I'm making this patch to read different text files and get the size (number of lines) to then select a random value between the first and last line of the file.

The thing works in the sense that when I choose one or other filename it reads and prints that line number right but the overall size of the file isn't showing. Am I missing something?

Also:

1. how can I trigger [text get] without using [send text-help-send] ? I need to do the first reading after loading the file.
2. How can I set a mode to read sequentially OR randomly between 0 and max number of lines (with a bang)?

Thanks a lot for any help!

sreadfile.zip

you need a [t b s] before [text size]

I noticed the left inlet of text size was not connected, the left inlet is always the hot inlet, if nothing is connected to it then nothing will happen

Hi again @prandam
I am unsure exactly what you require, is this what you are after?
sreadfile-2.pd

@Balwyn Thanks a lot! But the patch won't work for me (getting warning "texto: multiply defined"). The idea is that the symbol at the end will show the value of the next line OR random line value (using a checkbox as a switch between both modes) of the selected file (mia or penelope).

mia.txt values: mia-001, mia-002, mia-003... mia-n
penelope.txt values: i, ic, if, ig ... x

When the file is selected with one of the top messages the symbol at the end should show a value of that file. Before this symbol there should be a checkbox that switches between 'random' and 'sequential' mode for the next values. The next values should appear with a bang.

Any ideas? Thanks a lot for any help, guys!

@prandam "texto: multiply defined" means that you have multiple [text define texto] objects open. There should only be one text object with the same name in each patch including subpatches. If you want to use the same name in multiple patches or open the same patch multiple times, you should use $0 in the name to protect against the above error. It is a general advice to use $0 in array and text names as well as in send and receive names.

So using [text define $0-texto] and [text get $0-texto] and so on should solve this issue

@Balwyn Thanks a lot! this worked!

@ingox Thanks for the heads up. I didn't know that this name collision could happen even with totally different patches opened! Thanks.