AS3: Create a function that accepts both Array and Vector as an argument - arrays

Question

I'm trying to create a function that will work for any array-like object in Flash but I'm really struggling to find a way to let the compiler know what I'm doing. I need to use functions like indexOf on the argument, but unless it is cast to the correct data type the compiler doesn't know that method is available. It's frustrating because Vector and Array share pretty much the same interface but there isn't an Interface to reflect that!
At the moment I've got this:
private function deleteFirst(tV:* , tVal:*):void {
trace(tV)
var tIndex:int
if (tV is Array) {
var tArray:Array = tV as Array
tIndex = tArray.indexOf(tVal)
if (tIndex >= 0) tArray.splice(tIndex, 1)
} else if (tV is Vector.<*>) {
var tVObj:Vector.<*> = tV as Vector.<*>
tIndex = tVObj.indexOf(tVal)
if (tIndex >= 0) tVObj.splice(tIndex, 1)
} else if (tV is Vector.<Number>) {
var tVNum:Vector.<Number> = tV as Vector.<Number>
tIndex = tVNum.indexOf(tVal)
if (tIndex >= 0) tVNum.splice(tIndex, 1)
} else if (tV is Vector.<int>) {
var tVInt:Vector.<int> = tV as Vector.<int>
tIndex = tVInt.indexOf(tVal)
if (tIndex >= 0) tVInt.splice(tIndex, 1)
} else if (tV is Vector.<uint>) {
var tVUInt:Vector.<uint> = tV as Vector.<uint>
tIndex = tVUInt.indexOf(tVal)
if (tIndex >= 0) tVUInt.splice(tIndex, 1)
}
trace(tV)
}
It kind of works but it's not exactly elegant! I'm wondering if there's a trick I'm missing. Ideally I'd do this by extending the base class, but I don't think that's possible with Vector.
Thanks

Answer 1

I would be very careful about mixing and matching Vectors and Arrays. The biggest difference between them is that Arrays are sparse, and Vectors are dense.
That said, here is your very compact generic removal function that will work on ANY "set" class that has indexOf and splice...
function deleteFirst( set:Object, elem:Object ) : Boolean
{
if ( ("indexOf" in set) && ("splice" in set) )
{
var idx:int = set.indexOf( elem );
if ( idx >= 0 )
{
set.splice( idx, 1 );
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
You can test the code with this code
var arr:Array = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ];
var vec:Vector.<int> = new Vector.<int>();
vec.push( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 );
deleteFirst( arr, 2 ); // will remove 2
deleteFirst( vec, 3 ); // will remove 3
deleteFirst( "aaa4", "4" ); // nothing, cuz String doesn't have splice
trace( arr );
trace( vec );
UPDATE - For #Arron only, I've made the below change. Note that getting exceptions is good. They are informative and help reveal issues with the code path.
function deleteFirst( set:Object, elem:Object ) : Boolean
{
var idx:int = set.indexOf( elem );
if ( idx >= 0 )
{
set.splice( idx, 1 );
return true;
}
return false;
}
There! Now it's even simpler. You get an exception that tells you what's wrong!

Answer 2

This is definitely a short-coming of AS3, I don't think there is any elegant solution.
However, one code simplification you can make:
Since the syntax for indexOf() and splice() is the same for both arrays and vectors, you don't need that big if/else ladder to cast every type. You can simply call indexOf() and splice() on the object without any casting. Of course, you don't get any code-hints in your IDE, but it will work the same as you currently have. Example:
function deleteFirst(arrayOrVector:* , searchValue:*):* {
if (arrayOrVector is Array || arrayOrVector is Vector.<*> || arrayOrVector is Vector.<Number> || arrayOrVector is Vector.<int> || arrayOrVector is Vector.<uint>) {
var index:int = arrayOrVector.indexOf(searchValue)
if (index >= 0)
arrayOrVector.splice(index, 1)
}else
throw new ArgumentError("Argument 'arrayOrVector' must be an array or a vector, but was type " + getQualifiedClassName(arrayOrVector));
return arrayOrVector;
}
You can even skip the whole if/else type check and it would still work, it would just make the code more confusing, and you would get a slightly more confusing error if you called the function with an argument other than array or vector (like "indexOf not found on type Sprite" if you passed a sprite object by accident).
Also it's worth mentioning that, while this doesn't help you with number base type vectors, with other vectors you can sort of use Vector.<*> as a generic vector reference. You can assign a reference using the Vector global function with wildcard (Vector.<*>(myVector)) and it will return a reference to the original vector instead of a new copy as it usually does. If you don't mind returning a copy of number based type vectors instead of always modifying the original vector, you can still take advantage of this to simplify your code:
function deleteFirst(arrayOrVector:* , searchValue:*):* {
if (arrayOrVector is Array) {
var array:Array = arrayOrVector;
var index:int = array.indexOf(searchValue)
if (index >= 0)
array.splice(index, 1)
return array;
}else if(arrayOrVector is Vector.<*> || arrayOrVector is Vector.<Number> || arrayOrVector is Vector.<int> || arrayOrVector is Vector.<uint>) {
var vector:Vector.<*> = Vector.<*>(arrayOrVector);
index = vector.indexOf(searchValue);
if (index >= 0)
vector.splice(index, 1);
return vector;
}
throw new ArgumentError("Argument 'arrayOrVector' must be an array or a vector, but was type " + getQualifiedClassName(arrayOrVector));
}