Question

I’m new to programming and stackoverflow and have decided to start by learning objective c.

In at the deep end, I know.

I am stuck trying to work out the best way to parse an edl file.
It is basically an ASCII text file of no more than 100KB.
Here is the structure of a typical cmx3600 edl:

TITLE:   EP1 FINAL.EDL SECTION2
FCM: NON-DROP FRAME
001  A199_C00 V     C        20:38:24:15 20:38:26:04 10:30:00:02 10:30:01:16
* SOURCE FILE: A199_C008_0915AH_001
002  A199_C00 V     C        20:34:48:17 20:34:51:23 10:30:01:16 10:30:04:22
* SOURCE FILE: A199_C007_0915VE_001

I’m trying to work out the best way to parse or scan each element into fields/arrays ie,

editNum = 001
tapeName = A199_C00
channel = V
Operation = C
sourceIn = 20:38:24:15
sourceOut = 20:38:26:04
recIn = 10:30:00:02
recOut = 10:30:01:16
sourceFile = A199_C008_0915AH_001

This is my code so far:

-(IBAction)importEdl:(id)sender {    

    //defines an Array of allowed file types with file extension ".EDL and .edl"

    NSOpenPanel *myPanel = [NSOpenPanel openPanel];
    NSArray *fileTypes = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"EDL", @"edl", nil];
    myPanel.allowedFileTypes = fileTypes;
    myPanel.allowsMultipleSelection = NO;

    if ([myPanel runModal] == NSOKButton)
    {            

    NSString *theFilePath = [myPanel filename];
    NSString *psEdlFile = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:theFilePath encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding error:NULL];
        // Reads the file as one string. EDL's are simple ASCII text files of roughly 50KB.

    NSArray *psEdlLines = [psEdlFile componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet newlineCharacterSet]];   
        // Separates the data into lines.

    if([psEdlLines count] == 0)
    {
        NSLog(@"Error!");                                  
    } //prints error if EDL file has no events.


    NSUInteger count;
    int i;
    for (i = 0, count = [psEdlLines count]; i < count; i = i + 1)
    {
        NSString *lineStrings = [psEdlLines objectAtIndex:i];
        NSLog(@"Line %d is %@",i+1,lineStrings);

    //NSArray *linesEnum = [psEdlLines objectAtIndex:i];
        //this creates an array of lines

    //NSLog(@"index is: %d %@",i, linesEnum);
    }

    }                

}

@end

The output is:

2012-03-20 15:22:08.956 TestProgram[412:903] Line 1 is TITLE:   EP1 FINAL.EDL SECTION2
2012-03-20 15:22:08.957 TestProgram[412:903] Line 2 is FCM: NON-DROP FRAME
2012-03-20 15:22:08.957 TestProgram[412:903] Line 3 is 001  A199_C00 V     C        20:38:24:15 20:38:26:04 10:30:00:02 10:30:01:16
2012-03-20 15:22:08.957 TestProgram[412:903] Line 4 is * SOURCE FILE: A199_C008_0915AH_001
2012-03-20 15:22:08.957 TestProgram[412:903] Line 5 is 002  A199_C00 V     C        20:34:48:17 20:34:51:23 10:30:01:16 10:30:04:22
2012-03-20 15:22:08.957 TestProgram[412:903] Line 6 is * SOURCE FILE: A199_C007_0915VE_001
2012-03-20 15:22:08.957 TestProgram[412:903] Line 7 is 003  A199_C00 V     C        20:42:32:01 20:42:35:19 10:30:04:22 10:30:08:15
2012-03-20 15:22:08.957 TestProgram[412:903] Line 8 is * SOURCE FILE: A199_C009_0915RX_001
2012-03-20 15:22:08.957 TestProgram[412:903] Line 9 is 
2012-03-20 15:22:08.958 TestProgram[412:903] Line 10 is 

I haven’t got very far as you can see.
Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Pete.

Answer 1

More Progress.

if ([lineScanner scanInt:&eventNum])
    {
        // parse the event into fields

        // does not work if edl contains dissolve or wipe
        // need to automatically convert dissolves into cuts

         NSString *editNum;
         NSString *reelName;
         NSString *channels;
         NSString *operation;
         //NSString *opDuration;
         NSString *sourceInTime;
         NSString *sourceOutTime;
         NSString *destInTime;
         NSString *destOutTime;

        NSScanner *elementScanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:line];

        //NSString *token = [NSString string];
        NSCharacterSet *divider = [NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet];

        [elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&editNum];
        [elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&reelName];
        [elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&channels];
        [elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&operation];
        //[elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&opDuration];
        [elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&sourceInTime];
        [elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&sourceOutTime];
        [elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&destInTime];
        [elementScanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:divider intoString:&destOutTime];


        NSLog(@"Event\tReelName\tChannels\tOperation\tSource In\tSource Out\tDest In\t\tDest Out");
        NSLog(@"%@\t%@\t%@\t\t\t%@\t\t\t%@\t%@\t%@\t%@", 
              editNum, reelName, channels, operation, /*opDuration,*/ sourceInTime, sourceOutTime, destInTime,destOutTime);

    }

Outputs the following.

2012-03-29 15:54:15.489 TestProgram[2414:903] Scanner:Title = EP1 FINAL.EDL SECTION2
2012-03-29 15:54:15.489 TestProgram[2414:903] Event ReelName    Channels    Operation   Source In   Source Out  Dest In     Dest Out
2012-03-29 15:54:15.489 TestProgram[2414:903] 001   A180_C00    V           C           20:29:12:18 20:29:13:21 10:46:39:20 10:46:40:23
2012-03-29 15:54:15.489 TestProgram[2414:903] Comment for event    001 * SOURCE FILE: A180_C001_09138L_001
2012-03-29 15:54:15.489 TestProgram[2414:903] Event ReelName    Channels    Operation   Source In   Source Out  Dest In     Dest Out
2012-03-29 15:54:15.490 TestProgram[2414:903] 002   A181_C01    V           C           22:10:03:03 22:10:05:09 10:46:40:23 10:46:43:04
2012-03-29 15:54:15.490 TestProgram[2414:903] Comment for event    002 * SOURCE FILE: A181_C010_0913EA_001
2012-03-29 15:54:15.490 TestProgram[2414:903] Event ReelName    Channels    Operation   Source In   Source Out  Dest In     Dest Out
2012-03-29 15:54:15.490 TestProgram[2414:903] 003   A181_C01    V           C           22:10:05:09 22:10:05:10 10:46:43:04 10:46:43:09
2012-03-29 15:54:15.490 TestProgram[2414:903] Effect for event     003    M2   A181_C01       000.0                22:10:05:09
2012-03-29 15:54:15.491 TestProgram[2414:903] Comment for event    003 * * FREEZE FRAME
2012-03-29 15:54:15.491 TestProgram[2414:903] Comment for event    003 * SOURCE FILE: A181_C010_0913EA_001