[Question]Turtles resource drop-offs

Alright, I know how to use turtles, I have made a few complex programs with the turtles, but they all involved building but not mining. How would I code into the turtle that when it's inventory is full, it will return to a chest and drop it all into it? Any help is appreciated. I only need to know what kind of commands I need to issue, the rest I can work out.

There is no default command for checking if the turtle's inventory is full, however, you can write a function that does that. Here's how I would write one:

function inventoryFull()
  for i = 1, 16 do
    if turtle.getItemCount(i) == 0 then
	  return false
    end
  end
  return true
end
	 

It's up to you though to design the returning home system as there are many ways to do that (redstone signalling, pathfollowing, gps networks)

Dropping items off are as simple as creating a for loop to iterate over your inventory and then turtle.drop() the itemstack when facing a chest.

chiloxsan, on 04 October 2012 - 11:59 AM said:

There is no default command for checking if the turtle's inventory is full, however, you can write a function that does that. Here's how I would write one:

function inventoryFull()
  for i = 1, 16 do
	if turtle.getItemCount(i) == 0 then
	  return false
	end
  end
  return true
end
	

It's up to you though to design the returning home system as there are many ways to do that (redstone signalling, pathfollowing, gps networks)

Dropping items off are as simple as creating a for loop to iterate over your inventory and then turtle.drop() the itemstack when facing a chest.

I'm sorry for the *incredibly* late reply. Thank you, that really helped. I haven't been on the CCforums for a while, that's why I didn't reply sooner.

MatazaNz, on 29 January 2013 - 07:35 PM said:

Thank you, that really helped. I haven't been on the CCforums for a while, that's why I didn't reply sooner.

chiloxsan, on 04 October 2012 - 11:59 AM said:

Here's how I would write one:

function inventoryFull()
  for i = 1, 16 do
	if turtle.getItemCount(i) == 0 then
	  return false
	end
  end
  return true
end

That would actually tell the code that the turtle is full when the first slot fills up. You would want to do the inverse of this so I would be more inclined to do this.

local function inventoryFull()
  for i = 1, 16 do -- if your using a Tekkit computer craft (version 1.3) the 16 should be 9
   if turtle.getItemSpace(i) ~= 0 then -- meaning there is space
	return false -- its not full
   end
  end
  return true -- its full because we went through the entire inventory without finding space
 end

That would actually tell the code that the turtle is full when the first slot fills up. You would want to do the inverse of this so I would be more inclined to do this.
local function inventoryFull()
for i = 1, 16 do – if your using a Tekkit computer craft (version 1.3) the 16 should be 9
if turtle.getItemSpace(i) ~= 0 then – meaning there is space
return false – its not full
end
end
return true – its full because we went through the entire inventory without finding space
end

That code is close but wouldn't factor in different blocks. So If you had 16 slots and they all had dirt in and you got a diamond, you'd loose the diamond as there is no spare inventory slot for it.
Your best bet with inventory is this:

local function inventoryHasSpace()
local iHaveSpace = false
for i = 1, 16 do
if turtle.getItemSpace(i) == 0 then
return true – at least one spare inventory slot
end
end
return iHaveSpace
end

BlackDragon, on 29 January 2013 - 09:14 PM said:

That code is close but wouldn't factor in different blocks. So If you had 16 slots and they all had dirt in and you got a diamond, you'd loose the diamond as there is no spare inventory slot for it.
Your best bet with inventory is this:

local function inventoryHasSpace()
local iHaveSpace = false
for i = 1, 16 do
if turtle.getItemSpace(i) == 0 then
return true – at least one spare inventory slot
end
end
return iHaveSpace
end

All you did was rename the function and add an iHaveSpace variable and make sure its empty, what if they have a 12 diamond in a slot and then your like "no you cant put that diamond in a diamond stack!"… also use [code][/code] around code

The best you can do to factor in different items/blocks is by doing this before digging it

local function spaceForItem()
  for i = 1, 16 do
	turtle.select(i)
	if turtle.compare() and turtle.getItemSpace(i) >= 7 then
	  return true
	end
  end
  return false
end

where the number 7 is the MAX drops that you can ever get from a block, i don't think 7 is right, but I cant remember the actual number.

well aside from the inventory sensing here is a basic example of how to head back to the chest when you need to. call activate() to start tracking your movements and call deactivate to stop tracking. call retrace to go back to the chest

oldT=turtle or {}
local str=""
local function activate()
str=""
local tDirs={up="d",down="u",forward="f",back="b",turnRight="l",turnLeft="r"}
local tMoves={}
for k,v in pairs(tDirs) do tMoves[v]=k end
turtle=setmetatable({},{__index=function(self,index)
  if tDirs[index] then
   return function() if oldT[index]() then str=tDirs[index]..str return true end return false end
  elseif oldT[index] then
   return oldT[index]
  end
end})
end
local function deactivate()
turtle=oldT
end
local function retrace()
for i=1,#str do
  while not oldT[tMoves[string.sub(str,i,i)]]() do end
end
end

I always just check if slot 16 (or whatever slot I've reserved for the purpose) has anything in it. As long as the only way that slot would have anything would be for all the other slots to be full, it's more efficient than checking all the slots.