Saving Game state Android - android

I'm unsure how I'm supposed to save the game state of my game that I'm developing. Should I save a instance/object containing all the game information? If yes, how? Or should I save all the relative information in a .txt file and save/load information when needed?
How do you do this and what do you think of my proposals?

You can't save an Instance / Object unless you serialize it and save it to some text/binary/database file. Your two options are kind of identical therefore.
What you need to save is all information that you need to reconstruct your game state. There are probably some information that you can derive from here.
If you have just a small fixed set of variables that define your gamestate then use SharedPreferences.
If you want to keep more than one state and / or it is more complex to save use some text (xml, json, ...)/binary/database/.. representation and store that.

I can suggest to use Parse.
https://parse.com/docs/android_guide#objects
The ParseObject
Storing data on Parse is built around the ParseObject. Each ParseObject contains key-value pairs of JSON-compatible data. This data is schemaless, which means that you don't need to specify ahead of time what keys exist on each ParseObject. You simply set whatever key-value pairs you want, and our backend will store it.
For example, let's say you're tracking high scores for a game. A single ParseObject could contain:
score: 1337, playerName: "Sean Plott", cheatMode: false
Keys must be alphanumeric strings. Values can be strings, numbers, booleans, or even arrays and objects - anything that can be JSON-encoded.
Each ParseObject has a class name that you can use to distinguish different sorts of data. For example, we could call the high score object a GameScore. We recommend that you NameYourClassesLikeThis and nameYourKeysLikeThis, just to keep your code looking pretty.
Saving Objects
Let's say you want to save the GameScore described above to the server. The interface is similar to a Map, plus the save method:
ParseObject gameScore = new ParseObject("GameScore");
gameScore.put("score", 1337);
gameScore.put("playerName", "Sean Plott");
gameScore.put("cheatMode", false);
try {
gameScore.save();
} catch (ParseException e) {
// e.getMessage() will have information on the error.
}
After this code runs, you will probably be wondering if anything really happened. To make sure the data was saved, you can look at the Data Browser in your app on Parse. You should see something like this:
objectId: "xWMyZ4YEGZ", score: 1337, playerName: "Sean Plott", cheatMode: false,
createdAt:"2011-06-10T18:33:42Z", updatedAt:"2011-06-10T18:33:42Z"
There are two things to note here. You didn't have to configure or set up a new Class called GameScore before running this code. Your Parse app lazily creates this Class for you when it first encounters it.
There are also a few fields you don't need to specify that are provided as a convenience. objectId is a unique identifier for each saved object. createdAt and updatedAt represent the time that each object was created and last modified on the server. Each of these fields is filled in by the server, so they don't exist on a ParseObject until a save operation has completed.
Retrieving Objects
Saving data to the cloud is fun, but it's even more fun to get that data out again. If you have the objectId, you can retrieve the whole ParseObject using a ParseQuery:
ParseQuery query = new ParseQuery("GameScore");
ParseObject gameScore;
try {
gameScore = query.get("xWMyZ4YEGZ");
} catch (ParseException e) {
// e.getMessage() will have information on the error.
}
To get the values out of the ParseObject, there's a getX method for each data type:
int score = gameScore.getInt("score");
String playerName = gameScore.getString("playerName");
boolean cheatMode = gameScore.getBoolean("cheatMode");
If you don't know what type of data you're getting out, you can call get(key), but then you probably have to cast it right away anyways. In most situations you should use the typed accessors like getString.
The three special values have their own accessors:
String objectId = gameScore.getObjectId();
Date updatedAt = gameScore.getUpdatedAt();
Date createdAt = gameScore.getCreatedAt();
If you need to refresh an object you already have with the latest data that is on the server, you can call the refresh method like so:
myObject.refresh();

You could use an SQLite database to save the important variables in your game. If the game is started from one class you could provide that class with two constructors, one which instantiates a normal game from the beginning and another which accepts all of the variables from your game and creates the game object from the save point.
This will allow you to have more than one game save (by saving the id along with any data) and game saves will not be lost if you ever update your game (Assuming you don't alter the database).
Do a quick search for "constructor overloading" to find out more.

If your game is not data intensive and if serializing and saving to Shared Preferences is enough, you can check out the GNStateManager component of the library I wrote to make it easy to store and retrieve the required fields of the activity marked my #GNState annotation. It is dead simple to use. Other singleton class object states can be saved too. See here for Setup and Usage information: https://github.com/noxiouswinter/gnlib_android/wiki/gnstatemanager

Related

SharedPreferences - Difference between these two ways of retrieving the Preference value?

I am using the Preference-API..
Typically when I need to retrieve the value of a Preference, I currently do something like this:
final SharedPreferences getPrefs =
PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(getActivity());
boolean isThisPrefEnabled = getPrefs.getBoolean(REFERENCE_TO_PREF_NAME, false);
// OR
String theChosenPref = getPrefs.getString(PREF_NAME, DEFAULT_VALUE);
But I'm curious, couldn't I also do it like this? and if so, what is the difference?
Preference nameOfPref = findPreference(PREFERENCE_KEY);
boolean isPrefEnabled = nameOfPref.isEnabled();
// OR
String thePrefValue = nameOfPref.toString();
It seems to be more efficient, but the first example seems to be what get's used. Why is this?
Thanks.
SharedPreferences is an android specific interface documentation
android.content.SharedPreferences : is a key/value store where you can save a data under certain key. To read the data from the store you have to know the key of the data. This makes reading the data very easy. But as easy as it is to store a small amount of data as difficult it is to store and read large structured data as you need to define key for every single data, furthermore you cannot really search within the data except you have a certain concept for naming the keys.
Preferences is a core java class documentation
java.util.prefs.Preferences : This class allows applications to store
and retrieve user and system preference and configuration data. This
data is stored persistently in an implementation-dependent backing
store.

String Array in SharedPreferences

I need to work with a persistent String Array (n Rows, 1 column).
* On first running the app, the String Array needs to be created empty.
* On subsequent app executions the Array will be populated from a File and the contents need to be available throughout the rest of the app.
* As the app is executed, the Array needs to be able to 'grow' in row count
* As the app is executed, the Array rows need to be able to grow in length
* The user will have the option to Clear the Array of previous entries.
* At the end, the String Array contents will be written back to a File.
I find a lot of references to Putting and Getting from an existing SharedPreferences String[] but, in the newness of my Android development, I am struggling with how to proceed.
EDIT Follows...
The data itself suggests using an Array
Example:
MAIN ST. F55 63 KY08:57 12142015--------KY11:24 12142015345TMH KY13:57 12142015
MAIN ST. F56 WYE123 IN08:57 12142015--------KY11:24 12142015--------KY13:57 12142015
1ST ST. F57 --------KY08:57 12142015--------KY11:24 12142015789FPF KY13:57 12142015
1ST ST. F58 456FPF KY08:57 12142015998FPF KY11:24 12142015--------KY13:57 12142015
1ST ST. F59 789TTM KY08:57 12142015--------KY11:24 121420151234DG KY13:57 12142015
I first need to have this data in a File
Then in one GUI I check for the existence of the file.
If one exists, fine
If none exists, I create one.
Then, in subsequent GUI's, I must check for the existence of parameters
If they do not already exist, add them to the existing data lines.
If they already exist, notify the user
And so on and on.
Then when all of the current 'pass' data has been collected via multiple, separate GUI's, I have to write out the whole data-set into the file.
My reason for thinking that I need a SharedPreference approach is the need to find and check data from GUI to GUI as the user progresses through the app.
If that 'belief' is wrong, I am open to better approach suggestions.
EDIT 2 follows....
On further study of web references, I am beginning to think that perhaps the best approach for this data and how the data needs to change might be to use a SQLite approach. Any ideas about this?
Any assistance/suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.
i would discourage you from using sharedpreferences for anything else than preferences. means things that change rarely - really rarely and are really lightweight. do not put much data in there. less is better. the data structures underlying sharedpreferences are not a database.
another note. it is not a string list, but it would be a string set. sets are not necessarily ordered, nor do they necessarily keep their order. means - it is not rows. its a collection of strings that can come back in any fun order (usually there is some, but that depends on the implementation which i do not know)
now you could go and make your own list, your own data structure, save it into a string and read it out, use json to do exactly that or something similar, or better - use a database, which would exactly do that.
http://developer.android.com/training/basics/data-storage/databases.html
explains it, but as you'll see its something that might take some time.
now dont get me wrong, but i have to warn you about the following approach. it is valid, but has many problems and is far from thread safe. it will not be a problem as long as you only open it from the ui thread and do not keep anything in memory to cache - if you do it will create lots of problems.
your problem of adding a line and clearing can be solved by using a file. just a simple file
look here
http://developer.android.com/training/basics/data-storage/files.html#WriteInternalStorage
the change is to append when writing:
openFileOutput("filename", Context.MODE_APPEND);
see the context mode? now you can basically just write one line and append every time.
if you wanna clear the file, just deleteFile("filename")
this is as said not threadsafe, but can be a viable option if used carefully.
Please follow this step to achieve what you want with sharedPreference
create the class Parent for SharePreference
Create your empty Array
Convert Your empty array to String and put it on SharedPreference
to call your empty array from sharedPreference
Call your sharedPreference using your key
Convert the String to array
You get your array from the sharePreference
Hope it helps, and maybe this link will help you :
http://www.androidhive.info/2012/08/android-session-management-using-shared-preferences/
You can use my open-source library called prefser, which solves this problem and uses SharedPreferences and Gson under the hood. It's basically wrapper for default Android mechanism.
You can use it in the following way:
Prefser prefser = new Prefser(context); // create Prefser object
prefser.put("key", Arrays.asList("one", "two", "three")); // save array of Strings
String[] value = prefser.get("key", String[].class, new String[]{}); // read array of Strings
For more information check repository of the project, tests and README.md file.
Link: https://github.com/pwittchen/prefser
Please note, SharedPreferences have some limitations and shouldn't be used for storing large amount of data. If you expect a lot of data, consider using SQLite database or another type of database (e.g. with NoSQL or similar approach if you strive for simplicity).
OK, based on the data, how it needs to be manipulated and the pros and cons of using a SharedPreferences approach, I have decided to go with a SQLite approach.
With that approach I should be able to readily check:
* if the necessary table exists (if not create it)
* if the necessary Field1 + Field2 exists (if not create a new record)
* and I will be able to modify the record's Field3 contents as needed
Then when the user's actions are complete I can convert the SQLite table 'records' into strings and write them out as a File and then either DROP or PURGE the associated SQLite table (until needed next time).
I sincerely appreciate all of your suggestions.
Thank you.

Android 3 linked values

What would be the best way to store multiple 3 linked values (String, String, Boolean)? Like in a HashMap for example.
I need to:
save them in SharedPreferences
load them of sp (of course)
change at least the last value dynamically
get all items where the last value is true (for example)
You have three options:
Store it on preferences
Store it in a database
Save a file on disk
If you want to proceed with preferences I will suggest you to convert the 3 value format to a Json format and store it in preferences as json.
{"value1":"value", "value2":"value", "value3":"value"}
or
{"data":"some data",
"link":{
"data":"other linked data",
"link":{...}
}
}
This kind of data is also stored perfectly in a noSQL database. But if you do not want to add a database at all to your project, maybe you can have a look to some noSQL libraries like SimpleNoSQL (it indeed uses a database behind the scenes, but abstracts you very well from it) or Realm (it stores on disk).

UserDefaults/SharedPreferences or DataBase is better to save view state?

I have some scens with and I want save their state of view when app is closed. Some times it's one thing like "is that scene has opened shop window?" but sometimes ther is much more info which I need to store. So is better to use for it UserDefaults/SharedPreferences (json to string) or create model, serialize those info to model then save it to DB?
I will be thankful for Your opinion.
I use SharedPreferences when i have to save a variable, such as UserName, Country of Origin, access token, location, UsersCurrentLevel, UsersCurrentHealth etc.
I use Database when i have data that requires much manipulation or has more specifications to it. Such as questions for users,
video ad's details(seenState , directoryPath, urlToDownloadVideo, hasVideoBeenAlreadyDownloaded etc.), lists of data, etc.
So i would suggest you use a mix depending on the data.if it has a single entry use SharedPreference else if it has a list/ multiple data for a single format put it in a DB. Hope this helps.

can i store two or more values with same key using SharedPreferences in android?

can i store two or more values with same key using SharedPreferences in android? If no, please tell me how to store values of username, first name, password etc when many users register in registration app?
Ex:
person A registered with username="john12", first name="john" and DOB="06/06/2000".
person B registered with username="arun89", first name="arun" and DOB="08/11/1989".
Now, I want to store these values in SharedPreferences and retrieve them later. Is it possible using SharedPreferences? If not, Please tell me how to do in other way.
Thank you in advance.
I woud consider creating a JSONObject and add the fields you want to store as a key:value pair.
json.putString(key, value);
You can then store the json object in it's string representation with json.toString() and restore it later with
JSONObject jo = new JSONObject(jsonString);
String value = jo.getString(key);
JSONObject also offeres different data types beside strings.
It really depends on how much data you want to store. Depending on that I would choose SharedPreferences or a SQLite implementation.
You cannot store these values directly (as ones added latter will overwrite previously added) but you can always store Parcelable and put your data into it
For your case it is better use SQLIte database.But if you want to use shared preference it is still possible.You have to use a key with additional index to remember different user like
UserName1:arun
UserName2:john
You have to remember the total number of user.Then can maintain all of them.you can also use other data structure like hashmap to maintain data for the shared preference.
I dont't think it is possible, as you don't know the number of users.
You could try to separate the users with commas, but that's lame.
You should consider using SQLite database.
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/database/sqlite/SQLiteDatabase.html
Then you have to store a array List of user objects first create a class userInfo then create a array List type of userInfo then store the data in this list and put a serialize-able object in SharedPreferences.
You can also store them on a single key called "registers" as string. Concatenate each register to preference. Put ";" (or any other characther you want) between each register. Then parse the string and use the values.
Key: registers
Value: "username=john12, first name=john, DOB=06/06/2000;username=mike12, first name=mike, DOB=06/07/2012"
Using split method of String will give you a list of registers as String.
registers.split(";");
Splitting again with "," will give you properties of each register.

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