Lua/Turtle/functions error? - Run program replies "9"

Hello, I am trying to program a turtle to place blocks in 64 block rows untill it runs out of blocks. I am rather new to ComputerCraft and havent had too many problems untill now. Im using functions for the first time, and everytime i run this script i dont get an error message but just "9" (no quotes) the if statements seem to work individually but it seems like the functions might be a problem?

also you might note i was trying to count the slots to watch his material level but that was the first part i took out when troubleshooting.

any help is appreciated. Thank You

slot = 1
forward = 1
back = 1
run = 1
direction = 1

while (run == 1) do

function placeforward()
  if turtle.detectDown() then
    turtle.digDown()
    turtle.placeDown()
    turtle.forward()
    forward = forward + 1
  else
    turtle.placeDown()
    turtle.forward()
    forward = forward + 1
	  if (forward == 64) then
	    turtle.turnRight()
	    turtle.forward()
	    turtle.turnRight()
	    direction = 0
	  else
	   placeforward()
	  end
  end
end

function placeback()
  if turtle.detectDown() then
    turtle.digDown()
    turtle.placeDown()
    turtle.forward()
    back = back + 1
	  if (back == 64) then
	    turtle.turnLeft()
	    turtle.forward()
	    turtle.turnLeft()
	    direction = 1
	  else
	   placeback()
	  end
  else
    turtle.placeDown()
    turtle.forward()
    back = back + 1
  end
end

function testhandful()
  if (turtle.getItemCount(slot) > 0) then
    if (direction == 1) then
	  placeforward()
    else
	  placeback()
    end
  else
	    run = 0
  end
end

testhandful()

end

One thing I see is that you have only one "=" in some if statements. Make them double "="'s.

For example, change:

if forward = 64 then

To:

if forward == 64 then

"==" is a comparison and "=" is defining

edited the code portion a bit in first post. still 9 maybe this turtle speaks german

phexyaa, on 12 January 2013 - 06:31 PM said:

edited the code portion a bit any better?

Well try running it. There may be errors with how you did the turtle stuff, but I don't know since I have never worked with turtles before.

You have 1 to many ends in the testhandful() function

function testhandful()
  if (turtle.getItemCount() > 0) then
    if (direction == 1) then
          placeforward()
    else
          placeback()
    end
  else
            run = 0
    end --this one is extra don't need it
  end
end

Thank You. ran again nothing new is that number 9
some sort of error message?

also this

turtle.getItemCount()

requires a parameter of the slot number

thats what i was trying to do by declaring 'slot' and increment it. Can you use

turtle.getItemCount(slot)

thats what i had there first time around.

Yes that should work. I would try again, with that change the code looks good from a syntax point of view.

TheOriginalBIT, on 12 January 2013 - 06:40 PM said:

also this

turtle.getItemCount()

requires a parameter of the slot number

Actually that was it mustve been a combination of the == and that

Thank you all

Edit: Updated the code works ok wasnt looping first time so only placed one block

okay, can someone explain these numbers to me? i changed the code to this

slot = 1
forward = 1
back = 1
run = 1
direction = 1

while (run == 1) do

function placeforward()
  if turtle.detectDown() then
	turtle.digDown()
	turtle.placeDown()
	turtle.forward()
	forward = forward + 1
  else
	turtle.placeDown()
	turtle.forward()
	forward = forward + 1
	  if (forward == 64) then
		turtle.placeDown() // edit here
		turtle.turnRight()
		turtle.forward()
		turtle.turnRight()
		direction = 0
	  else
	   placeforward()
	  end
  end
end

function placeback()
  if turtle.detectDown() then
	turtle.digDown()
	turtle.placeDown()
	turtle.forward()
	back = back + 1
	  if (back == 64) then
		turtle.turnLeft()
		turtle.forward()
		turtle.turnLeft()
		direction = 1
	  else
	   placeback()
	  end
  else
	turtle.placeDown()
	turtle.forward()
	back = back + 1
  end
end

function testhandful()
  if (turtle.getItemCount(slot) > 0) then
	if (direction == 1) then
	  placeforward()
	else
	  placeback()
	end
  else //edit here to
	if (slot == 16) then
	  if(turtle.getItemCount(slot) == 0) then
		run == 0
	  else
		slot = slot + 1
		testhandful()
	  end //here
	end
  end
end

testhandful()

end

and now all i get is a '12'
I know that i will eventually figure the problem out but do these numbers help? are they just random?

phexyaa, on 12 January 2013 - 07:13 PM said:

and now all i get is a '12'
I know that i will eventually figure the problem out but do these numbers help? are they just random?

Quite often I've found random numbers are sometimes returned from a function… but not normally printed… give me a second I'll bootup Minecraft to check… so wish cc-emu did turtle emulation…

I wasn't getting any numbers, I was only getting error messages… here is the code fixed… you had quite a few errors… including commenting, comments in lua are – not //

http://pastebin.com/uyEVHXy6

Thank You for your help. Could it be the turtle interface? should i be in the lua prompt when trying to debug?

no you just type the program name into the terminal and hit enter… thats where those numbers were coming from, Lua prompt, I knew I had seen them recently… lol…

yeah just dont know what to do with them or how you got real errors like the ones that say bios something or other and gives you at least a line number lol thanks again

Some of the errors will not generate a detailed error message, sometimes you get just a single number or several numbers with no other information. Sometimes the number is the line number that is throwing the error but not always.

EDIT: Sometimes restarting your computer will help get a detailed error message when you are getting them like this.

Nah I think those Lua prompt ones are random, not sure tho…

But because I was running the program I was getting the proper error messages…

He would have been having to do shell.run("programName") from the Lua prompt to have tried to run the program from it. I think he was running it from the normal CraftOS Shell. I have seen single number error messages from the normal prompt before.