The code below does just what I need it to do as far as not selecting a random frame label twice in a row. However, I need to take it a step further. Now, I also need to write this code in a way that any random frame that has been selected drops out of the array and is not selected again, period. Any help with achieving this will be really appreciated. Here is my code:
function getRandomLabel(currentLabel: String): String {
var labels: Array = ["e1" , "e2", "e3", "e4", "e5", "e6", "e7", "e8" ];
var currentIndex: int = labels.indexOf(currentLabel);
if (currentIndex > -1)
labels.splice(currentIndex, 1);
var index: Number = Math.floor(Math.random() * labels.length);
return labels[index];
}
Pretty easy. What you need is to keep the labels outside the function (in your code it is a function local variable and it is repopulated each call) and to extract each one upon request so it is not on the list next time.
var labels:Array = ["e1", "e2", "e3", "e4", "e5", "e6", "e7", "e8"];
function getRandomLabel():String
{
var anIndex:int = Math.random() * labels.length;
var result:String = labels[anIndex];
labels.splice(anIndex, 1);
return result;
}
Related
I'm trying to check every individual value in array 'chkArr' to check if that string occurs in another array 'arr' and if it does return blank "". I have it working for the first value "text" but it isn't looping though the other element of chkArr the way I expected.
If I manually change the loop variable 'rep' I get the correct result for whichever array element is selected. Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong? Perhaps I need to move the loop out of the filterLogic function?
function myFunction() {
var arr = [["random.text1"],[6.0],["othermsg"],[8],["testtext2"]];
var newArr = arr.map(filterLogic);
Logger.log(newArr);
}
var filterLogic = function(item){
var chkArr = [["text"],[6.0],["other"]["other"]];
for (var rep = 0; rep < chkArr.length; rep++) {
if(item.toString().indexOf(chkArr[rep]) === -1){return item;} else {return [""];}
}
}
So the result I would hope to get from the above would be:
[[], [], [], [8.0], []]
However what I actually get is:
[[], [6.0], [othermsg], [8.0], []]
I found a way to do it which does give me the result I need. I'm sure there is a better way still to do this so if anyone has a neater method please share.
My solution.
function myFunction() {
var arr = [["random.text1"],[6.0],["othermsg"],[8],["testtext2"]];
rep = 0;
for (rep = 0; rep <= 2; rep++){
var newArr = arr.map(filterLogic);
Logger.log(newArr);
}
}
var filterLogic = function(item){
var chkArr = [["text"],[6],["other"]];
if(item.toString().indexOf(chkArr[rep]) === -1){return item;} else {return [""];}
}
I'm trying to create a google apps script that will format certain parts of a paragraph. For example, text that is underlined will become bolded/italicized as well.
One docs add-on I have tried has a similar feature: https://imgur.com/a/5Cw6Irn (this is exactly what I'm trying to achieve)
How can I write a function that will select a certain type of text and format it?
**I managed to write a script that iterates through every single letter in a paragraph and checks if it's underlined, but it becomes extremely slow as the paragraph gets longer, so I'm looking for a faster solution.
function textUnderline() {
var selectedText = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getSelection();
if(selectedText) {
var elements = selectedText.getRangeElements();
for (var index = 0; index < elements.length; index++) {
var element = elements[index];
if(element.getElement().editAsText) {
var text = element.getElement().editAsText();
var textLength = text.getText().length;
//For every single character, check if it's underlined and then format it
for (var i = 0; i < textLength; i++) {
if(text.isUnderline(i)) {
text.setBold(i, i, true);
text.setBackgroundColor(i,i,'#ffff00');
} else {
text.setFontSize(i, i, 8);
}
}
}
}
}
}
Use getTextAttributeIndices:
There is no need to check each character in the selection. You can use getTextAttributeIndices() to get the indices in which the text formatting changes. This method:
Retrieves the set of text indices that correspond to the start of distinct text formatting runs.
You just need to iterate through these indices (that is, check the indices in which text formatting changes), which are a small fraction of all character indices. This will greatly increase efficiency.
Code sample:
function textUnderline() {
var selectedText = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getSelection();
if(selectedText) {
var elements = selectedText.getRangeElements();
for (var index = 0; index < elements.length; index++) {
var element = elements[index];
if(element.getElement().editAsText) {
var text = element.getElement().editAsText();
var textRunIndices = text.getTextAttributeIndices();
var textLength = text.getText().length;
for (let i = 0; i < textRunIndices.length; i++) {
const startOffset = textRunIndices[i];
const endOffset = i + 1 < textRunIndices.length ? textRunIndices[i + 1] - 1 : textLength - 1;
if (text.isUnderline(textRunIndices[i])) {
text.setBold(startOffset, endOffset, true);
text.setBackgroundColor(startOffset, endOffset,'#ffff00');
} else {
text.setFontSize(startOffset, endOffset, 8);
}
}
}
}
}
}
Reference:
getTextAttributeIndices()
Based on the example shown in the animated gif, it seems your procedure needs to
handle a selection
set properties if the selected region is of some format (e.g. underlined)
set properties if the selected region is NOT of some format (e.g. not underlined)
finish as fast as possible
and your example code achieves all these goals expect the last one.
The problem is that you are calling the text.set...() functions at each index position. Each call is synchronous and blocks the code until the document is updated, thus your run time grows linearly with each character in the selection.
My suggestion is to build up a collection of subranges from the selection range and then for each subrange use text.set...(subrange.start, subrange.end) to apply the formatting. Now the run time will be dependent on chunks of characters, rather than single characters. i.e., you will only update when the formatting switches back and forth from, in your example, underlined to not underlined.
Here is some example code that implements this subrange idea. I separated the specific predicate function (text.isUnderline) and specific formatting effects into their own functions so as to separate the general idea from the specific implementation.
// run this function with selection
function transformUnderlinedToBoldAndYellow() {
transformSelection("isUnderline", boldYellowOrSmall);
}
function transformSelection(stylePredicateKey, stylingFunction) {
const selectedText = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getSelection();
if (!selectedText) return;
const getStyledSubRanges = makeStyledSubRangeReducer(stylePredicateKey);
selectedText.getRangeElements()
.reduce(getStyledSubRanges, [])
.forEach(stylingFunction);
}
function makeStyledSubRangeReducer(stylePredicateKey) {
return function(ranges, rangeElement) {
const {text, start, end} = unwrapRangeElement(rangeElement);
if (start >= end) return ranges; // filter out empty selections
const range = {
text, start, end,
styled: [], notStyled: [] // we will extend our range with subranges
};
const getKey = (isStyled) => isStyled ? "styled" : "notStyled";
let currentKey = getKey(text[stylePredicateKey](start));
range[currentKey].unshift({start: start});
for (let index = start + 1; index <= end; ++index) {
const isStyled = text[stylePredicateKey](index);
if (getKey(isStyled) !== currentKey) { // we are switching styles
range[currentKey][0].end = index - 1; // note end of this style
currentKey = getKey(isStyled);
range[currentKey].unshift({start: index}); // start new style range
}
}
ranges.push(range);
return ranges;
}
}
// a helper function to unwrap a range selection, deals with isPartial,
// maps RangeElement => {text, start, end}
function unwrapRangeElement(rangeElement) {
const isPartial = rangeElement.isPartial();
const text = rangeElement.getElement().asText();
return {
text: text,
start: isPartial
? rangeElement.getStartOffset()
: 0,
end: isPartial
? rangeElement.getEndOffsetInclusive()
: text.getText().length - 1
};
}
// apply specific formatting to satisfy the example
function boldYellowOrSmall(range) {
const {text, start, end, styled, notStyled} = range;
styled.forEach(function setTextBoldAndYellow(range) {
text.setBold(range.start, range.end || end, true);
text.setBackgroundColor(range.start, range.end || end, '#ffff00');
});
notStyled.forEach(function setTextSmall(range) {
text.setFontSize(range.start, range.end || end, 8);
});
}
I'm a fiction writer and I used to do my writing in MS Word. I've written some macros to help me edit the fiction text and one of them check the paragraph and marks (red) the duplicate (or triplicate words, etc). Example:
"I came **home**. And while at **home** I did this and that."
Word "home" is used twice and worth checking if I really can't change the sentence.
Now I mostly use google documents for writing, but I still have to do my editing in MS Word, mostly just because of this macro - I am not able to program it in the google script.
function PobarvajBesede() {
var doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
var cursor = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getCursor();
var surroundingText = cursor.getSurroundingText().getText();
var WordsString = WORDS(surroundingText);
Logger.log(WordsString);
//so far, so good. But this doesn't work:
var SortedWordsString = SORT(WordsString[1],1,False);
// and I'm lost.
}
function WORDS(input) {
var input = input.toString();
var inputSplit = input.split(" ");
// Logger.log(inputSplit);
inputSplit = inputSplit.toString();
var punctuationless = inputSplit.replace(/[.,\/#!$%\?^&\*;:{}=\-_`~()]/g," ");
var finalString = punctuationless.replace(/\s{2,}/g," ");
finalString = finalString.toLowerCase();
return finalString.split(" ") ;
}
If I could only get a list of words (in uppercase, longer than 3 characters), sorted by the number of their appearances in the logger, it would help me a lot:
HOME (2)
AND (1)
...
Thank you.
Flow:
Transform the string to upper case and sanitize the string of all non ascii characters
After splitting the string to word array, reduce the array to a object of word:count
Map the reduced object to a 2D array [[word,count of this word],[..],...] and sort the array by the inner array's count.
Snippet:
function wordCount(str) {
str = str || 'I came **home**. And while at **home** I did this and that.';
var countObj = str
.toUpperCase() //'I CAME **HOME**...'
.replace(/[^A-Z ]/g, '') //'I CAME HOME...'
.split(' ') //['I', 'CAME',..]
.reduce(function(obj, word) {
if (word.length >= 3) {
obj[word] = obj[word] ? ++obj[word] : 1;
}
return obj;
}, {}); //{HOME:2,DID:1}
return Object.keys(countObj)
.map(function(word) {
return [word, countObj[word]];
}) //[['HOME',2],['CAME',1],...]
.sort(function(a, b) {
return b[1] - a[1];
});
}
console.info(wordCount());
To read and practice:
Object
Array methods
This is a combination of TheMaster answer and some of my work. I need to learn more about the way he did it so I spent some learning time today. This function eliminates some problems I was having the carriage returns and it also removes items that only appear once. You should probably pick TheMasters solution as I couldn't have done it without his work.
function getDuplicateWords() {
var str=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getBody().getText();
var countObj = str
.toUpperCase()
.replace(/\n/g,' ')
.replace(/[^A-Z ]/g, '')
.split(' ')
.reduce(function(obj, word) {
if (word.length >= 2) {
obj[word] = obj[word] ? ++obj[word] : 1;
}
return obj;
}, {});
var oA=Object.keys(countObj).map(function(word){return [word, countObj[word]];}).filter(function(elem){return elem[1]>1;}).sort(function(a,b){return b[1]-a[1]});
var userInterface=HtmlService.createHtmlOutput(oA.join("<br />"));
DocumentApp.getUi().showSidebar(userInterface);
}
function onOpen() {
DocumentApp.getUi().createMenu('MyMenu')
.addItem('Get Duplicates','getDuplicateWords' )
.addToUi();
}
And yes I was having problems with get the results to change in my last solution.
Update #2: Okay, I'm pretty sure my error in update #1 was because of indexing out of bounds over the array (I'm still not used to JS indexing at 0). But here is the new problem... if I write out the different combinations of the loop manually, setting the page index to 1 in moveItem() like so:
newForm.moveItem(itemsArray[0][0], 1);
newForm.moveItem(itemsArray[0][1], 1);
newForm.moveItem(itemsArray[0][2], 1);
newForm.moveItem(itemsArray[1][0], 1);
newForm.moveItem(itemsArray[1][1], 1);
newForm.moveItem(itemsArray[1][2], 1);
newForm.moveItem(itemsArray[2][0], 1);
...
...I don't get any errors but the items end up on different pages! What is going on?
Update #1:: Using Sandy Good's answer as well as a script I found at this WordPress blog, I have managed to get closer to what I needed. I believe Sandy Good misinterpreted what I wanted to do because I wasn't specific enough in my question.
I would like to:
Get all items from a page (section header, images, question etc)
Put them into an array
Do this for all pages, adding these arrays to an array (i.e: [[all items from page 1][all items from page 2][all items from page 3]...])
Shuffle the elements of this array
Repopulate a new form with each element of this array. In this way, page order will be randomized.
My JavaScript skills are poor (this is the first time I've used it). There is a step that produces null entries and I don't know why... I had to remove them manually. I am not able to complete step 5 as I get the following error:
Cannot convert Item,Item,Item to (class).
"Item,Item,Item" is the array element containing all the items from a particular page. So it seems that I can't add three items to a page at a time? Or is something else going on here?
Here is my code:
function shuffleForms() {
var itemsArray,shuffleQuestionsInNewForm,fncGetQuestionID,
newFormFile,newForm,newID,shuffle, sections;
// Copy template form by ID, set a new name
newFormFile = DriveApp.getFileById('1prfcl-RhaD4gn0b2oP4sbcKaRcZT5XoCAQCbLm1PR7I')
.makeCopy();
newFormFile.setName('AAAAA_Shuffled_Form');
// Get ID of new form and open it
newID = newFormFile.getId();
newForm = FormApp.openById(newID);
// Initialize array to put IDs in
itemsArray = [];
function getPageItems(thisPageNum) {
Logger.log("Getting items for page number: " + thisPageNum );
var thisPageItems = []; // Used for result
var thisPageBreakIndex = getPageItem(thisPageNum).getIndex();
Logger.log( "This is index num : " + thisPageBreakIndex );
// Get all items from page
var allItems = newForm.getItems();
thisPageItems.push(allItems[thisPageBreakIndex]);
Logger.log( "Added pagebreak item: " + allItems[thisPageBreakIndex].getIndex() );
for( var i = thisPageBreakIndex+1; ( i < allItems.length ) && ( allItems[i].getType() != FormApp.ItemType.PAGE_BREAK ); ++i ) {
thisPageItems.push(allItems[i]);
Logger.log( "Added non-pagebreak item: " + allItems[i].getIndex() );
}
return thisPageItems;
}
function shuffle(array) {
var currentIndex = array.length, temporaryValue, randomIndex;
Logger.log('shuffle ran')
// While there remain elements to shuffle...
while (0 !== currentIndex) {
// Pick a remaining element...
randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * currentIndex);
currentIndex -= 1;
// And swap it with the current element.
temporaryValue = array[currentIndex];
array[currentIndex] = array[randomIndex];
array[randomIndex] = temporaryValue;
}
return array;
}
function shuffleAndMove() {
// Get page items for all pages into an array
for(i = 2; i <= 5; i++) {
itemsArray[i] = getPageItems(i);
}
// Removes null values from array
itemsArray = itemsArray.filter(function(x){return x});
// Shuffle page items
itemsArray = shuffle(itemsArray);
// Move page items to the new form
for(i = 2; i <= 5; ++i) {
newForm.moveItem(itemsArray[i], i);
}
}
shuffleAndMove();
}
Original post: I have used Google forms to create a questionnaire. For my purposes, each question needs to be on a separate page but I need the pages to be randomized. A quick Google search shows this feature has not been added yet.
I see that the Form class in the Google apps script has a number of methods that alter/give access to various properties of Google Forms. Since I do not know Javascript and am not too familiar with Google apps/API I would like to know if what I am trying to do is even possible before diving in and figuring it all out.
If it is possible, I would appreciate any insight on what methods would be relevant for this task just to give me some direction to get started.
Based on comments from Sandy Good and two SE questions found here and here, this is the code I have so far:
// Script to shuffle question in a Google Form when the questions are in separate sections
function shuffleFormSections() {
getQuestionID();
createNewShuffledForm();
}
// Get question IDs
function getQuestionID() {
var form = FormApp.getActiveForm();
var items = form.getItems();
arrayID = [];
for (var i in items) {
arrayID[i] = items[i].getId();
}
// Logger.log(arrayID);
return(arrayID);
}
// Shuffle function
function shuffle(a) {
var j, x, i;
for (i = a.length; i; i--) {
j = Math.floor(Math.random() * i);
x = a[i - 1];
a[i - 1] = a[j];
a[j] = x;
}
}
// Shuffle IDs and create new form with new question order
function createNewShuffledForm() {
shuffle(arrayID);
// Logger.log(arrayID);
var newForm = FormApp.create('Shuffled Form');
for (var i in arrayID) {
arrayID[i].getItemsbyId();
}
}
Try this. There's a few "constants" to be set at the top of the function, check the comments. Form file copying and opening borrowed from Sandy Good's answer, thanks!
// This is the function to run, all the others here are helper functions
// You'll need to set your source file id and your destination file name in the
// constants at the top of this function here.
// It appears that the "Title" page does not count as a page, so you don't need
// to include it in the PAGES_AT_BEGINNING_TO_NOT_SHUFFLE count.
function shuffleFormPages() {
// UPDATE THESE CONSTANTS AS NEEDED
var PAGES_AT_BEGINNING_TO_NOT_SHUFFLE = 2; // preserve X intro pages; shuffle everything after page X
var SOURCE_FILE_ID = 'YOUR_SOURCE_FILE_ID_HERE';
var DESTINATION_FILE_NAME = 'YOUR_DESTINATION_FILE_NAME_HERE';
// Copy template form by ID, set a new name
var newFormFile = DriveApp.getFileById(SOURCE_FILE_ID).makeCopy();
newFormFile.setName(DESTINATION_FILE_NAME);
// Open the duplicated form file as a form
var newForm = FormApp.openById(newFormFile.getId());
var pages = extractPages(newForm);
shuffleEndOfPages(pages, PAGES_AT_BEGINNING_TO_NOT_SHUFFLE);
var shuffledFormItems = flatten(pages);
setFormItems(newForm, shuffledFormItems);
}
// Builds an array of "page" arrays. Each page array starts with a page break
// and continues until the next page break.
function extractPages(form) {
var formItems = form.getItems();
var currentPage = [];
var allPages = [];
formItems.forEach(function(item) {
if (item.getType() == FormApp.ItemType.PAGE_BREAK && currentPage.length > 0) {
// found a page break (and it isn't the first one)
allPages.push(currentPage); // push what we've built for this page onto the output array
currentPage = [item]; // reset the current page to just this most recent item
} else {
currentPage.push(item);
}
});
// We've got the last page dangling, so add it
allPages.push(currentPage);
return allPages;
};
// startIndex is the array index to start shuffling from. E.g. to start
// shuffling on page 5, startIndex should be 4. startIndex could also be thought
// of as the number of pages to keep unshuffled.
// This function has no return value, it just mutates pages
function shuffleEndOfPages(pages, startIndex) {
var currentIndex = pages.length;
// While there remain elements to shuffle...
while (currentIndex > startIndex) {
// Pick an element between startIndex and currentIndex (inclusive)
var randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * (currentIndex - startIndex)) + startIndex;
currentIndex -= 1;
// And swap it with the current element.
var temporaryValue = pages[currentIndex];
pages[currentIndex] = pages[randomIndex];
pages[randomIndex] = temporaryValue;
}
};
// Sourced from elsewhere on SO:
// https://stackoverflow.com/a/15030117/4280232
function flatten(array) {
return array.reduce(
function (flattenedArray, toFlatten) {
return flattenedArray.concat(Array.isArray(toFlatten) ? flatten(toFlatten) : toFlatten);
},
[]
);
};
// No safety checks around items being the same as the form length or whatever.
// This mutates form.
function setFormItems(form, items) {
items.forEach(function(item, index) {
form.moveItem(item, index);
});
};
I tested this code. It created a new Form, and then shuffled the questions in the new Form. It excludes page breaks, images and section headers. You need to provide a source file ID for the original template Form. This function has 3 inner sub-functions. The inner functions are at the top, and they are called at the bottom of the outer function. The arrayOfIDs variable does not need to be returned or passed to another function because it is available in the outer scope.
function shuffleFormSections() {
var arrayOfIDs,shuffleQuestionsInNewForm,fncGetQuestionID,
newFormFile,newForm,newID,items,shuffle;
newFormFile = DriveApp.getFileById('Put the source file ID here')
.makeCopy();
newFormFile.setName('AAAAA_Shuffled_Form');
newID = newFormFile.getId();
newForm = FormApp.openById(newID);
arrayOfIDs = [];
fncGetQuestionID = function() {
var i,L,thisID,thisItem,thisType;
items = newForm.getItems();
L = items.length;
for (i=0;i<L;i++) {
thisItem = items[i];
thisType = thisItem.getType();
if (thisType === FormApp.ItemType.PAGE_BREAK ||
thisType === FormApp.ItemType.SECTION_HEADER ||
thisType === FormApp.ItemType.IMAGE) {
continue;
}
thisID = thisItem.getId();
arrayOfIDs.push(thisID);
}
Logger.log('arrayOfIDs: ' + arrayOfIDs);
//the array arrayOfIDs does not need to be returned since it is available
//in the outermost scope
}// End of fncGetQuestionID function
shuffle = function() {// Shuffle function
var j, x, i;
Logger.log('shuffle ran')
for (i = arrayOfIDs.length; i; i--) {
j = Math.floor(Math.random() * i);
Logger.log('j: ' + j)
x = arrayOfIDs[i - 1];
Logger.log('x: ' + x)
arrayOfIDs[i - 1] = arrayOfIDs[j];
arrayOfIDs[j] = x;
}
Logger.log('arrayOfIDs: ' + arrayOfIDs)
}
shuffleQuestionsInNewForm = function() {
var i,L,thisID,thisItem,thisQuestion,questionType;
L = arrayOfIDs.length;
for (i=0;i<L;i++) {
thisID = arrayOfIDs[i];
Logger.log('thisID: ' + thisID)
thisItem = newForm.getItemById(thisID);
newForm.moveItem(thisItem, i)
}
}
fncGetQuestionID();//Get all the question ID's and put them into an array
shuffle();
shuffleQuestionsInNewForm();
}
I posted my problem a few hours ago, but I think I figured out how to ask my question in a more comprehensible way.
This is my code:
// 1. Intro
var introPL1:Array = ["intro1","intro2","intro3","intro4"];
var introPL2:Array = ["intro5","intro6","intro7","intro8","intro9"];
var introPL3:Array = ["intro10","intro11"];
var introPL4:Array = ["intro12","intro13"];
var allIntro:Array = [introPL1,introPL2,introPL3,introPL4];
// 2. Clothes
var clothesPL1:Array = ["clothes1","clothes2","clothes3","clothes4","clothes5"];
var clothesPL2:Array = ["clothes6","clothes7","clothes8"];
var clothesPL3:Array = ["clothes9","clothes10"];
var clothesPL4:Array = ["clothes11","clothes12","clothes13"];
var allClothes:Array = [clothesPL1,clothesPL2,clothesPL3,clothesPL4];
// 3. Colored Numbers
var colNumPL1:Array = ["colNum1","colNum2","colNum3","colNum4","colNum5"];
var colNumPL2:Array = ["colNum6","colNum7","colNum8"];
var colNumPL3:Array = ["colNum9","colNum10"];
var colNumPL4:Array = ["colNum11","colNum12","colNum13"];
var allColNum:Array = [colNumPL1,colNumPL2,colNumPL3,colNumPL4];
var allStuff:Array;
allStuff = allIntro.concat(allClothes, allColNum);
trace(allStuff[4]);
When I trace allStuff[4] it displays "clothes1,clothes2,clothes3,clothes4,clothes5".
The thing is, I would like all the stuff to be in the allStuff array (without sub-arrays) and when I trace allStuff[4], I would like it to display "intro5" (the fifth item in the huge allStuff array).
the function you want to use then is concat
here's the example from adobe
var numbers:Array = new Array(1, 2, 3);
var letters:Array = new Array("a", "b", "c");
var numbersAndLetters:Array = numbers.concat(letters);
var lettersAndNumbers:Array = letters.concat(numbers);
trace(numbers); // 1,2,3
trace(letters); // a,b,c
trace(numbersAndLetters); // 1,2,3,a,b,c
trace(lettersAndNumbers); // a,b,c,1,2,3
it's pretty straight forward:
allStuff= allStuff.concat(introPL1,introPL2,introPL3,introPL4,clothesPL1,clothesPL2,clothesPL3,clothesPL4,colNumPL1,colNumPL2,colNumPL3,colNumPL4);
you could also do a
allStuff = []
for each(var $string:String in $arr){
allStuff.push($string)
}
for each array, or make it into a function
Okay, once you have declared your arrays like so, you need an additional operation to flatten your arrays allClothes and so on. Do like this:
function flatten(a:Array):Array {
// returns an array that contains all the elements
// of parameter as a single array
var b:Array=[];
for (var i:int=0;i<a.length;i++) {
if (a[i] is Array) b=b.concat(flatten(a[i]));
else b.push(a[i]);
}
return b;
}
What does it do: The function makes an empty array first, then checks the parameter member by member, if the i'th member is an Array, it calls itself with that member as a parameter, and adds the result to its temporary array, otherwise it's just pushing next member of a into the temporary array. So, to make your allIntro a flat array, you call allIntro=flatten(allIntro) after declaring it as you did. The same for other arrays.