How to save a number variable to file in applescript? - variables

Question

I am trying to make a simple counter that adds one to the count every time the script is run. I have tried using a property but that doesn't work because it resets whenever the script is edited or the computer is turned off. Here is the code I have that I took from here.
set theFile to ":Users:hardware:Library:Scripts:Applications:LightSpeed:" & "CurrentProductCode.txt"
open for access theFile
set fileContents to read theFile
close access theFile
set counter to fileContents as integer
on add_leading_zeros(counter, max_leading_zeros)
set the threshold_number to (10 ^ max_leading_zeros) as integer
if counter is less than the threshold_number then
set the leading_zeros to ""
set the digit_count to the length of ((counter div 1) as string)
set the character_count to (max_leading_zeros + 1) - digit_count
repeat character_count times
set the leading_zeros to (the leading_zeros & "0") as string
end repeat
return (leading_zeros & (counter as text)) as string
else
return counter as text
end if
end add_leading_zeros
add_leading_zeros(counter, 6)
open for access newFile with write permission
set eof of newFile to 0
write counter + 1 to newFile
close access newFile
With this I get the error:
Can’t make ":Users:hardware:Library:Scripts:Applications:LightSpeed:CurrentProductCode.txt" into type file.
If I add "set theFile to theFile as alias" after the first "open for access theFile" it gets a little further in the code, but gets another error:
Can’t make "1776" into type integer.
And now I am out of ideas. I have googled all over the place haven't found anything that works for me. Thanks

Answer 1

I like to use script objects to store data:
set thePath to (path to desktop as text) & "myData.scpt"
script theData
property Counter : missing value
end script
try
set theData to load script file thePath
on error
-- On first run, set the initial value of the variable
set theData's Counter to 0
end try
--Increment the variable by 1
set theData's Counter to (theData's Counter) + 1
-- save your changes
store script theData in file thePath replacing yes
return theData's Counter