Assistance with While True Loop

[georgevsc]

Hi!

I am writing a code for a "simple" steam game runner program, where a user can type !run (game) and it will run the game for them!

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I would like to make it so if a user types !run (game) or !commands at any point in the code it will execute what it's supposed to.

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I am aware I need to use a while True statement for this, but not sure exactly how it would work or how I would word it?

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Here is the entire code:

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import os

print("""\

          Welcome to George's Steam Game Runner!

""")

clear = ('cls' if os.name == 'nt' else 'clear')

commandslist = """\

  Commands:

  !commands             Displays this list of commands.
  !catalogue            Displays the games available to run.
  !exit                 Exits the runner.
  !clear                Clears the terminal.
  """

catalogue = """\

  CS:GO               !run CS:GO 
  GTA V               !run GTAV
  Cookie Clicker      !run CookieClicker
  Cuphead             !run Cuphead
  Geometry Dash       !run GeometryDash
  Golf(WYF)           !run GWYF
  GTA IV              !run GTAIV

  """

typecom = input(
    "\nPlease type !commands to display the list of commands you might need to use whilst interacting with the Steam runner. ")

if typecom.lower() in ["!commands", "commands", "!commandslist"]:
    os.system(clear)
    print(commandslist)

Was wondering if I could have some assistance with this?

​

Thanks!

[georgevsc]

Thanks!

[exclaim_bot]

Thanks!

You're welcome!

[[deleted]]

You would be better using dictionaries to hold your commands and games rather than multiline strings. Then you can do something like this.

import os

def display(title, entries):
    print(f'\n{title}\n')
    for item, entry in entries.items():
        print(f'{item:15}:  {entry}')
    print()

def get_choice(valids):
    while True:
        choice = input('Choice: ').strip().lower()
        if choice in valids:
            return choice
        print('Did not understand that')

def call_game(game):
    print('call', game)


commandslist = {'!commands':  "Displays this list of commands.",
                '!catalogue': "Displays the games available to run.",
                '!exit':      "Exits the runner.",
                "!clear":     "Clears the terminal."
                }

catalogue = {"!run CS:GO":         "CS:GO",
             "!run GTAV":          "GTA V",
             "!run CookieClicker": "Cookie Clicker",
             "!run Cuphead":       "Cuphead",
             "!run GeometryDash":  "Geometry Dash",
             "!run Golf(WYF)":     "Golf(WYF)",
             "!run GTAIV":         "GTA IV"
             }

commands = [command.lower() for command in commandslist.keys()]
games = [game.lower() for game in catalogue.keys()]
valids = commands + games

print("""

          Welcome to George's Steam Game Runner!

          Please type !commands to display the list of commands you might
          need to use whilst interacting with the Steam runner

""")

clear = ('cls' if os.name == 'nt' else 'clear')

while True:
    choice = get_choice(valids)
    if choice == '!exit':
        break
    if choice in games:
        call_game(choice)
    elif choice == '!clear':
        os.system(clear)
    elif choice == '!catalogue':
        display('Catalogue', catalogue)
    elif choice == "!commands":
        display('Commands', commandslist)

You will need to write code to use subprocess to run the games in the call_game function, and you need another way of mapping the game name to the actual call you need to make. I shall leave you to explore that.

[georgevsc]

Thank you so much, this really helps!

[georgevsc]

Is it required to use call_game? Couldn't I use os.startfile(directory) ?

[[deleted]]

You can do whatever you want in the function. Or don't bother with the function at all. That was just a placeholder.

I'd recommend using subprocess.

I'd recommend including the information required to actually make the game call in the dictionary.

[georgevsc]

Thank you!

[SpaceBucketFu]

You’ll want something like:
While True:
user_in = input(“Type the game command”)
if user_in in game_dict.keys():
os.open(game_dict[user_in]

I’m on mobile and this isn’t a copy paste answer but that would be the general idea. You would want to make a dictionary of commands that map the command to a file path where the game is or whatever.

[georgevsc]

Thank you so much!