Output (library)
Overview
Summary
The Output library provides logging functionality, object introspection, and a variety of printing and formatting methods. You will typically use the library in development, to inspect variables, or perhaps to save data to file for reporting or logging tasks.
Contents
API
props(obj, output)
Converts a typical [object Object] string into an [object Class value="1" property="2"] string
Debug the contents of an object and output to the Output panel:
var obj = {a:null, b:1, c:'Hello'};
trace(Output.props(obj));
[object Object a=null b=1 c="Hello"]
list(arr, properties, label, output)
Lists the properties of an object in a human-readable format
The following example lists the contents of an arbitrary Array:
list(['Dave', 'Steve', 'John']);
List: Array (depth:1, objects:0, values:3, time:0.0 seconds) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- array => Array 0: "Dave" 1: "Steve" 2: "John"
Here's the same result with a selection:
list($selection);
List: Array (depth:1, objects:0, values:5, time:0.0 seconds) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- array => Array 0: "[object SymbolInstance]" 1: "[object SymbolInstance]" 2: "[object SymbolInstance]" 3: "[object SymbolInstance]" 4: "[object SymbolInstance]"
As you can see, that's not that helpful, so list() allows you to pass in further parameters to customise the output. The following example lists the names of the objects in the selection:
list($selection, 'name');
List: Array (depth:1, objects:0, values:5, time:0.0 seconds) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- array => Array 0: "item_01" 1: "item_02" 2: "item_03" 3: "item_04" 4: "item_05"
Alternatively, you can pass in an Array of property names, and the output is output hierarchically:
list($selection, ['name', 'x']);
List: Array (depth:2, objects:5, values:10, time:0.0 seconds) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- array => Array [0] => Array 0: "item_01" 1: 30 [1] => Array 0: "item_02" 1: 85 [2] => Array 0: "item_03" 1: 140 [3] => Array 0: "item_04" 1: 195 [4] => Array 0: "item_05" 1: 250
Note that Output.list() has also been aliased as a global function, list():
list($selection);
inspect(obj, $depth, $label, $debug, $filters, $callback)
Output object to Output panel in hierarchical format (note that $ arguments are optional, and can be passed in any order)
The $ arguments of this method are derived using parameter type-shifting, that is, each argument is a different datatype, so they can be supplied in any order. This leaves you flexible to apply some or many properties as you see fit, without having to enter default values.
The following example Inspects the current library's items, with a custom label, and limits the inspection depth to 3 levels:
Output.inspect($library.items, 'Library items', 3);
Library items: Array (depth:4, objects:39, values:120, time:0.0 seconds) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- array => Array [0] => SymbolItem [timeline] => Timeline name: "star graphic" [layers] => Array [0] => Layer frameCount: 1 currentFrame: 0 layerCount: 1 currentLayer: 0 [bindings] => Array symbolType: "movie clip" sourceFilePath: "" sourceLibraryName: undefined sourceAutoUpdate: undefined scalingGrid: false [scalingGridRect] => Object left: -2147483.648 top: -2147483.648 right: -2147483.648 bottom: -2147483.648 itemType: "movie clip" name: "star graphic" linkageExportForAS: false linkageExportForRS: false linkageImportForRS: false linkageExportInFirstFrame: undefined // additional properties truncated
Note that Output.inspect() has also been aliased as a global function, inspect():
inspect($selection);
Note that functions are ignored by default when inspecting objects or classes, so you need to pass true if you want to see a class' methods:
inspect(new Template()); inspect(new Template(), true);
Inspect: Template (depth:4, objects:0, values:6, time:0.0 seconds) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- object => Template uri: "" input: "" output: "" data: null options: null _indent: ""
Inspect: Template (depth:4, objects:0, values:13, time:0.0 seconds) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- object => Template uri: "" input: "" output: "" data: null options: null _indent: "" load: function (pathOrURI) save: function (pathOrURI, overwrite) set: function (data, value, append) indent: function (indent) render: function (_stack) clone: function () toString: function ()
Finally, know that if a property is parsed that causes an error, there will be no output, as the method stores the output until the end and does one, single trace (for performance reasons).
If you get JavaScript errors (but no output) when tracing objects, it's likely that a single property is causing an error, so you should pass an options parameter with the debug property set as true, so you can see which property is causing the error:
inspect(window);
inspect(window, {debug:true});
The following JavaScript error(s) occurred: Open a Flash document (FLA) before running this script.
Debug: Window -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- object => Window [flash] => Flash appName: "Flash MX2" appVersion: "" systemScript: "en" tools: [ SKIPPING! ] [drawingLayer] => drawingLayer sampleProperty: "foo" [Math] => mathObject ...other properties omitted... MP3MediumStereo: 1 MP3MediumMono: 2 MP3BestStereo: 3 MP3BestMono: 4 [hardwareAccelleration] => Object none: 0 direct: 1 cpu: 2 [utils] => Object [prototype] => PublishProfile [file] => Object The following JavaScript error(s) occurred: At line 225 of file "PublishProfile.jsfl": TypeError: this.parent is not a function
In this case here, it looks as if I need to add a check in the PublishProfile class for any getters (which are parsed as properties, but they are actually functions, so execute code and can throw errors) that call this.parent(). I did that, corrected the issue, and the output completed like so:
...other properties omitted... [XUL] => Class [Source] => Class [Timer] => Class [modules] => Object [ui] => Object [dialogs] => Array [events] => Events [handlers] => Object [documentPublished] => Object [documentSaved] => Object [documentNew] => Object [documentOpened] => Object [documentClosed] => Object [documentChanged] => Object [layerChanged] => Object [frameChanged] => Object [mouseMove] => Object (depth:4, objects:1256, values:2262, time:5.4 seconds)
folder(value, depth, output)
View the hierarchy of a folder
Output.folder() is actually a wrapper around Utils.walkFolder(), with a callback that outputs the file and folder names as a textual tree structure.
The following example outputs the xJSFL user folder to the default 3 levels deep (note the // shortcut to the xJSFL root folder, as outlined in URI Juggling):
Output.folder('//user/');
/user /assets /readme.txt /config /data /readme.txt /settings /readme.txt /test.xml /user.xml /xjsfl.xml /templates /readme.txt /jsfl /bootstrap.jsfl /libraries /readme.txt /snippets /Demo /Development /Instances /Library /Stage /temp /dom.txt /readme.txt /ui /readme.txt
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