Stair Building Help w/ Gravel

Hello, i'm working on a stair builder script. The one i have works great except when it comes into gravel. I'm aware there's a way to use a function to help w/ that but i'm not quite sure how to impliment it. Here's my current script. The script is to make the turtle build me a stair case back up, running it a few times till i reach the surface. Any tips or suggestions would be great. I've read through some other scripts and learned about functions but its all pretty new to me, so i'm looking for a little hands on help to get going.

i = 0
repeat
turtle.dig()
turtle.forward()
turtle.digUp()
turtle.up()
turtle.dig()
turtle.digUp()
turtle.forward()
turtle.digUp()
turtle.turnLeft()
i = i + 1
until i > 10

firstly, [code][/code] instead of [quote][/quote] :)/>

now as for the code easiest is to do the following:

while not turtle.forward() do
  turtle.dig()
end

while not turtle.up() do
  turtle.digUp()
end

these will try to move the turtle, if it doesn't move it will dig… if you are running CC 1.4 you may also want it to attack a mob if it can't dig. example:

if not turtle.dig() then
  turtle.attack()
end

looks great, & pretty straight forward too! but how would i implement this? do i just put it in the loop? or after the loop? if i wanted to turn this into a function, would it look like this?

function gravelCheck()

 while not turtle.forward() do
  turtle.dig()
  if not turtle.dig() then
    turtle.attack()
  end
end
while not turtle.up() do
  turtle.digUp()
end
end

I'm still learning here but i'm not sure this would work as intended? i thought if i make this a function i can add it to the loop in place of the dig commands. correct me if i'm wrong here

local setHeight = 10 -- Amount of blocks turtle should go up
local cHeight = 0 -- Current height of Turtle

while cHeight ~= 11 do
if not turtle.dig() then
  turtle.attack() -- Attack forward if cant dig forward
  turtle.dig()
  turtle.forward()
else
  turtle.forward() -- Move forward if succeeded
end
if not turtle.digUp() then
  turtle.attackUp() -- Attack up if cant dig up
  turtle.digUp()
  turtle.up()
else
  turtle.up()
end
cHeight = cHeight +1
end

This should work fine

EDIT: Fixed a thing

that one looks interesting. using the setHeight is useful that way i can determine how high it'll go a lot easier. From reading it, it doesn't look like it makes a spiral like the one i had used, and it looks like it doesn't make enough room for you to follow it up. but, if i wanted to make it a spiral, would i add

turtle.turnLeft()

after the "forward" in the if part or in the else part? by the way thanks for your guys help and patience while i work this out!

::edit::

just tried your default script and it did indeed do as i thought it would. it went in a straight line and didn't add enough room for me to follow it up, i also kept having to break the block above me. i've tweaked it to turn left and that seems to work great. But now i'm not sure where to add the turtle.digUp() before it moves forward while also gravel proofing it.

local height = 10

function forward()
while not(turtle.forward()) do
turtle.dig()
turtle.attack()
sleep(0.25)
end
end

function up()
while not(turtle.up()) do
turtle.digUp()
turtle.attackUp()
end
end

function digUp()
while turtle.detectUp() do
turtle.digUp()
sleep(0.25)
end
end

for i = 1, height do
turtle.place()
up()
digUp()
forward()
turtle.turnRight()
end

That's my crack at this. Make sure to give him some cobble or something in slot 1 because he'll put it down if he comes across a spot that needs it.

That's my crack at this. Make sure to give him some cobble or something in slot 1 because he'll put it down if he comes across a spot that needs it.

so you're saying he'll place cobble if theres none where there should be? thats pretty smart! i'm going to run this through and see what i can do! i was able to tweak the other one and get it to work pretty well! but question how does the turtle know if it needs to place a block? i don't understand that part of the script.

xInDiGo, on 10 January 2013 - 09:00 AM said:

That's my crack at this. Make sure to give him some cobble or something in slot 1 because he'll put it down if he comes across a spot that needs it.

so you're saying he'll place cobble if theres none where there should be? thats pretty smart! i'm going to run this through and see what i can do! i was able to tweak the other one and get it to work pretty well! but question how does the turtle know if it needs to place a block? i don't understand that part of the script.

he doesn't really know. he just tries to place it and if there is already a block there he will just fail and move on.

crazyguymgd, on 10 January 2013 - 09:02 AM said:

he doesn't really know. he just tries to place it and if there is already a block there he will just fail and move on.

thats great! this worked perfect! i'm gonna play around with the code and make sure i understand why it works! thanks again for all your help! but believe me, this won't be my last post :P/>

xInDiGo, on 10 January 2013 - 09:37 AM said:

crazyguymgd, on 10 January 2013 - 09:02 AM said:

he doesn't really know. he just tries to place it and if there is already a block there he will just fail and move on.

thats great! this worked perfect! i'm gonna play around with the code and make sure i understand why it works! thanks again for all your help! but believe me, this won't be my last post :P/>

glad I could help :)/>