In nodejs I have these (very long) translation files
gb.json (english)
{
"transHi":"Hello",
"transBye":"Goodbye"
}
de.json (german)
{
"transHi":"Gutentag",
"transBye":"Auf Wiedersehen"
}
I have a lot of controllers that all need these texts available in the many languages so I can call them when ever needed.
The obvious way would be something like this in my app.js:
global.gb = require('../global/language/gb.json');
global.de = require('../global/language/de.json');
And when I need a text I would call like:
myText = global.gb.transHi
myText = global.de.transHi
But!! the language is always determined by a variable
usersLanguage = "de"
myText = global.usersLanguage.transHi
And that wont work.
I also tried:
usersLanguage = "de"
myText = global.usersLanguage.transHi
Perhaps I could solve it with a function that has a long switch structure
var findText = (language,textkey) => {
switch(language) {
case "gb:
return gb.textkey
break;
case "de:
return de.textkey
break;
}
}
myText = translate(usersLanguage, "transHi");
But I cant seem to make that work either.
How would I do this in a simple and flexible way?
UPDATE: Is it possible to do this?
Any object property accessed via . can also be accessed using array index notation []. So,
var langObj = texts.gb;
is the same as
var langObj = texts["gb"];
which is also the same as
var lang = "gb";
var langObj = texts[lang];
Same for the textkey, using the .textkey you get the property called textkey, which probably doesn't exist. If you want a different property depending on the value of the variable textkey, do
var text = langObj[textkey];
Related
I am experimenting with a Firefox extension that will load an arbitrary URL (only via HTTP or HTTPS) when certain conditions are met.
With certain conditions, I just want to display a message instead of requesting a URL from the internet.
I was thinking about simply hosting a local webpage that would display the message. The catch is that the message needs to include a variable.
Is there a simple way to craft a local web page so that it can display a variable passed to it in the URL? I would prefer to just use HTML and CSS, but adding a little inline javascript would be okay if absolutely needed.
As a simple example, when the extension calls something like:
folder/messageoutput.html?t=Text%20to%20display
I would like to see:
Message: Text to display
shown in the browser's viewport.
You can use the "search" property of the Location object to extract the variables from the end of your URL:
var a = window.location.search;
In your example, a will equal "?t=Text%20to%20display".
Next, you will want to strip the leading question mark from the beginning of the string. The if statement is just in case the browser doesn't include it in the search property:
var s = a.substr(0, 1);
if(s == "?"){s = substr(1);}
Just in case you get a URL with more than one variable, you may want to split the query string at ampersands to produce an array of name-value pair strings:
var R = s.split("&");
Next, split the name-value pair strings at the equal sign to separate the name from the value. Store the name as the key to an array, and the value as the array value corresponding to the key:
var L = R.length;
var NVP = new Array();
var temp = new Array();
for(var i = 0; i < L; i++){
temp = R[i].split("=");
NVP[temp[0]] = temp[1];
}
Almost done. Get the value with the name "t":
var t = NVP['t'];
Last, insert the variable text into the document. A simple example (that will need to be tweaked to match your document structure) is:
var containingDiv = document.getElementById("divToShowMessage");
var tn = document.createTextNode(t);
containingDiv.appendChild(tn);
getArg('t');
function getArg(param) {
var vars = {};
window.location.href.replace( location.hash, '' ).replace(
/[?&]+([^=&]+)=?([^&]*)?/gi, // regexp
function( m, key, value ) { // callback
vars[key] = value !== undefined ? value : '';
}
);
if ( param ) {
return vars[param] ? vars[param] : null;
}
return vars;
}
How to make a kind of array that index things based on a object? but not being strict like dictionary.
What I mean:
var a:Object = {a:3};
var b:Object = {a:3};
var dict:Dictionary = new Dictionary();
dict[a] = 'value for a';
// now I want to get the value for the last assignment
var value = dict[b];
// value doesn't exits :s
How to make something like that. TO not be to heavy as a lot of data will be flowing there.
I have an idea to use the toString() method but I would have to make custom classes.. I would like something fast..
Why not make a special class that encapsulates an array, put methods in there to add and remove elements from the array, and then you could make a special method (maybe getValueByObject(), whatever makes sense). Then you could do:
var mySpecialArrayClass:MySpecialArrayClass = MySpecialArrayClass();
var a:Object = {a:3};
var b:Object = {a:3};
mySpecialArrayClass.addElement(a,'value for a');
var value = mySpecialArrayClass.getValueByObject(a);
I could probably cook up a simple example of such a class if you don't follow.
Update:
Would something like this help?
http://snipplr.com/view/6494/action-script-to-string-serialization-and-deserialization/
Update:
Could you use the === functionality? if you say
if ( object === object )
it compares the underlying memory address to see if two objects are the same reference...
So I have a list of words (the entire English dictionary).
For a word matching game, when a player moves a piece I need to check the entire dictionary to see if the the word that the player made exists in the dictionary. I need to do this as quickly as possible. simply iterating through the dictionary is way too slow.
What is the quickest algorithm in AS3 to search a long list like this for a match, and what datatype should I use? (ie array, object, Dictionary etc)
I would first go with an Object, which is a hash table (at least, storage-wise).
So, for every word in your list, make an entry in your dictionary Object and store true as its value.
Then, you just have to check if a given word is a key into your dictionary to know whether the word the user has choosen is valid or not.
This works really fast in this simple test (with 10,000,000 entries):
var dict:Object = {};
for(var i:int = 0; i < 10000000; i++) {
dict[i] = true;
}
var btn:Sprite = new Sprite();
btn.graphics.beginFill(0xff0000);
btn.graphics.drawRect(0,0,50,50);
btn.graphics.endFill();
addChild(btn);
btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,checkWord);
var findIt:Boolean = true;
function checkWord(e:MouseEvent):void {
var word:String;
if(findIt) {
word = "3752132";
} else {
word = "9123012456";
}
if(dict[word]) {
trace(word + " found");
} else {
trace(word + " not found");
}
findIt = !findIt;
}
It takes a little longer to build the dictionary, but lookup is almost instantaneous.
The only caveat is that you will have to consider certain keys that will pass the check and not necessarily be part of your words list. Words such as toString, prototype, etc. There are just a few of them, but keep that in mind.
I would try something like this with your real data set. If it works fine, then you have a really easy solution. Go have a beer (or whatever you prefer).
Now, if the above doesn't really work after testing it with real data (notice I've build the list with numbers cast as strings for simplicity), then a couple of options, off the top of my head:
1) Partition the first dict into a set of dictionaries. So, instead of having all the words in dict, have a dictionary for words that begin with 'a', another for 'b', etc. Then, before looking up a word, check the first char to know where to look it up.
Something like:
var word:String = "hello";
var dictKey:String = word.charAt(0);
// actual check
if(dict[dictKey][word]) {
trace("found");
} else {
trace("not found");
}
You can eventually repartition if necessary. I.e, make dict['a'] point to another set of dictionaries indexed by the first two characters. So, you'll have dict['a']['b'][wordToSearch]. There are a number of possible variations on this idea (you'd also have to come up with some strategy to cope with words of two letters, such as "be", for instance).
2) Try a binary search. The problem with it is that you'll first have to sort the list, upfront. You have to do it just once, as it doesn't make sense to remove words from your dict. But with millions of words, it might be rarther intensive.
3) Try some fancy data structures from open source libraries such as:
http://sibirjak.com/blog/index.php/collections/as3commons-collections/
http://lab.polygonal.de/ds/
But again, as I said above, I'd first try the easiest and simpler solution and check if it works against the real data set.
Added
A simple way to deal with keywords used for Object's built-in properties:
var dict:Object = {};
var keywordsInDict:Array = [];
function buildDictionary():void {
// let's assume this is your original list, retrieved
// from XML or other external means
// it contains "constructor", which should be dealt with
// separately, as it's a built-in prop of Object
var sourceList:Array = ["hello","world","foo","bar","constructor"];
var len:int = sourceList.length;
var word:String;
// just a dummy vanilla object, to test if a word in the list
// is already in use internally by Object
var dummy:Object = {};
for(var i:int = 0; i < len; i++) {
// also, lower-casing is a good idea
// do that when you check words as well
word = sourceList[i].toLowerCase();
if(!dummy[word]) {
dict[i] = true;
} else {
// it's a keyword, so store it separately
keywordsInDict.push(word);
}
}
}
Now, just add an extra check for built-in props in the checkWords function:
function checkWord(e:MouseEvent):void {
var word:String;
if(findIt) {
word = "Constructor";
} else {
word = "asdfds";
}
word = word.toLowerCase();
var dummy:Object = {};
// check first if the word is a built-in prop
if(dummy[word]) {
// if it is, check if that word was in the original list
// if it was present, we've stored it in keywordsInDict
if(keywordsInDict.indexOf(word) != -1) {
trace(word + " found");
} else {
trace(word + " not found");
}
// not a built-in prop, so just check if it's present in dict
} else {
if(dict[word]) {
trace(word + " found");
} else {
trace(word + " not found");
}
}
findIt = !findIt;
}
This isn't specific to ActionScript, but a Trie is a suitable data structure for storing words.
Here's a example that I've to use when I want to create a button with mouse-over effect:
this.buttonExample.buttonMode = true;
this.buttonExample.useHandCursor = true;
this.buttonExample.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,myaction);
I'm new to AS3 - is there any way, to simplify this code like this:
this.buttonExample.buttonMode = true;.useHandCursor = true;.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,myaction);
why does it not works ?
Its already as simple as it gets. Firstly
this.buttonExample.buttonMode = true;
this.buttonExample.useHandCursor = true;
this.buttonExample.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,myaction)
is much more readable than
this.buttonExample.buttonMode = true;.useHandCursor = true;.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,myaction);
Always go for readbility over anything else. And secondly,
this.buttonExample.buttonMode = true;
does not return an object so you can't interact with anything.
If you're using that pattern a lot, you can make a helper function:
public function setAsButton(button:Sprite, clickHandler:Function):void {
button.buttonMode = button.userHandCursor = true;
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickHandler);
}
Then call it somewhere:
setAsButton(this.buttonExample, myaction);
If you feel that typing this.buttonExample over and over again is too repetitive, simply assign that object to a variable and use that variable in the rest of the statements:
var b : Button = this.buttonExample;
b.buttonMode = true;
b.useHandCursor = true;
b.addEventListener(...);
As other's have mentioned, there's also the with statement, but it's use is discouraged since it makes the code harder to read, and may lead to weird results:
with (this.buttonExample) {
buttonMode = true;
useHandCursor = true;
addEventListener(...);
}
You can, of course, combine these suggestions with other tricks, like chaining assignments:
var b : Button = this.buttonExample;
b.buttonMode = b.useHandCursor = true;
b.addEventListener(...);
Be very careful to only chain assignments in this way if the assigned value is immutable (e.g. true, false, numbers and strings, but not arrays or most other objects), because the same object will be assigned to all variables on the left side. If the value is immutable this doesn't matter, but if it's mutable you can end up with weird results, like this in this example:
a = b = [ ];
a.push(1);
b.push(2);
trace(a); // outputs 1, 2
trace(b); // also outputs 1, 2
The reason for this result is that a and b both reference the same array, and since arrays are mutable it doesn't matter how you access the object, it will still be changed. a and b don't reference different arrays just because they are different variables.
You may think that you could do something like the following, but it will not work.
// this will NOT work
var b : Button = this.buttonExample;
(b.buttonMode = b.useHandCursor = true).addEventListener(...);
The reason why it works to say b.buttonMode = b.useHandCursor = true, but not to add .addEventListener(...) is that the value of an assignment expression (e.g. b.buttonMode = true) is the value assigned to the left hand side (e.g. true). If you add .addEventListener(...) to that you are essentially saying true.addEventListener(...), which clearly is not what you want. In other words
b.buttonMode = b.useHandCursor = false;
is equivalent to
b.useHandCursor = false;
b.buttonMode = b.useHandCursor;
Which should hopefully also make the caveats mentioned above plain.
you can use the with statement. however I'd not encourage you to do so, since it leads to a lot of ambiguity and unclearness.
also, you can have multiple assignments:
this.buttonExample.buttonMode = this.buttonExample.useHandCursor = true;
this sometimes is useful, but for the sake of readability, you shouldn't overuse it.
greetz
back2dos
so.... eval() out of the question, any idea to do this? I also don't know how to use "this" expression or set() in actionscript 3 ( i seem couldn't find any complete reference on it ), just say through php file a multiple variable (test1, test2, test3,...) sent by "echo", how the flash aplication recieved it? I'm trying not to use xml on mysql to php to flash aplication. Simply how to change a string to a variable ?
example
(in as3-actions frame panel)
function datagridfill(event:MouseEvent):void{
var varfill:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
varfill.tell = "do it";
var filler:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
filler.url = "http://127.0.0.1/flashdbas3/sendin.php";
filler.data = varfill;
var filling:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
filling.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
filling.load(filler);
filling.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, datain);
function datain(evt:Event){
var arraygrid:Array = new Array();
testing.text = evt.target.Name2 // worked
// just say i = 1
i=1;
arraygrid.push({Name:this["evt.target.Name"+i],
Test:this.["evt.target.Test"+i]}); // error
//or
arraygrid.push({Name:this["Name"+i],
Test:this.["Test"+i]}); // error too
// eval() noexistent, set() didn't worked on actions frame panel
//?????
}
};
I hope it's very clear.
You could use this[varName] if I understand your question right.
So if varName is a variable containing a string which should be a variables name, you could set and read that variable like this:
this[varName] = "someValue";
trace(this[varName]);
Update:
In your example, you could try: evt.target["Test"+i] instead of Test:this.["evt.target.Test"+i]
If you have a set of strings that you'd like to associate with values, the standard AS3 approach is to use an object as a hash table:
var o = {}
o["test1"] = 7
o["test2"] = "fish"
print(o["test1"])