Chapter 6 — Implementing High Scores

Composer-Accessible Data

For the most part, when you use Composer, scenes remain self-contained, meaning that variables, functions, and objects which you create within a given scene are isolated to that specific scene. For example, the lives and score variables that we use within game.lua are associated only with that scene.

This is generally good for keeping an app clean and organized, but sometimes you'll need to access variables/objects in one scene from a different scene that's inherently unaware of their existence. In this chapter, for instance, we'll need to access the player's score (score from game.lua) inside our new highscores.lua scene.

Lua itself provides various ways to pass and access data between modules, but Composer makes it even easier with the following commands:

• composer.setVariable() — Sets a variable declared in one scene to be accessible throughout the entire Composer-structured app.
• composer.getVariable() — Allows you to retrieve the value of any variable previously set via composer.setVariable().

Armed with these commands, let's update the endGame() function:

1. Open your game.lua file.

2. Locate the endGame() function and replace its contents with the following two commands:

local function endGame()
    composer.setVariable( "finalScore", score )
    composer.gotoScene( "highscores", { time=800, effect="crossFade" } )
end

3. Save your modified game.lua file.

High Scores Scene

Our high scores scene will basically feature the ability to store and retrieve scores, determine the ten highest, and display them.

First, make a copy of the standard scene-template.lua file, included with this chapter's source files. Rename this copy to highscores.lua, place it within your StarExplorer project folder, and open it using your chosen text editor.

As usual, we'll start by initializing some variables. Place the following code in the scene-accessible code area:

-- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Code outside of the scene event functions below will only be executed ONCE unless
-- the scene is removed entirely (not recycled) via "composer.removeScene()"
-- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Initialize variables
local json = require( "json" )

local scoresTable = {}

local filePath = system.pathForFile( "scores.json", system.DocumentsDirectory )

Let's briefly examine these commands:

• With the first command, we load a new resource for our app: the JSON library. JSON is a convenient format for working with data. If you're not familiar with JSON, don't worry — for the purpose of this app, you just need to learn how to use the built-in json.encode() and json.decode() commands. Respectively, these commands let you take a Lua table, store (encode) its contents in a well-understood format, and later translate (decode) that data back into a Lua table.

• The next command, local scoresTable = {}, simply creates an empty table which will eventually contain the retrieved scores, or an updated list of scores to save.

• The final line generates an absolute path to a JSON file (scores.json) which we'll use to save the ten highest scores. Don't worry that this file doesn't actually exist yet — this command will create the file and initiate a link to it under the variable filePath.

Loading Data

Now that we've initialized the file for storing scores, let's write a function to check for any scores which were previously saved. Of course there won't be any at this point, but we'll need this function eventually.

Directly following the commands you already added to the scene-accessible code area, add the following loadScores() function:

local filePath = system.pathForFile( "scores.json", system.DocumentsDirectory )


local function loadScores()

    local file = io.open( filePath, "r" )

    if file then
        local contents = file:read( "*a" )
        io.close( file )
        scoresTable = json.decode( contents )
    end

    if ( scoresTable == nil or #scoresTable == 0 ) then
        scoresTable = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 }
    end
end

Dissecting this function, we accomplish the following:

• When working with files containing data, the first step is to confirm that the file exists. The first command inside this function, local file = io.open( filePath, "r" ), attempts to open the file scores.json in the system.DocumentsDirectory folder (remember that we set the variable filePath to point to that file and folder). In this command, also note the second parameter, "r". This tells Corona to open the file with read access only, but that's sufficient here because we simply need to read the file contents.

• In the conditional block following, if the file exists, its contents will be dumped into the local variable contents. Once we have its contents, we close the file with io.close( file ). Then, using the command json.decode(), we decode contents and store the values in scoresTable — basically, json.decode() converts scores.json into a Lua table which can be used in our app.

• In the final conditional block, just in case the scores.json file is empty or doesn't exist, we assign scoresTable ten default values of 0 so that the scene has something to work with.

scoresTable = { 10000, 7500, 5200, 4700, 3500, 3200, 1200, 1100, 800, 500 }

Saving Data

Saving data is just as easy as reading data. Following the previous function in the scene-accessible code area, add a saveScores() function:

    if ( scoresTable == nil or #scoresTable == 0 ) then
        scoresTable = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 }
    end
end


local function saveScores()

    for i = #scoresTable, 11, -1 do
        table.remove( scoresTable, i )
    end

    local file = io.open( filePath, "w" )

    if file then
        file:write( json.encode( scoresTable ) )
        io.close( file )
    end
end

This function saves high scores data as follows:

• First, we clear out any unneeded scores from scoresTable. Because we only want to save the highest ten scores, anything beyond that can be discarded. Using a for loop, we step backwards through the table from its total count (#scoresTable) to 11, effectively removing all but ten scores.

• Next, we open the scores.json file. Unlike our io.open() call within loadScores(), here we specify "w" as the second parameter. This tells Corona to create (write) a new file or overwrite the file if it already exists. It also tells Corona to open the file with write access which is important because, when saving score data, we need to write data to the file.

• Once the file is successfully open, we call file:write() to write the scoresTable data to the file, converted into JSON via the json.encode() command. Finally, we close the file with io.close( file ).

Displaying High Scores

Before we show the scores to the player, we need to manipulate the scoresTable table slightly. Specifically, we need to add the most recent score to the table and then sort the table entries from highest to lowest.

All of the work for this scene can be done within scene:create(), so let's focus our attention on that function:

1. Before we can do anything with score data, we need to load the existing scores. Let's do so by calling the loadScores() function:

-- create()
function scene:create( event )

    local sceneGroup = self.view
    -- Code here runs when the scene is first created but has not yet appeared on screen

    -- Load the previous scores
    loadScores()
end

2. Next, let's insert the player's most recent score into the scoresTable table. Notice that we get its value by calling composer.getVariable() with a sole parameter of "finalScore". This exhibits the power of the composer.setVariable() command — added to game.lua — for setting a Composer-accessible variable which we can now access in this scene (highscores.lua). Following that, we immediately reset its value to 0 since we won't need further record of it.

    -- Load the previous scores
    loadScores()
    
    -- Insert the saved score from the last game into the table, then reset it
    table.insert( scoresTable, composer.getVariable( "finalScore" ) )
    composer.setVariable( "finalScore", 0 )
end

3. At this point, we don't know where our score ranks among the existing high scores. It might not even beat the lowest score among the ten highest! To check this, let's sort the table's values from highest to lowest. This will automatically place our score in the correct order. If it's not high enough to make the top ten, it will remain in the 11th slot, but since we'll only show ten scores, you won't see it on the screen.

    -- Insert the saved score from the last game into the table, then reset it
    table.insert( scoresTable, composer.getVariable( "finalScore" ) )
    composer.setVariable( "finalScore", 0 )

    -- Sort the table entries from highest to lowest
    local function compare( a, b )
        return a > b
    end
    table.sort( scoresTable, compare )
end

4. With the table now sorted, let's save the data back out to scores.json by calling our saveScores() function:

    -- Sort the table entries from highest to lowest
    local function compare( a, b )
        return a > b
    end
    table.sort( scoresTable, compare )

    -- Save the scores
    saveScores()
end

5. Following this, let's create the scene background and a text object — nothing special here; by now you're an expert at this!

    -- Save the scores
    saveScores()

    local background = display.newImageRect( sceneGroup, "background.png", 800, 1400 )
    background.x = display.contentCenterX
    background.y = display.contentCenterY
    
    local highScoresHeader = display.newText( sceneGroup, "High Scores", display.contentCenterX, 100, native.systemFont, 44 )
end

6. Next, let's display the scores using a simple for loop from 1 to 10. For each score, we'll first set the intended y position by calculating a local yPos variable. This will make the scores run down the screen, evenly spaced apart:

    local highScoresHeader = display.newText( sceneGroup, "High Scores", display.contentCenterX, 100, native.systemFont, 44 )

    for i = 1, 10 do
        if ( scoresTable[i] ) then
            local yPos = 150 + ( i * 56 )

        end
    end
end

For each score line, we'll display two text objects. On the left will be a rank number from 1) to 10). Directly to its right will be the actual score:

    for i = 1, 10 do
        if ( scoresTable[i] ) then
            local yPos = 150 + ( i * 56 )

            local rankNum = display.newText( sceneGroup, i .. ")", display.contentCenterX-50, yPos, native.systemFont, 36 )
            rankNum:setFillColor( 0.8 )
            rankNum.anchorX = 1

            local thisScore = display.newText( sceneGroup, scoresTable[i], display.contentCenterX-30, yPos, native.systemFont, 36 )
            thisScore.anchorX = 0
        end
    end
end

Most of the above code should be straightforward, but we're introducing an important new concept in anchors. By default, Corona positions the center of any display object at the x and y coordinate given. However, sometimes you'll need to align a series of objects along their edges — here, the list of scores will look best if each rank number is right-aligned and each score is left-aligned.

To accomplish this, notice that we set the anchorX property of each object. This property typically ranges between 0 (left) and 1 (right), with a default of 0.5 (center). Since we want each rank number to be right-aligned with the others, we set anchorX to 1, and for each score number, we set anchorX to 0 for left alignment.

Naturally, Corona also supports vertical anchor points with the anchorY property. Similar to its horizontal counterpart, this property typically ranges between 0 (top) and 1 (bottom), with a default of 0.5 (center). Anchors can even be set outside of the 0 to 1 range, although this usage is less common. Setting either anchorX or anchorY to values less than 0 or greater than 1 will place the anchor point conceptually somewhere in space outside of the object's edge boundaries, which can be useful in some instances.

7. Finally, let's create a button (text object) to go back to the menu. This is just like the text buttons you created in the menu scene, and its "tap" event listener will call a basic gotoMenu() function which we'll write next.

        end
    end

    local menuButton = display.newText( sceneGroup, "Menu", display.contentCenterX, 810, native.systemFont, 44 )
    menuButton:setFillColor( 0.75, 0.78, 1 )
    menuButton:addEventListener( "tap", gotoMenu )
end

Leaving the Scene

Back up in the scene-accessible code area, we need to add the function which handles the "tap" event for the menuButton object. This is straightforward enough:

local function gotoMenu()
    composer.gotoScene( "menu", { time=800, effect="crossFade" } )
end


-- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Scene event functions
-- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scene Cleanup

Similar to the game.lua scene, let's remove the highscores.lua scene within its own scene:hide() function. This will remove the scene from memory when players return to the menu scene.

Inside the scene:hide() function, add the following highlighted line:

-- hide()
function scene:hide( event )

    local sceneGroup = self.view
    local phase = event.phase

    if ( phase == "will" ) then
        -- Code here runs when the scene is on screen (but is about to go off screen)

    elseif ( phase == "did" ) then
        -- Code here runs immediately after the scene goes entirely off screen
        composer.removeScene( "highscores" )
    end
end

Chapter Concepts

We've covered several more important concepts in this chapter: