Saving XML file in AS3 is possible - actionscript-3

Question

var xml:XML = <myXml>
<item prop="1" />
<item prop="2" />
</myXml>;
I need to save as xml file in local harddisk(project directory).
Is it possible to save in as3 itself?

Answer 1

I threw this together, and sure enough you can save to .XML using the following as a minimalist example.
package com.hodgedev.xmlcreator
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.utils.ByteArray;
import flash.net.FileReference;
/**
* ...
* #author Brian Hodge (brian#hodgedev.com)
*/
public class Main extends Sprite
{
private var _xml:XML;
public function Main():void
{
if (stage) init();
else addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
}
private function init(e:Event = null):void
{
removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
//Calling the save method requires user interaction and Flash Player 10
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, _onMouseDown);
_xml= <xml>
<test>data</test>
</xml>;
}
private function _onMouseDown(e:MouseEvent):void
{
var ba:ByteArray = new ByteArray();
ba.writeUTFBytes(_xml);
//ba.
var fr:FileReference = new FileReference();
fr.addEventListener(Event.SELECT, _onRefSelect);
fr.addEventListener(Event.CANCEL, _onRefCancel);
fr.save(ba, "filename.xml");
}
private function _onRefSelect(e:Event):void
{
trace('select');
}
private function _onRefCancel(e:Event):void
{
trace('cancel');
}
}
}
There are some things to note.
You require Flash Player 10 to use the save method of the FileReference class.
In order to do anything that INVOKES a prompt, Flash requires user interaction like keyboard or mouse input.
In the above I listen for MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN on the stage to serve as the USER INTERACTION which is required to invoke the save prompt.
I setup a basic XML structure within the code (this will typically come from and external source and will work fine both ways.
A ByteArray is created and the XML is written to the ByteArray.
The save method of the FileReference class requires a ByteArray and default save name be passed as the two parameters.
I hope this helps.

Answer 2

if you want to store it locally (on the client PC) , you can use a local shared object. Refer to this tutorial

Answer 3

I'm sorry, your question isn't very clear.
Are you asking if you can save a file to the hard drive from within a compile SWF written in AS3?
Or are you asking if you can include a raw XML file in your AS3 project without needing to write it out as a variable?
If you meant the former, no -- not without Adobe AIR. You can save data locally as a SharedObject, but not as an arbitrary file in the file system.
If the latter, then yes -- you must embed the file just as you would embed another resource (such as an image or a sound). However, it looks like there might be a bug in Flash that makes this non-trivial to figure out how to do.
This link might be of help to you.
[Embed(source='../../../../assets/levels/test.xml', mimeType="application/octet-stream")]
public static const Level_Test:Class;
And then to parse the XML:
var ba:ByteArray = (new Levels.Level_Test()) as ByteArray;
var s:String = ba.readUTFBytes( ba.length );
xml = new XML( s );
Apologies if neither of those questions are what you were actually asking.
Cheers!