This page contains an explanation of the advanced topics of the Java INI Package, along with code examples and explanations. Although this document aims to be as concise as possible, developers are recommended to consult the javadoc for a more complete and upto date documentation of Java INI Package.

Contents

8. Case-sensitivity
8.1. Default Case-sensitivity (Case-insensitive)
8.2. Specifying Case-sensitive

8. Case-sensitivity

8.1. Default Case-sensitivity (Case-insensitive)

By default IniFiles, IniSections and IniItems are treated as case-insensitive, that is, the case of section names or item names are irrelevant. To demonstrate this, take a look at the example below.

import org.dtools.ini.*;

public class DefaultCaseExample {

public static void main( String[] args ) {

//***********************************************************************
// Step 1 - create an IniFile
//***********************************************************************
IniFile ini = new BasicIniFile();

System.out.println( "IniFile created" );
System.out.println( ini.getNumOfSections() );
System.out.println();

//***********************************************************************
// Step 2 - add a new section called "countries"
//***********************************************************************
IniSection originalSection = ini.addSection( "countries" );

System.out.println( "Added setion: countries" );
System.out.println( ini.getNumOfSections() );
System.out.println();

//***********************************************************************
// Step 3 - add a new section with same word but different cases
//***********************************************************************
IniSection newSection = ini.addSection( "cOuNtRiEs" );

System.out.println( "Added setion: cOuNtRiEs" );
System.out.println( ini.getNumOfSections() );
System.out.println();

String output = "Method addSection(\"cOuNtRiEs\") returned ";

if( newSection == null ) {
    System.out.println( output + "null" );
}
else {
    System.out.println( output + "section" );
}
}
}

The above code first creates an IniFile object and then prints the number of sections within the IniFile with the following line:

System.out.println( ini.getNumOfSections() );

The code then adds a section called "countries" and again prints out the number of sections the IniFile object has. Then, the code adds yet another section called "cOuNtRiEs" and again prints out the number of sections the IniFile object has. Finally, the code tests to see if the IniSection object returned is null. The output of this code is:

IniFile created
0

Added setion: countries
1

Added setion: cOuNtRiEs
1


Method    addSection("cOuNtRiEs")    returned null

As you can see, even though two sections were added, the IniFile report that it contains only one section. This is because when "cOuNtRiEs" is added, the IniFile checks to see if it already contains a section with that name (remember that it ignores the case sensitivity), and if it does a section with that name, the section isn't added and the method returns null.

The purpose to all this is for when a user want to read an INI file from the card disk, and when he/she attempts to retrieve the sections and items, they do not need to concern themselves with getting the cases correct. However, this causes problems if an INI file is case-sensitive, expecially if it contains two different sections with the same items, as in the following example:

[user-dan]
username = dan
name = Daniel Thompson
email = dan@company.com

[user-dan_47]
username = dan_47
name = Danny Dalton
email = danny@company.com

[user-Dan]
username = Dan
name = Daniel Simmons
email = dans@company.com

If an IniFileReader object read the above INI file and treated it as case-insensitive, then the values for the items in the section "user-Dan" would override the values for the items in the section "user-dan", and would produce an IniFile that represents something like this:

[user-dan]
username = Dan
name = Daniel Simmons
email = dans@company.com

[user-dan_47]
username = dan_47
name = Danny Dalton
email = danny@company.com

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8.2. Specifying Case-sensitive

This problem can easily be resolved by simply specifing that an IniFile is case sensitive in the constructor with a boolean value.

IniFile ini = new BasicIniFile( true );

If the boolean value is true then the IniFile is treated as case-sensitive. However, if the value if false or if no boolean value is given, then the IniFile is treated as case-insensitive. For example, have a look as the following code, which is the same as the code from the previous section, only now the IniFile is case-sensitive.

//***********************************************************************
// Step 1 - create a case-sensitive IniFile
//***********************************************************************
IniFile ini = new BasicIniFile( true );

System.out.println( "IniFile created" );
System.out.println( ini.getNumOfSections() );

//***********************************************************************
// Step 2 - add a new section called "countries"
//***********************************************************************
IniSection originalSection = ini.addSection( "countries" );

System.out.println( "Added setion: countries" );
System.out.println( ini.getNumOfSections() );

//***********************************************************************
// Step 3 - add a new section with same word but different cases
//***********************************************************************
IniSection newSection = ini.addSection( "cOuNtRiEs" );

System.out.println( "Added setion: cOuNtRiEs" );
System.out.println( ini.getNumOfSections() );
System.out.println();

if( newSection == null ) {
    System.out.println( "Method    addSection("cOuNtRiEs")    returned null" );
}
else {
    System.out.println( "Method    addSection("cOuNtRiEs")    returned section" );
}

Which, compared to the output in section 8.1, produces the following output:

IniFile created
0
Added setion: countries
1
Added setion: cOuNtRiEs
2

Method    addSection("cOuNtRiEs")    returned section

Notice that, unlike the code from section 8.1, this code now adds "cOuNtRiEs" successfully and treats "countries" and "cOuNtRiEs" as seperate sections.

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