qTools Config File Processor

Opens a .ini file and places it’s contents into a Javascript object after converting values as best it can. It also adds information about the .ini file.

That is, true become a boolean, not a string. 1 becomes a number, not a string.

All numbered sections and subsections are converted to arrays.

Eg,

someListItem.0=zero
someListItem.1=one

will be presented as

[‘zero’, one’]

Instead of the default,

{‘0’:’zero’, ‘1’:’one’}

A special .ini section, _substitutions, can be added, substitutions, whose elements are substituted as strings into a JSON version of the config using .qtTemplateReplace() tags, eg, <!substitutionTag!>. The _substitutions section is left in the config. Only use values that convert to strings in ways that work for your application. (File path segments are really good.)

Eg,

[testSection]
<!prefix!>_Name=<!someValue!>

[_substitutions]
prefix=HELLO
someValue=This is a test!

will be presented as

console.log(testSection.HELLO_Name); //=> 'This is a test'

Another optional special section [_includes] can contain a series of file paths to be merged into the main configuration object. The file path can either be fully qualified or a path relative to the directory containing the main configuration.

getConfig() also takes a optional second parameter, workingDirectory. In this case, the first parameter is the name of a configuration file that is sought in the directory tree starting with the specified directory and working up.

getConfig() can take a third parameter, options, with these properties:

resolve when set to true, the program logs the file paths tried in locating a configuration file.

injectedItems This object is added to the configuration as a new property, 'injectedItems'.

userSubstitutions These are applied in the same way as _substitutions elements in the .ini file. They are applied as strings first and, consequently, can be used to modify the application of _substitutions.

userSubstitutions causes getConfigs() to do, eg, configFileContentsString.replace('<!remoteBasePath!>', '<!prodRemoteBasePath!>'). When _substitutions is processed, all references to remoteBasePath have been revised and result in the config being returned with paths that point at production.

I use it like this:

if (options.useProdPath) {
    configOptions = {
        userSubstitutions: {
            remoteBasePath: '<!prodRemoteBasePath!>'
        }
    };
}

A section named _meta is injected into the config that identifies the source file and change date (see below) and other stuff that helps debug problems.

For example…

const configFileProcessorGen=require('qtools-config-file-processor');
const configFileProcessor=new configFileProcessorGen();

const config=configFileProcessor.getConfig('/Path/to/test.ini')

console.dir({"config [test.js.]":config});

Produces…

{

meta: {
    configurationSourceFilePath: '/Path/to/test.ini',
    configurationModificationDate: '6/15/2020, 5:38:55 PM'
    _substitutions:{},
    _includes:['filepath1', 'filepath2'],
    injectedItems:{},
    userSubstitutions:{}
},

system: { hello: 'goodbye' },
sectionOne: { animal: 'fish', someList: [Array] },
arrayItems: { placeholderKey1: 'sectionOne.someList' }

}