The ObjectUtil class is an all-static class with methods for
working with Objects within Flex.
You do not create instances of ObjectUtil;
instead you simply call static methods such as the
ObjectUtil.isSimple() method.
[static]
Verifies if the first object is dynamic and is a subset of the second object.
ObjectUtil
Method Detail
clone
()
method
public static function clone(value:Object):Object
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 4
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Clones the specified Object and returns a reference to the clone.
The clone is made using a native serialization technique.
This means that custom serialization will be respected during the
cloning. clone() differs from copy() in that the uid property of
each object instance is retained.
This method is designed for cloning data objects,
such as elements of a collection. It is not intended for cloning
a UIComponent object, such as a TextInput control. If you want to clone
specific UIComponent objects, you can create a subclass of the component
and implement a clone() method.
Parameters
value:Object — Object that should be cloned.
Returns
Object — Clone of the specified Object.
compare
()
method
public static function compare(a:Object, b:Object, depth:int = -1):int
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Compares the Objects and returns an integer value
indicating if the first item is less than, greater than, or equal to
the second item.
This method will recursively compare properties on nested objects and
will return as soon as a non-zero result is found.
By default this method will recurse to the deepest level of any property.
To change the depth for comparison specify a non-negative value for
the depth parameter.
Parameters
a:Object — Object.
b:Object — Object.
depth:int (default = -1) — Indicates how many levels should be
recursed when performing the comparison.
Set this value to 0 for a shallow comparison of only the primitive
representation of each property.
For example:
var a:Object = {name:"Bob", info:[1,2,3]};
var b:Object = {name:"Alice", info:[5,6,7]};
var c:int = ObjectUtil.compare(a, b, 0);
In the above example the complex properties of a and
b will be flattened by a call to toString()
when doing the comparison.
In this case the info property will be turned into a string
when performing the comparison.
Returns
int — Return 0 if a and b are equal, or both null or NaN.
Return 1 if a is null or greater than b.
Return -1 if b is null or greater than a.
copy
()
method
public static function copy(value:Object):Object
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Copies the specified Object and returns a reference to the copy.
The copy is made using a native serialization technique.
This means that custom serialization will be respected during the copy.
This method is designed for copying data objects,
such as elements of a collection. It is not intended for copying
a UIComponent object, such as a TextInput control. If you want to create copies
of specific UIComponent objects, you can create a subclass of the component and implement
a clone() method, or other method to perform the copy.
Parameters
value:Object — Object that should be copied.
Returns
Object — Copy of the specified Object.
dateCompare
()
method
public static function dateCompare(a:Date, b:Date):int
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Compares the two Date objects and returns an integer value
indicating if the first Date object is before, equal to,
or after the second item.
Parameters
a:Date — Date object.
b:Date — Date object.
Returns
int — 0 if a and b are equal
(or both are null);
-1 if a is before b
(or b is null);
1 if a is after b
(or a is null);
0 is both dates getTime's are NaN;
1 if only a getTime is a NaN;
-1 if only b getTime is a NaN.
getClassInfo
()
method
public static function getClassInfo(obj:Object, excludes:Array = null, options:Object = null):Object
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Returns information about the class, and properties of the class, for
the specified Object.
Parameters
obj:Object — The Object to inspect.
excludes:Array (default = null) — Array of Strings specifying the property names that should be
excluded from the returned result. For example, you could specify
["currentTarget", "target"] for an Event object since these properties
can cause the returned result to become large.
options:Object (default = null) — An Object containing one or more properties
that control the information returned by this method.
The properties include the following:
includeReadOnly: If false,
exclude Object properties that are read-only.
The default value is true.
includeTransient: If false,
exclude Object properties and variables that have [Transient] metadata.
The default value is true.
uris: Array of Strings of all namespaces that should be included in the output.
It does allow for a wildcard of "*".
By default, it is null, meaning no namespaces should be included.
For example, you could specify ["mx_internal", "mx_object"]
or ["*"].
Returns
Object — An Object containing the following properties:
name: String containing the name of the class.
properties: Sorted list of the property names of the specified object,
or references to the original key if the specified object is a Dictionary. The individual
array elements are QName instances, which contain both the local name of the property as well as the URI.
getEnumerableProperties
()
method
public static function getEnumerableProperties(object:Object):Array
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Returns all the properties defined dynamically on an object.
Parameters
object:Object — The object to inspect.
Returns
Array — an Array of the enumerable properties of the object.
getValue
()
method
public static function getValue(obj:Object, path:Array):*
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Returns the value at the end of the property chain path.
If the value cannot be reached due to null links on the chain,
undefined is returned.
Parameters
obj:Object — The object at the beginning of the property chain
path:Array — The path to inspect (e.g. "address.street")
Returns
* — the value at the end of the property chain, undefined
if it cannot be reached, or the object itself when path is empty.
hasMetadata
()
method
public static function hasMetadata(obj:Object, propName:String, metadataName:String, excludes:Array = null, options:Object = null):Boolean
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Uses getClassInfo and examines the metadata information to
determine whether a property on a given object has the specified
metadata.
Parameters
obj:Object — The object holding the property.
propName:String — The property to check for metadata.
metadataName:String — The name of the metadata to check on the property.
excludes:Array (default = null) — If any properties need to be excluded when generating class info. (Optional)
options:Object (default = null) — If any options flags need to changed when generating class info. (Optional)
Returns
Boolean — true if the property has the specified metadata.
isDynamicObject
()
method
public static function isDynamicObject(object:Object):Boolean
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Returns true if the object is an instance of a dynamic class.
Parameters
object:Object — The object.
Returns
Boolean — true if the object is an instance of a dynamic class.
isSimple
()
method
public static function isSimple(value:Object):Boolean
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Returns true if the object reference specified
is a simple data type. The simple data types include the following:
String
Number
uint
int
Boolean
Date
Array
Parameters
value:Object — Object inspected.
Returns
Boolean — true if the object specified
is one of the types above; false otherwise.
numericCompare
()
method
public static function numericCompare(a:Number, b:Number):int
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Compares two numeric values.
Parameters
a:Number — First number.
b:Number — Second number.
Returns
int — 0 is both numbers are NaN.
1 if only a is a NaN.
-1 if only b is a NaN.
-1 if a is less than b.
1 if a is greater than b.
setValue
()
method
public static function setValue(obj:Object, path:Array, newValue:*):Boolean
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Sets a new value at the end of the property chain path.
If the value cannot be reached due to null links on the chain,
false is returned.
Parameters
obj:Object — The object at the beginning of the property chain
path:Array — The path to traverse (e.g. "address.street")
newValue:* — The value to set (e.g. "Fleet Street")
Returns
Boolean — true if the value is successfully set,
false otherwise. Note that the function does not
use a try/catch block. You can implement one in the calling
function if there's a risk of type mismatch or other errors during
the assignment.
stringCompare
()
method
public static function stringCompare(a:String, b:String, caseInsensitive:Boolean = false):int
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Compares two String values.
Parameters
a:String — First String value.
b:String — Second String value.
caseInsensitive:Boolean (default = false) — Specifies to perform a case insensitive compare,
true, or not, false.
Returns
int — 0 is both Strings are null.
1 if only a is null.
-1 if only b is null.
-1 if a precedes b.
1 if b precedes a.
toString
()
method
public static function toString(value:Object, namespaceURIs:Array = null, exclude:Array = null):String
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Pretty-prints the specified Object into a String.
All properties will be in alpha ordering.
Each object will be assigned an id during printing;
this value will be displayed next to the object type token
preceded by a '#', for example:
(mx.messaging.messages::AsyncMessage)#2.
This id is used to indicate when a circular reference occurs.
Properties of an object that are of the Class type will
appear only as the assigned type.
For example a custom definition like the following:
public class MyCustomClass {
public var clazz:Class;
}
With the clazz property assigned to Date
will display as shown below:
(somepackage::MyCustomClass)#0
clazz = (Date)
Parameters
value:Object — Object to be pretty printed.
namespaceURIs:Array (default = null) — Array of namespace URIs for properties
that should be included in the output.
By default only properties in the public namespace will be included in
the output.
To get all properties regardless of namespace pass an array with a
single element of ".
exclude:Array (default = null) — Array of the property names that should be
excluded from the output.
Use this to remove data from the formatted string.
Returns
String — String containing the formatted version
of the specified object.
Example
// example 1
var obj:AsyncMessage = new AsyncMessage();
obj.body = [];
obj.body.push(new AsyncMessage());
obj.headers["1"] = { name: "myName", num: 15.3};
obj.headers["2"] = { name: "myName", num: 15.3};
obj.headers["10"] = { name: "myName", num: 15.3};
obj.headers["11"] = { name: "myName", num: 15.3};
trace(ObjectUtil.toString(obj));
// will output to flashlog.txt
(mx.messaging.messages::AsyncMessage)#0
body = (Array)#1
[0] (mx.messaging.messages::AsyncMessage)#2
body = (Object)#3
clientId = (Null)
correlationId = ""
destination = ""
headers = (Object)#4
messageId = "378CE96A-68DB-BC1B-BCF7FFFFFFFFB525"
sequenceId = (Null)
sequencePosition = 0
sequenceSize = 0
timeToLive = 0
timestamp = 0
clientId = (Null)
correlationId = ""
destination = ""
headers = (Object)#5
1 = (Object)#6
name = "myName"
num = 15.3
10 = (Object)#7
name = "myName"
num = 15.3
11 = (Object)#8
name = "myName"
num = 15.3
2 = (Object)#9
name = "myName"
num = 15.3
messageId = "1D3E6E96-AC2D-BD11-6A39FFFFFFFF517E"
sequenceId = (Null)
sequencePosition = 0
sequenceSize = 0
timeToLive = 0
timestamp = 0
// example 2 with circular references
obj = {};
obj.prop1 = new Date();
obj.prop2 = [];
obj.prop2.push(15.2);
obj.prop2.push("testing");
obj.prop2.push(true);
obj.prop3 = {};
obj.prop3.circular = obj;
obj.prop3.deeper = new ErrorMessage();
obj.prop3.deeper.rootCause = obj.prop3.deeper;
obj.prop3.deeper2 = {};
obj.prop3.deeper2.deeperStill = {};
obj.prop3.deeper2.deeperStill.yetDeeper = obj;
trace(ObjectUtil.toString(obj));
// will output to flashlog.txt
(Object)#0
prop1 = Tue Apr 26 13:59:17 GMT-0700 2005
prop2 = (Array)#1
[0] 15.2
[1] "testing"
[2] true
prop3 = (Object)#2
circular = (Object)#0
deeper = (mx.messaging.messages::ErrorMessage)#3
body = (Object)#4
clientId = (Null)
code = (Null)
correlationId = ""
destination = ""
details = (Null)
headers = (Object)#5
level = (Null)
message = (Null)
messageId = "14039376-2BBA-0D0E-22A3FFFFFFFF140A"
rootCause = (mx.messaging.messages::ErrorMessage)#3
sequenceId = (Null)
sequencePosition = 0
sequenceSize = 0
timeToLive = 0
timestamp = 0
deeper2 = (Object)#6
deeperStill = (Object)#7
yetDeeper = (Object)#0
// example 3 with Dictionary
var point:Point = new Point(100, 100);
var point2:Point = new Point(100, 100);
var obj:Dictionary = new Dictionary();
obj[point] = "point";
obj[point2] = "point2";
obj["1"] = { name: "one", num: 1};
obj["two"] = { name: "2", num: 2};
obj[3] = 3;
trace(ObjectUtil.toString(obj));
// will output to flashlog.txt
(flash.utils::Dictionary)#0
{(flash.geom::Point)#1
length = 141.4213562373095
x = 100
y = 100} = "point2"
{(flash.geom::Point)#2
length = 141.4213562373095
x = 100
y = 100} = "point"
{1} = (Object)#3
name = "one"
num = 1
{3} = 3
{"two"} = (Object)#4
name = "2"
num = 2
valuesAreSubsetOfObject
()
method
public static function valuesAreSubsetOfObject(values:Object, object:Object):Boolean
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Verifies if the first object is dynamic and is a subset of the second object.
Parameters
values:Object — The values which need to be shared by object
object:Object — The object to verify against.
Returns
Boolean — true if and only if the objects are the same, or if values
is dynamic and object shares all its properties and values.
(Even if object contains other properties and values, we still
consider it a match).
Object