[Python] How to save/reload regions using a file

str() or repr() on an object produces a string representation of the object, that is a return value of a standard built-in method, that can be overwritten by the class designer.

In this case, they have Sikuli developers have decided to do it this way ;-)

do this when writing to file:
regionfile.write("r1="+str(r1).split('@')[0]+"\n")

sorry, you want to have ( instead of [:
regionfile.write("r1="+str(r1).split('@')[0].replace('[',')').replace(']',')')+"\n")

and yes, it is a basic Python question ;-) but never mind ::-))

Thnx Raiman! That solves it, I would have never figured that out.

using the method stated by Raiman will output the region variable as a string so you would have to use the exec to execute the string.

this is one region variable:
regionfile.write("r1="+str(r1).split('@')[0].replace('Region','"Region').replace('[','(').replace(']',')"').replace(' ',',').replace('x',',')+"\n")

to read that line and convert it to a variable I use this method:
import imp
data = imp.load_source('data', '', regionfile)
r1Str="r1="+data.r1
exec(r1Str)

I'm sure their are more elite ways to do it but this is the simplist I found.Just wanted to share how to read a file import the string from the file and convert it to variables so you can use it in your program.

Hello Raiman,
I'm stump on this one agian apparently exec(r1Str) won't because when I print the r1Str it will only give me a string of the region.
like r1=region(252,120,150,25). I now like to take that strong and use it as a sikuli variables. Any idea how to do this. I look everywhere and most approach I tried seems to fail me.

I do not really understand.

supposing r1str1 contains the string:
r1=region(252,120,150,25)

then saying
exec(r1str1)

should result in r1 being a "real" Region object.

so:
r1str1 = "r1=region(252,120,150,25)"
exec(r1str1)
print r1

should print:
Region[252,120 150x25]@Screen(0) E:Y, T:3.0

so you have your variable r1 being a region in your current context.

This is a basic setup with Python marshal, that uses a dictionary, to store the Region position/size.
This should run as is in Sikuli IDE.

import marshal
class dictRegions:
    def __init__(self):
        self.d = {}
    def getRegs(self): # returns the dict
        return self.d
    def setRegs(self, d): # sets the dict based on the given dict
        self.d = d.copy()
    def getReg(self, r): # returns a region
        rx = self.d.get(r, None)
        if not rx: return None
        return Region(rx[0], rx[1], rx[2], rx[3])
    def addReg(self, n, r): # adds a region to dict
        self.d[n] = (r.x, r.y, r.w, r.h)
    def saveRegs(self, f): # saves the dict to file
        save = file(f, "wb")
        marshal.dump(self.d, save)
        save.close()
    def loadRegs(self, f): # reloads the dict from file
        save = file(f, "rb")
        self.d = marshal.load(save)
        save.close()

# ****** usage as examples
print "\n**** step 1: original"
d = dictRegions()
d.addReg("r1", Region(100,200,300,400))
reg1 = d.getReg("r1")
print "reg1=", reg1
reg2 = reg1.right(200)
d.addReg("r2", reg2)
d.saveRegs("/Users/rhocke/saveregs.txt")
print "saved dictRegions=", d.getRegs()

print "\n**** step 2: modified"
dnew = {"r1":(101, 201, 301, 401)}
d.setRegs(dnew)
print "r1=", d.getReg("r1")
print "modified dictRegions=", d.getRegs()

print "\n**** step 3: reloaded"
d.loadRegs("/Users/rhocke/saveregs.txt")
reg1 = d.getReg("r1")
print "reg1=", reg1
print "reloaded dictRegions=", d.getRegs()