getDirectoryListing slooooooowwww

[Guest]

Hey guys

Just wondering if there is a faster way of obtaining a file name list of a directory's contents than getDirectoryListing?

It seems to take FOREVER to load a dir list into an array.

My end objective is to populate a .txt file with the names of files in a directory.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Cheers

Shaun

[Guest]

How many files are in the folder? How long is forever?

[Guest]

5000 files takes about 7 seconds.  50 000 files takes 90.  The app I'm working on will be used on dirs containing up to 100 000 files.

[kglad]

you must have a major slow computer or you're still using a trace() function when you should not be using a trace.  when i tested it took less than 0.3 seconds to load and parse those 5000 file names.

[Guest]

Really?!?!?  Hmmm.  It's an i5 lappy, so isn't super fast but not super slow either.

What's happening is the getDirectoryListing is taking ages, but once the file names are loaded into the array the, parsing happens in under a second.

What speed is your computer?

[kglad]

i tested on 2 i7 pcs but the older one is vista so it's not that new and neither has an ss hd.

are you using a trace() function anywhere to list a lot of data?

[Guest]

No trace.  I was using an external USB drive, and tested it on a local drive, which is faster, but still slow - it takes 4 seconds to load the files, then 2.5 seconds to parse, then 1.5 to display the results in the text field.

So a 50 000 file job will take about 1.5 mins. 

It's not so much the time that worries me, but not being able to update the screen with a progress meter while getDirectoryListing is loading file names makes it look like it's hung.  It's fine once the parsing starts, as I have your code showing progress.

[kglad]

during the load just display a static:

loading...

then you can update with the code i sent.

[Guest]

So your code just kicks in once the parsing starts?

Does Adobe not have any sort of progress code for getDirectoryListing?

Thanks mate

[kglad · Accepted solution]

the code i sent breaks your for-loop into manageable chunks.  i think you can safely use chunks greater than 100 loops.  i have a parameter you can use.

and, you can use getDirectoryListingAync() to use an asynchronous method that won't freeze your computer while the directory is being selected.

[Guest]

Thanks for the code kglad - I just got around to fully implementing it today.

I have adapted it to use getDirectoryListingAync(); - it allows me to bring up a MC with a message saying 'reading files...' , and I tried dsiplaying a flashing MC underneath it, but it seems Flash can't update the UI until the files have been read:

function selectDir(event:Event):void {       

        d1.browseForDirectory("Select your files directory"); //Open directory browser

        d1.addEventListener(Event.SELECT, importFiles); //When directory is selected, run importFiles function

    }

    function importFiles(event:Event):void {

          d1.getDirectoryListingAsync();

          messageMC.visible = true;

          animatedMC.visible = true;    

          d1.addEventListener(FileListEvent.DIRECTORY_LISTING, getContents);

     }

the UI is able to be updated in the getContents function, but not while getDirectoryListingAsync() is processing.

I think this is just a limitation of Flash we have to accept until they introduce multi threading.

[kglad]

you're welcome.