Invisible text on sign

Hi,

I'm trying to store a hidden value on a sign when I create it. I have two reasons for this.
1) My top line is [Rent] - I'd like to have something like D[Rent] so I'm not as likely to clash with anything else that might set the same thing
2) More importantly, I have a value PlacedID which I'd like to store on the bottom line.

I was googling and saw someone claim that ChatColor.COLOR_CHAR will make the next character invisible. If I don't make them hidden with ChatColor.COLOR_CHAR, they are visible, so I know the values are being placed without it.

So I have the following which I pulled from that old example from someone on a forum:

Code:

    public static String convertToInvisibleString(String s) {
        String hidden = "";
        for (char c : s.toCharArray()) hidden += ChatColor.COLOR_CHAR+""+c;
        return hidden;
    }

and

Code:

evt.setLine(0, Convert.convertToInvisibleString("D") + ChatColor.BLACK + "[" + ChatColor.DARK_RED + "Rent" + ChatColor.BLACK + "]");
evt.setLine(1, ChatColor.BLACK + "Cost: $" + Integer.toString(pb.getRentCost()));
evt.setLine(2, ChatColor.BLACK + "Days: " + Integer.toString(pb.getRentDays()));
evt.setLine(3, Convert.convertToInvisibleString(Integer.toString(pb.getPlacedID())));

And it seems to work.. [Rent] shows and not D[Rent]

When i right click the line picking it up in PlayerInteract) - the "hidden" values just flat out aren't there

So going back to where I'm placing them - I setLine(0) and then immediately getLine(0) and I get

[Rent]

No sign of the D at all.

Any thoughts?

 

Code:java

    private String[] lines;
    public String getLine(int index) throws IndexOutOfBoundsException {
        return this.lines[index];
    }
 
    public void setLine(int index, String line) throws IndexOutOfBoundsException {
        this.lines[index] = line;
    }

this is the code of CraftSign (used with the sign). I have no idea why the given 'color' is removed

 

yeah.. me too.

Is there some other method to apply an invisible value to a sign?

 

try this:

Code:

public static String toInvisible(char c) {
  return "§" + String.valueOf(c);
}

but isn't §D a valid color? or is it case sensitive...

 

I think the valid color part might be what is messing me up.

Ok.. plan B i guess.. the (hopefully) less hacky way of doing things.. setting the block metadata on the sign when placing it and putting it back on the signs after each restart!

Code:

evt.getBlock().setMetadata("pid", new FixedMetadataValue(Main.getInstance(), Integer.toString(pb.getPlacedID())));

Code:

if (evt.getClickedBlock().hasMetadata("pid") && !evt.getClickedBlock().getMetadata("pid").isEmpty()) {
                                String pid = evt.getClickedBlock().getMetadata("pid").get(0).asString();
                            }

any thoughts on that approach?

 

I

have never used this, so I don't know