org.apache.commons.configuration
Class INIConfiguration

java.lang.Object
  org.apache.commons.configuration.event.EventSource
      org.apache.commons.configuration.AbstractConfiguration
          org.apache.commons.configuration.BaseConfiguration
              org.apache.commons.configuration.AbstractFileConfiguration
                  org.apache.commons.configuration.INIConfiguration

All Implemented Interfaces:

Cloneable, Configuration, FileConfiguration

public class INIConfiguration
extends AbstractFileConfiguration

An initialization or ini file is a configuration file tpically found on Microsoft's Windows operating system and contains data for Windows based applications.

Although popularized by Windows, ini files can be used on any system or platform due to the fact that they are merely text files that can easily be parsed and modified by both humans and computers.

A typcial ini file could look something like:

[section1]
; this is a comment!
var1 = foo
var2 = bar

[section2]
var1 = doo


The format of ini files is fairly straight forward and is comosed of three components:

• Sections: Ini files are split into sections, each section starting with a section declaration. A section declaration starts with a '[' and ends with a ']'. Sections occur on one line only.
• Parameters: Items in a section are known as parameters. Parameters have a typical key = value format.
• Comments: Lines starting with a ';' are assumed to be comments.

There are various implementations of the ini file format by various vendors which has caused a number of differences to appear. As far as possible this configuration tries to be lenient and support most of the differences.

Some of the differences supported are as follows:

• Comments: The '#' character is also accepted as a comment signifier.
• Key value separtor: The ':' character is also accepted in place of '=' to separate keys and values in parameters, for example var1 : foo.
• Duplicate sections: Typically duplicate sections are not allowed , this configuration does however support it. In the event of a duplicate section, the two section's values are merged.
• Duplicate parameters: Typically duplicate parameters are only allowed if they are in two different sections, thus they are local to sections; this configuration simply merges duplicates; if a section has a duplicate parameter the values are then added to the key as a list.

Global parameters are also allowed; any parameters declared before a section is declared are added to a global section. It is important to note that this global section does not have a name.

In all instances, a parameter's key is prepended with its section name and a '.' (period). Thus a parameter named "var1" in "section1" will have the key section1.var1 in this configuration. Thus, a section's parameters can easily be retrieved using the subset method using the section name as the prefix.

Implementation Details:

Consider the following ini file:
default = ok

[section1]
var1 = foo
var2 = doodle

[section2]
; a comment
var1 = baz
var2 = shoodle
bad =
= worse

[section3]
# another comment
var1 : foo
var2 : bar
var5 : test1

[section3]
var3 = foo
var4 = bar
var5 = test2


This ini file will be parsed without error. Note:

• The parameter named "default" is added to the global section, it's value is accessed simply using getProperty("default").
• Section 1's parameters can be accessed using getProperty("section1.var1").
• The parameter named "bad" simply adds the parameter with an empty value.
• The empty key with value "= worse" is added using an empty key. This key is still added to section 2 and the value can be accessed using getProperty("section2."), notice the period '.' following the section name.
• Section three uses both '=' and ':' to separate keys and values.
• Section 3 has a duplicate key named "var5". The value for this key is [test1, test2], and is represented as a List.

The set of sections in this configuration can be retrieved using the getSections method.

Since:

1.4

Version:

$Id: INIConfiguration.java 492216 2007-01-03 16:51:24Z oheger $

Author:

trevor.miller

Field Summary

protected static String	COMMENT_CHARS The characters that signal the start of a comment line.
protected static String	SEPARATOR_CHARS The characters used to separate keys from values.

Fields inherited from class org.apache.commons.configuration.AbstractFileConfiguration

autoSave, basePath, EVENT_RELOAD, fileName, strategy

Fields inherited from class org.apache.commons.configuration.AbstractConfiguration

END_TOKEN, EVENT_ADD_PROPERTY, EVENT_CLEAR, EVENT_CLEAR_PROPERTY, EVENT_READ_PROPERTY, EVENT_SET_PROPERTY, START_TOKEN

Constructor Summary

INIConfiguration()
Create a new empty INI Configuration.

INIConfiguration(File file)
Create and load the ini configuration from the given file.

INIConfiguration(String filename)
Create and load the ini configuration from the given file.

INIConfiguration(URL url)
Create and load the ini configuration from the given url.

Method Summary

Set	getSections() Return a set containing the sections in this ini configuration.
protected boolean	isCommentLine(String s) Determine if the given line is a comment line.
protected boolean	isSectionLine(String s) Determine if the given line is a section.
void	load(Reader reader) Load the configuration from the given reader.
void	save(Writer writer) Save the configuration to the specified writer.

Methods inherited from class org.apache.commons.configuration.AbstractFileConfiguration

addProperty, clearProperty, clone, containsKey, enterNoReload, exitNoReload, fireEvent, getBasePath, getEncoding, getFile, getFileName, getKeys, getPath, getProperty, getReloadingStrategy, getURL, isAutoSave, isEmpty, load, load, load, load, load, load, possiblySave, reload, save, save, save, save, save, save, setAutoSave, setBasePath, setEncoding, setFile, setFileName, setPath, setProperty, setReloadingStrategy, setURL

Methods inherited from class org.apache.commons.configuration.BaseConfiguration

addPropertyDirect, clear, clearPropertyDirect

Methods inherited from class org.apache.commons.configuration.AbstractConfiguration

addErrorLogListener, createInterpolator, getBigDecimal, getBigDecimal, getBigInteger, getBigInteger, getBoolean, getBoolean, getBoolean, getByte, getByte, getByte, getDefaultListDelimiter, getDelimiter, getDouble, getDouble, getDouble, getFloat, getFloat, getFloat, getInt, getInt, getInteger, getInterpolator, getKeys, getList, getList, getListDelimiter, getLogger, getLong, getLong, getLong, getProperties, getProperties, getShort, getShort, getShort, getString, getString, getStringArray, getSubstitutor, interpolate, interpolate, interpolateHelper, isDelimiterParsingDisabled, isThrowExceptionOnMissing, resolveContainerStore, setDefaultListDelimiter, setDelimiter, setDelimiterParsingDisabled, setListDelimiter, setLogger, setThrowExceptionOnMissing, subset

Methods inherited from class org.apache.commons.configuration.event.EventSource

addConfigurationListener, addErrorListener, clearConfigurationListeners, clearErrorListeners, createErrorEvent, createEvent, fireError, getConfigurationListeners, getErrorListeners, isDetailEvents, removeConfigurationListener, removeErrorListener, setDetailEvents

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Methods inherited from interface org.apache.commons.configuration.Configuration

clear, getBigDecimal, getBigDecimal, getBigInteger, getBigInteger, getBoolean, getBoolean, getBoolean, getByte, getByte, getByte, getDouble, getDouble, getDouble, getFloat, getFloat, getFloat, getInt, getInt, getInteger, getKeys, getList, getList, getLong, getLong, getLong, getProperties, getShort, getShort, getShort, getString, getString, getStringArray, subset

Field Detail

COMMENT_CHARS

protected static final String COMMENT_CHARS

The characters that signal the start of a comment line.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

SEPARATOR_CHARS

protected static final String SEPARATOR_CHARS

The characters used to separate keys from values.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Constructor Detail

INIConfiguration

public INIConfiguration()

Create a new empty INI Configuration.

INIConfiguration

public INIConfiguration(String filename)
                 throws ConfigurationException

Create and load the ini configuration from the given file.

Parameters:

filename - The name pr path of the ini file to load.

Throws:

ConfigurationException - If an error occurs while loading the file

INIConfiguration

public INIConfiguration(File file)
                 throws ConfigurationException

Create and load the ini configuration from the given file.

Parameters:

file - The ini file to load.

Throws:

ConfigurationException - If an error occurs while loading the file

INIConfiguration

public INIConfiguration(URL url)
                 throws ConfigurationException

Create and load the ini configuration from the given url.

Parameters:

url - The url of the ini file to load.

Throws:

ConfigurationException - If an error occurs while loading the file

Method Detail

save

public void save(Writer writer)
          throws ConfigurationException

Save the configuration to the specified writer.

Parameters:

writer - - The writer to save the configuration to.

Throws:

ConfigurationException - If an error occurs while writing the configuration

load

public void load(Reader reader)
          throws ConfigurationException

Load the configuration from the given reader. Note that the clear method is not called so the configuration read in will be merged with the current configuration.

Parameters:

reader - The reader to read the configuration from.

Throws:

ConfigurationException - If an error occurs while reading the configuration

isCommentLine

protected boolean isCommentLine(String s)

Determine if the given line is a comment line.

Parameters:

s - The line to check.

Returns:

true if the line is empty or starts with one of the comment characters

isSectionLine

protected boolean isSectionLine(String s)

Determine if the given line is a section.

Parameters:

s - The line to check.

Returns:

true if the line contains a secion

getSections

public Set getSections()

Return a set containing the sections in this ini configuration. Note that changes to this set do not affect the configuration.

Returns:

a set containing the sections.