 
 +Actions that take longer than a few milliseconds to execute will freeze the whole execution of the game until they finish.  
 + 
 +To avoid these freezes, GDevelop supports asynchronous execution of specific actions. If you choose the "async" version of the action, the operation will be delegated to a background task that runs in parallel to the game loop. After executing an asynchronous action, GDevelop will immediately execute the next event in the event sheet without waiting for the action to finish. 
 + 
 +To get notified about the status of the background task, the asynchronous actions have an optional result variable. This variable will be updated with the result of the operation, at the moment the background task has finished. 
 + 
 +By checking its value, you get to know when precisely the operation has finished and with which result: 
 + 
 +- **"ok"**: The operation was performed without errors. 
 + 
 +- **"error"**: Something went wrong while trying to perform the action. 
 + 
 +Saving the name of the next level after completing the previous one in a linear puzzle game, need not be done asynchronously. 
 + 
 +On the other hand, when trying to add an autosave function to an open-world game with procedurally generated unlimited terrain, the game developer will probably not get around saving the game asynchronously due to the heap of data to be written into the file. 
 + 
 +It is up to the game developer to decide which variant of the action is suitable for the individual situation. 
 + 
 +---
  
 ## Conditions ## Conditions
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 == Parameters == == Parameters ==
 ** Directory: ** The absolute file path to the directory which should be created. ** Directory: ** The absolute file path to the directory which should be created.
-It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep you game platform independent.+It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below), to keep you game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Save a text into a file === === Save a text into a file ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Save a text into a file (async) === === Save a text into a file (async) ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated in the moment, the file operation has finished.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated, at the moment the file operation has finished. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Save a scene variable into a JSON file === === Save a scene variable into a JSON file ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Save a scene variable into a JSON file (async) === === Save a scene variable into a JSON file (async) ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated in the moment, the file operation has finished.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated, at the moment the file operation has finished. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Load a text from a JSON file === === Load a text from a JSON file ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Load a text from a JSON file (async) === === Load a text from a JSON file (async) ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated in the moment, the file operation has finished.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated, at the moment the file operation has finished. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Load a text from a file === === Load a text from a file ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Load a text from a file (async) === === Load a text from a file (async) ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated in the moment, the file operation has finished.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated, at the moment the file operation has finished. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Delete a file === === Delete a file ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. 
 + 
 +---
  
 === Delete a file === === Delete a file ===
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 It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent. It is advised to use the expressions for special folders (see below) to keep your game platform independent.
  
-** (Optional) result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated in the moment, the file operation has finished.+** (Optional) Result variable: ** Variable to store the result. It can either hold the value 'ok': the task was successful or 'error': an error occurred. The variable will be updated, at the moment the file operation has finished.
  
 ## Expressions ## Expressions
-These expressions return the path to special folders on the users operating system. If you use these expressions for loading and saving files it will be guaranteed to work on all supported operating systems. (Currently Windows, Linux and MacOS) +These expressions return the path to special folders on the users' operating system. If you use these expressions for loading and saving files it will be guaranteed to work on all supported operating systems. (Currently Windows, Linux, and macOS) 
 === Desktop folder === === Desktop folder ===
 This expression returns the operating system independent path to the //Desktop// folder of the user that runs your game. This expression returns the operating system independent path to the //Desktop// folder of the user that runs your game.
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 === Temp folder === === Temp folder ===
 This expression returns the operating system independent path to the //Temp// folder of the user that runs your game. This expression returns the operating system independent path to the //Temp// folder of the user that runs your game.
-This folder is used for temporary files that your operating system can delete any time.+This folder is used for temporary files that your operating system can delete at any time.
 === Userdata folder === === Userdata folder ===
 This expression returns the operating system independent path to the //UserData// folder of the user that runs your game. This expression returns the operating system independent path to the //UserData// folder of the user that runs your game.
 This folder is used for storing application settings. This folder is used for storing application settings.
 === Path delimiter === === Path delimiter ===
-This expression returns the operating system independent path delimiter character. ("\" on Windows and "/" on Linux and MacOS). +This expression returns the operating system independent path delimiter character. ("\" on Windows and "/" on Linux and macOS). 
-Use this expression to build cross platform file paths that can be accessed on all supported operating systems.+Use this expression to build cross-platform file paths that can be accessed on all supported operating systems.
  
 ## Example ## Example
-In order to save a screen shot to the //Pictures// directory you could write:+In order to save a screenshot to the //Pictures// directory you could write:
  
 ``` ```
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 ``` ```
  
-This will work on Windows, Linux and MacOS.+This will work on Windows, Linux, and macOS.