Re: java.util.prefs.Preferences and arrays
Eric Sosman wrote:
java.util.prefs.Preferences does not seem to be designed to store
multiple copies of each field (i.e. arrays). Is there a standard
convention to fudge it?
Do you look for some unique data value to use as key, load and sort?
without recording the index?
I've encountered two conventions, not specific to Java
but in other key=value "ini file" contexts:
- Composite value: "gods=Jupiter,Odin,Zeus"
- Prefix-and-number key families: "god_1=Jupiter",
"god_2=Odin", "god_3=Zeus", sometimes accompanied
by "god_count=3"
Huh! I was faced with a similar problem recently, and
the 'second solution' would have fit my needs* better,
but it never occured to me define a var_count attribute.
* But now I mention it, the real reason I wanted to follow
the second strategy was that my data might contain the
',', or '|', or '"' (double quote) or ''' (single qoute) and I simply
did not have the ..grit to feel I could handle parsing the
data back out, with potentially any or all of those characters
embedded in the data.
When I step back and look at it, it seems I was 'wimping
out' on using the first solution simply because I couldn't
figure how to split the data at the end.
What are your* thoughts/recommendations re. my favoring
the second approach?
* Eric specifcally, but anyody that feels interested, is
welcome to chime in - I am no 'design guru' and could
probably gain tips from people who I've referred to the
JDocs within the last 24 hours.
The first seems more "natural" if the values are thought
of as some kind of collection, but may run into problems if
there are too many of them (Preferences.MAX_VALUE_LENGTH is
8192 characters).
FTR. There was no real risk of hitting that limit with the
data I was dealing with.
--
Andrew Thompson
http://www.physci.org/
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