Cheapest Way To Export/Import Array Contents To File - AS3/AIR

Question

I'm working on a basic editor application. It uses an array of varying size that I want to store to disk. This will eventually be in an AIR application, but for now it's just an AS3 project in Flex.

I want to store the array in a file. The application edits the data, so it doesn't need to be human readable. I want it to be in whatever format will be quickest to store and load back into the array when I need that data again.

Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

Edit: It strikes me that importing/exporting in such a way that it can be immediately cast as an Array() would probably be the cheapest thing rather than some sort of iterating - if that's possible. Another obvious option is getting the data as a simple comma delineated string and using the String.split() function to get an array. Though again, the question is what would be cheapest - and I'm not quite convinced that's it.

I'll also add that it needs to be in some sort of permanent file, so a shared object - while possibly the fastest, isn't really a long term solution.

Answer 1

First, take a look at this answer.

As for saving the contents of an Array, consider JSON using the export tools provided by Adobe.

Answer 2

I think the fastest and easiest way is to use a shared object. It stores native objects, so there is no serialization / deserialization steps involved. Just assign the value and read it back.

Performance wise, probably the fastest route as well. If you are looking for a large dataset and are sure it's an AIR app, you can use AIR's db, but that will definitely take much more work.