I'm runing a python script I made, and I keep getting this damn error:

ValueError invalid X escape

I have a cable crossover weight machine figure with a weight stack on it. The script (one of 13), allows one to parent a weight on the stack, to the weight bar (part that goes up, and down), or to the machine frame.

The Python script works fine. However a window pops up, and gives me the error. The script takes in account of having more that one machine in a scene (suffix). FigureName = scene.CurrentFigure().Name() should allways be "cable machine" plus a suffix if any. Like cable machine_1, etc. If just one cable machine is in the scene then it's just "cable machine" Before running the script, one must make a cable machine figure the current figure, or the script will bomb.

How do I get of the error?

This is the script:

20 lbs weight select

set variables

import string
import poser
scene = poser.Scene()
Suffix = ''
FigureName = scene.CurrentFigure().Name()
Suffix = FigureName[13:len(FigureName)]
Parent_1 = 'cable frame' + Suffix
Parent_2 = 'cable sel bar' + Suffix
ActorParent_1 = scene.Actor(Parent_1)
ActorParent_2 = scene.Actor(Parent_2)

Actor_20_lbs = scene.Actor('cable20 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_40_lbs = scene.Actor('cable40 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_60_lbs = scene.Actor('cable60 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_80_lbs = scene.Actor('cable80 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_100_lbs = scene.Actor('cable100 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_120_lbs = scene.Actor('cable120 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_140_lbs = scene.Actor('cable140 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_160_lbs = scene.Actor('cable160 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_180_lbs = scene.Actor('cable180 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_200_lbs = scene.Actor('cable200 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_220_lbs = scene.Actor('cable220 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_240_lbs = scene.Actor('cable240 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_260_lbs = scene.Actor('cable260 lbs' + Suffix)
Actor_280_lbs = scene.Actor('cable280 lbs' + Suffix)

parent weight to cable sel bar

Actor_20_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_2,0,0)

parent weight to cable frame

Actor_40_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_60_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_80_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_100_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_120_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_140_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_160_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_180_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_200_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_220_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_240_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_260_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)
Actor_280_lbs.SetParent(ActorParent_1,0,0)

What I ment about the python script working fine, is the script does what it is suppose to do. Just that I get this popup window with  said error afterwards.

a python error normally gives the line number of the errors.  I dont see anything very obvious in the script, I dont like the suffix = " bit I prefer suffix = "" for a null string.

I would check that there are no stray characters at the end of the script and put in a few print statements to check the suffix value. any string containing a   will treat it as an escape character so if you have a X in any of your names that may be an issue.

suffix = Filename[13:] should get you the string, I dont think you need the len() part.

The error occurs when x is in a string, without the correct characters following it, apparently.  The x indicates a hex character.  The documentation gives the example, xhh = hex character hh.

If the script isn't handling any strings containing x, it does seem likely that there's some problem with the formatting of the document.  I would try copying the text from the above post and putting it into a fresh text file, then saving it as .py.  Or something similar, to start with a clean file.

What Python editor are you using?  Perhaps it's formatting your text in some unexpected way?

I was using " in the script instead of '. I changed them thinking it was the problem.

Somehow, I'm getting funky characters in the script, or whatever. I wrote up this test.py script in TextPad.

import poser                                                                                                                      print "Hello World"

Then I ran it. What I got was this:

ValueError: invalid x escape                                                                                        Hello World

So, something odd is going on. I wish I could figure out what. test.py is a very simple script, that should not give a error.

Do you have another text editor you can try?  And are you saving as plain text and not rich text, or something?

Tried wordpad, and notepad using plain text. Same error. Scratches head. It's got to be something in the test.py script file. I've ran a couple  of python scripts from the Poser 2010 directory. Some scripts work perfect, no ValueError invalid x escape message. Then some don't, and I get the damn message. This is driving me bonkers.

Have you re-started Poser since you first encountered the error message?  Poser may have thrown a rod, in which case re-starting it might help.

Have any of the scripts you tested worked in the past without an error?

Runnig other scripts? Can't remember. I don't use Python that much except for Bagginsbills's vss scripts. I just reloaded Poser, and ran vss.... no problem. Then my test.py script, with various encodings..... no luck. I'm going to find, and download a dedicated python editor, and see what happens. First, I'm going to take a python script from poser that works, and erase a line of code, and then retype it in, and the run it. Just to see what happens. I'll save a backup first of course.

I use wordpad for most of my python stuff. 

could you post the script as a text file attachment so we can look at it . ?

Damn.... this is so strange. I went, and loaded vssmainbuttons.py into textpad. I then erased one line, and then retyped it in. Saved in ansi format. Then ran it..... no error.

I then erased all the code but, import poser. I then typed in print "hello world". Saved file in ansi format. Then ran it. It worked no error message.

I then went, and then created test.py again from scratch with import poser, etc in it. Saved in ansi format. Ran it, and got my error again.

I'm thinking I'm getting this ValueError: invalid x escape error, due to a end of file character mix up, or a character that indicates a start of file.... something like that.

Ok, I figured out why this was not working. When writing a python program in notepad, or any other text editor, you have to save the program as *.txt. Then rename the program as *.py. Saving the file as *.py to begin with causes odd characters to be placed in the file, which causes the poser python interpreter to do strange things.

Crap, the above did not work. It worked once, then got same error again. I may have some kind of virus on my pc. Well thanks for your help everyone that responded.

I'd suggest you post the script and let someone with the right tools and knowledge take a look to see what the problem is.

I just gave up on this. I have more important things going on right now (Job related). I'll come back to this later if ever. Thanks much.