How to Read a Text file Using Actionscript 3? - arrays

Question

I am trying to read a text file in my air project. It is actually the config file used by TinkerProxy. I have the following so far:
//Read settings from TinkerProxy Config File
var TextFileLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
var ArrayOfLines:Array;
TextFileLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onLoaded);
TextFileLoader.load(new URLRequest("/tinkerproxy-2_0/serproxy.cfg"));
//TextFileLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
function onLoaded(e:Event):void {
ArrayOfLines = e.target.data.split(/\r/);
trace(e.target.data);
}
trace(ArrayOfLines[0]);
What I'm really trying to do is find the 'net_port1=5331' entry and store '5331' in a variable.
Here is a sample of the text file:
# Generated by TinkerProxy Configurator
#
# Timeout in seconds
# 0 means infinite, no timeout
timeout=0
newlines_to_nils=false
comm_ports=1
serial_device1=COM1
net_port1=5331
comm_baud1=9600
comm_databits1=8
comm_stopbits1=1
comm_parity1=none
The file is autogenerated so I can not edit it (or rather I'd want to read it as it is generated.)
I'm able to see the data via trace(e.target.data) but I cannot access the data via trace(ArrayOfLines[0]); for instance.
What am I missing?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You probably need to split on \n (Unix) or \r\n (Windows), not \r.
Usually when loading a text file from the filesystem and breaking into lines, I normalize line endings by doing this:
var lines:Array = text.replace(/\r\n/g, "\n").split("\n");
Then you can iterate over the lines and decode each line as desired. The file appears to be akin to .properties format, for which there is no built in parser in AS3 (like XML, JSON, or URLVariables) but it's a pretty simple format. For example, this:
var props:Object = {};
for each(var line:String in lines){
// skip blank lines and comment lines
if(line == "" || line.charAt(0) == "#")
continue;
var arr:Array = line.split("=");
if(arr.length == 2)
props[arr[0]] = arr[1];
}
trace(JSON.stringify(props, null, 2))
Outputs this:
{
"comm_parity1": "none",
"comm_ports": "1 ",
"newlines_to_nils": "false",
"comm_baud1": "9600",
"serial_device1": "COM1",
"comm_databits1": "8",
"timeout": "0",
"comm_stopbits1": "1",
"net_port1": "5331"
}
Which allows you to access properties by name:
trace(props.net_port1); // "5331"
(Note that all values are strings, so for example newlines_to_nils is not false, it is "false".)
Alternatively, you could search for the key you are looking for and extract just the data you want:
var key:String = "net_port1=";
var index:int = text.indexOf(key);
if(index != -1){
// extract text after the desired search key
var value:String = text.substring(index + key.length);
// parseInt will read until it hits a non-numeric character
var net_port1:int = parseInt(value);
trace(net_port1); // 5331
}

Answer 2

Here is the solution that worked for me. Thanks again to Aaron for his answer on properties. I may use that in the future.
//Read settings from TinkerProxy Config File
var TextFileLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
var ArrayOfLines:Array;
var Port:int;
var COM:int;
TextFileLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onLoaded);
TextFileLoader.load(new URLRequest("/tinkerproxy-2_0/serproxy.cfg"));
function findSubstring(array:Array, string:String):int {
for(var i:int = 0; i < array.length; i++){
if(array[i].indexOf(string) > -1){
return i; //Index of Substring
}
}
return -1; //Not Found
}
function onLoaded(e:Event):void {
ArrayOfLines = e.target.data.split(String.fromCharCode(13));
if(findSubstring(ArrayOfLines, "net_port") > -1){
Port = Number(ArrayOfLines[findSubstring(ArrayOfLines, "net_port")].split("=")[1]);
}
else{
Port = 5331; //Default if not port is found.
}
if(findSubstring(ArrayOfLines, "serial_device1") > -1){
COM = Number(ArrayOfLines[findSubstring(ArrayOfLines, "serial_device1")].split("serial_device1=COM")[1]);
}
else{
COM = 1; //Default if not port is found.
}
trace("COM: " + COM + " Port: " + Port);
}