Class INIConfiguration

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    java.lang.Cloneable, Configuration, FileConfiguration, FileSystemBased

    @Deprecated
    public class INIConfiguration
    extends AbstractFileConfiguration
    Deprecated.
    This class has been replaced by HierarchicalINIConfiguration, which provides a superset of the functionality offered by this class.

    An initialization or ini file is a configuration file typically 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 typical 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 composed 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.

    Note: Configuration objects of this type can be read concurrently by multiple threads. However if one of these threads modifies the object, synchronization has to be performed manually.

    Since:
    1.4
    Version:
    $Id: INIConfiguration.java 1210003 2011-12-03 20:54:46Z oheger $
    Author:
    Trevor Miller
    • Method Detail

      • save

        public void save​(java.io.Writer writer)
                  throws ConfigurationException
        Deprecated.
        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​(java.io.Reader reader)
                  throws ConfigurationException
        Deprecated.
        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​(java.lang.String line)
        Deprecated.
        Determine if the given line is a comment line.
        Parameters:
        line - The line to check.
        Returns:
        true if the line is empty or starts with one of the comment characters
      • isSectionLine

        protected boolean isSectionLine​(java.lang.String line)
        Deprecated.
        Determine if the given line is a section.
        Parameters:
        line - The line to check.
        Returns:
        true if the line contains a secion
      • getSections

        public java.util.Set<java.lang.String> getSections()
        Deprecated.
        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.