x and y argument in term functions

It annoys me everytime i use it; the term.write, term.blit… functions don't have x and y arguments. You always have to set the cursor position to where you want to write, and then use the function. So many times i find myself with a code looking like this:

term.setCursorPos(1, 1)
term.write("text")
term.setCursorPos(1, 2)
term.write("another text")
term.setCursorPos(5, 1)
term.write("another another text")

So it would be cool to be able to use this code instead:

term.write("text", 1, 1)
term.write("another text", 1, 1)
term.write("another another text", 5, 1)

You could totally rewrite the term api and make this change yourself

function _G.term.write(string,x,y)
	 term.setCursorPos(x,y)
	 term.write(string)
end

CLNinja, on 21 October 2017 - 12:01 PM said:

function _G.term.write(string,x,y)
	 if type(x) == "number" and type(y) == "number" then
		  term.setCursorPos(x,y)
	 elseif x ~= nil and y ~= nil then
		  error("x and y must be numbers or nil", 2)
	 end
	 term.write(string)
end

Improvement, make x and y optional

If I'm not completely wrong neither of those will work because they will just call themself forever, solution:

local oldWrite = term.write
function _G.term.write(string,x,y)
		 if type(x) == "number" and type(y) == "number" then
				  term.setCursorPos(x,y)
		 elseif x ~= nil and y ~= nil then
				  error("x and y must be numbers or nil", 2)
		 end
		 oldWrite(string)
end

I want to be able to use the function like it was before, without having to specify the x and y.
So my code looks like this:

local oldWrite = term.write
function _G.term.write(string,x,y)
  if not x or not y then
    local cur_x, cur_y = term.getCursorPos()
    x = x or cur_x
    y = y or cur_y
  end

  term.setCursorPos(x,y)
  oldWrite(string)
end

Jummit, on 22 October 2017 - 07:02 AM said:

I want to be able to use the function like it was before, without having to specify the x and y.
So my code looks like this:

local oldWrite = term.write
function _G.term.write(string,x,y)
  local cur_x, cur_y = term.getCursorPos()
  x = x or cur_x
  y = y or cur_y

  term.setCursorPos(x,y)
  oldWrite(string)
end

The code in the post written by Luca_S is more efficient as it reduces function calls. term.write or oldWrite already uses the current cursor position is none is provided, therefore you don't need to set it in your replacement function if no x or y are provided. Additionally it will handle incorrect values for x and y correctly.