StringArray B4X (B4A / B4J) Reference Documentation
ChilkatStringArray
Current Version: 11.6.0
Chilkat.StringArray
Store strings in an internal ordered collection and retrieve them by
zero-based index using
Append, prepend, insert, replace, remove, clear, or pop strings as the
collection changes.
Load one string per line from files or text, and save the collection back
to files or a single line-delimited string.
Use charset-specific load and save methods when working with UTF-8,
UTF-16, or other non-ANSI text encodings.
Check for exact strings, find values from a starting index, match
wildcard patterns, and sort ascending or descending.
Serialize the collection for later restoration, split text into entries,
and combine or subtract collections with set-style operations.
Manage an ordered collection of strings, with StringTable recommended for new code.
Chilkat.StringArray is an ordered string-collection class that
can append, prepend, insert, replace, remove, pop, and retrieve strings by
index. It can load one string per line from files or in-memory text, save the
collection back to text or files, enforce uniqueness, trim incoming values,
normalize line endings, search by exact value or wildcard pattern, sort
entries, split text into entries, serialize and restore the collection, and
perform set-style operations such as union and subtraction.
Chilkat.StringTable instead of
Chilkat.StringArray. StringTable provides a simpler,
faster, and more memory-efficient way to manage ordered lists of strings.
Use StringArray primarily when maintaining existing code or when
a specific API or older example already uses it.
Ordered string collection
GetString, StrAt, or
LastString.
Add and modify entries
Load and save text
Charset-aware file I/O
Search, match, and sort
Serialize and combine
StringArray, optionally set Trim,
Crlf, or Unique, then append strings directly or
load them from a file or text block. Search, sort, split, remove, union, or
subtract entries as needed, then save the result with
SaveToText, SaveToFile, or
SaveToFile2. For new code that only needs an ordered list of
strings, use Chilkat.StringTable instead.
Array,
Chilkat.StringArray is a Chilkat object that manages an ordered
string collection. It should not be confused with a native array type in a
programming language.
Declare / Initialize / Dispose
Sub Process_Globals
Private obj As ChilkatStringArray
End Sub
' Call Initialize before first use -- typically in AppStart (B4J)
' or Activity_Create (B4A):
obj.Initialize ' classes without events
obj.Initialize("evt") ' classes with events: "evt" becomes the
' prefix of event Subs such as evt_PercentDone
Creates the underlying native Chilkat object. Classes that support events take an EventName argument: it becomes the prefix of the event Subs (<EventName>_AbortCheck, <EventName>_PercentDone, <EventName>_ProgressInfo); classes without events take no arguments. The native Chilkat library loads automatically on the first Initialize — from the APK on Android, or extracted from ChilkatB4J.jar on Windows/Linux/macOS.
True if Initialize has been called and the native object exists.
Explicitly frees the underlying native object. Calling Dispose is optional — every ChilkatStringArray is also freed automatically when garbage-collected — but is recommended for long-lived objects holding sockets, sessions, or large buffers. A disposed object can be re-Initialized.
Properties
Count
Count As Int
The number of strings contained within the object's internal array (i.e. ordered collection).
Important: This is an object that contains a collection of strings. Although the class/object name includes the word Array, it should not be confused with an array in the sense of the primitive array type used in a given programming language.
Crlf
Crlf As Boolean
If True, strings are always automatically converted to use CRLF line endings. If False, strings are automatically converted to use bare LF line endings.
DebugLogFilePath
DebugLogFilePath As String
If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.
Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.
Possible causes of hangs include:
- A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
- A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
- An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.
LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String
Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
topLastErrorText
LastErrorText As String
Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
LastErrorXml
LastErrorXml As String
Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
topLastMethodSuccess
LastMethodSuccess As Boolean
Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: True means success, False means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.
Length
Length As Int
The number of strings contained within the internal collection. (Identical to the Count property.)
topTrim
Trim As Boolean
If True, whitespace, including carriage-returns and linefeeds, are automatically removed from the beginning and end of a string when added to the collection.
Unique
Unique As Boolean
If True, then duplicates are not allowed. When an attempt is made to insert a string that already exists, the duplicate insertion is silently suppressed and no error is returned. The default value is False.
VerboseLogging
VerboseLogging As Boolean
If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.
Version
Version As String
Methods
Append
Appends a string to the end of the internal ordered collection.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAppendSerialized
Appends multiple strings to the end of the internal ordered collection. The encodedStr is what is returned from the Serialize method (see below).
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topClear
Remove all strings from the internal collection.
topContains
Returns True if the string is present in the internal collection. The string comparisons are case sensitive.
Find
Finds the index of the first string equal to findStr. The search begins at startIndex. If the string is not found, -1 is returned. The first string in the array is at index 0.
FindFirstMatch
Finds the first string that matches the matchPattern. The search begins at startIndex. If the string is not found, -1 is returned. The first string in the array is at index 0.
The matchPattern may contain zero or more asterisk chars, each of which matches 0 or more of any character.
GetString
Returns the string at an indexed location within the internal collection. The first string is located at index 0.
Returns Null on failure
GetStringLen
Returns Nth string's length, in characters. The first string is located at index 0.
topInsertAt
Inserts a string into the internal collection at a specified index. Using index 0 will insert at the beginning.
topLastString
LoadFromFile
Loads strings from a file (one per line) into the internal collection. It is assumed the file contains ANSI strings. To load from a file containing non-ANSI strings (such as utf-8), call LoadFromFile2 instead.
Note: This method appends the strings in path to the existing collection of strings contained in this object.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topLoadFromFile2
Loads strings from a file (one per line) into the internal collection. The charset specifies the character encoding (such as utf-8) of the strings contained in the file.
Note: This method appends the strings in path to the existing collection of strings contained in this object.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topLoadFromText
Loads strings from an in-memory string (one per line) into the internal collection.
Note: This method appends the strings in str to the existing collection of strings contained in this object.
Pop
Prepend
Adds a string to the beginning of the internal collection.
topRemove
Removes all strings equal to the string argument from the internal collection.
topRemoveAt
Removes the string at a particular index.
topReplaceAt
Replaces the string at a specified index.
topSaveNthToFile
SaveToFile
Saves the collection of strings to a file, one string per line. Strings are saved using the ANSI charset. (Call SaveToFile2 to specify a charset, such as utf-8)
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topSaveToFile2
Saves the collection of strings to a file, one string per line. Strings are saved using the specified charset.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topSaveToText
Writes the collection of strings to a single string, one per line (separated by CRLF line endings).
Returns Null on failure
Serialize
Returns an string which is an encoded representation of all the strings in the collection. The string collection can be re-created by calling the AppendSerialized method.
Returns Null on failure
Sort
Sorts the strings in the collection in ascending or descending order. To sort in ascending order, set ascending to True, otherwise set ascending equal to False.
SplitAndAppend
Splits a string at a character or substring boundary and adds each resulting string to the internal collection.
topStrAt
Subtract
Subtracts the strings contained within stringArrayObj from the caller's internal collection.
Union
Performs the union set-operator. The result is that the caller will have a string collection that is the union of itself and stringArrayObj.