How do you store integer values in a SKLabelNode - ios

Question

I am trying to store in integer value in a SKLabelNode but I keep geting an error that I can only store strings. I need it as an integer later. Here is my code:
import SpriteKit
import GameplayKit
class GameScene: SKScene {
override func didMove(to view: SKView) {
var comScore = SKLabelNode()
comScore.fontName = "Pong Score"
comScore.text = 0
comScore.fontSize = 100
comScore.color = SKColor.white
comScore.position = CGPoint(x: 200, y: 220)
comScore.zPosition = 3
addChild(comScore)
}
}
Help would be greatly appreciated as I am new to SpriteKit.

Answer 1

An SKLabelNode's text property is a string, not an Int. You can make it a string by adding quotes:
comScore.text = "0"
or you can convert a Int variable to a string:
comScore.text = String(myIntValue)

Answer 2

I fixed this issue by storing it as a String initaly and then using the following code converted it back and forth:
var comScoreInt: Int = Int(comScore.text!)!
comScoreInt += 1
comScore.text = String(comScoreInt)

Answer 3

In addition to the other answers regarding Ints and Strings, if you stick a property watcher on your score, you can get the label updated automatically when you update the score:
var comScoreInt: Int {
didSet{
comScore.text = String(comScoreInt)
}
}
Edit:
If, as per your own answer, you want to initialise the score from the value in the score label, then make the integer score a computed property:
var comScoreInt -> Int {
get {
return Int(comScore.text!)
}
set(newScore) {
comScore.text = String(newScore)
}
}
Now you can retrieve comScoreInt and it will return the value in the score label and set comScoreInt and it will update the label.

Answer 4

Swift 3
Extensions are your friend:
extension String {
func integerValue() > Int? {
return Int(trimmingCharacters(.whitespacesAndNewlines))
}
static func + (left: String, right: Int) -> String {
guard let value = left.integerValue() else {return left}
return "\(value + right)"
}
static func += (inout left: String, right: Int) {
left = left + right
}
}
Now you can quickly add to a String doing label.text += 1
You end up losing some protections doing it this way though, since you would normally expect String + Int to throw you an error, so you may want to think about the security of this process, and perhaps either subclass String to NumberString so that only a certain type of string can be added with an Int,
or add some error handling into the extensions provided.
You can even take this one step further, and parse out the Int from a String (e.g. "Points: 1") and change the value.
This answer should not be seen as the definitive answer to use for your problem, I am basically offering a basic building block alternative that you may want to consider in your development.