Adobe® Flex® 4 Language Reference
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mx.utils 
UIDUtil 
Packagemx.utils
Classpublic class UIDUtil
InheritanceUIDUtil Inheritance Object

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 3
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

The UIDUtil class is an all-static class with methods for working with UIDs (unique identifiers) within Flex. You do not create instances of UIDUtil; instead you simply call static methods such as the UIDUtil.createUID() method.

Note: If you have a dynamic object that has no [Bindable] properties (which force the object to implement the IUID interface), Flex adds an mx_internal_uid property that contains a UID to the object. To avoid having this field in your dynamic object, make it [Bindable], implement the IUID interface in the object class, or set a property with a value.



Public Properties
 PropertyDefined By
 Inheritedconstructor : Object
A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.
Object
 Inheritedprototype : Object
[static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.
Object
Public Methods
 MethodDefined By
  
[static] Generates a UID (unique identifier) based on ActionScript's pseudo-random number generator and the current time.
UIDUtil
  
[static] Converts a 128-bit UID encoded as a ByteArray to a String representation.
UIDUtil
  
[static] Returns the UID (unique identifier) for the specified object.
UIDUtil
 Inherited
Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.
Object
  
[static] A utility method to check whether a String value represents a correctly formatted UID value.
UIDUtil
 Inherited
Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.
Object
 Inherited
Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.
Object
  
[static] Converts a UID formatted String to a ByteArray.
UIDUtil
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of the specified object.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the primitive value of the specified object.
Object
Method Detail

createUID

()method
public static function createUID():String

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 3
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Generates a UID (unique identifier) based on ActionScript's pseudo-random number generator and the current time.

The UID has the form "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX" where X is a hexadecimal digit (0-9, A-F).

This UID will not be truly globally unique; but it is the best we can do without player support for UID generation.

Returns
String — The newly-generated UID.

fromByteArray

()method 
public static function fromByteArray(ba:ByteArray):String

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 3
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Converts a 128-bit UID encoded as a ByteArray to a String representation. The format matches that generated by createUID. If a suitable ByteArray is not provided, null is returned.

Parameters

ba:ByteArray — ByteArray 16 bytes in length representing a 128-bit UID.

Returns
String — String representation of the UID, or null if an invalid ByteArray is provided.

getUID

()method 
public static function getUID(item:Object):String

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 3
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Returns the UID (unique identifier) for the specified object. If the specified object doesn't have an UID then the method assigns one to it. If a map is specified this method will use the map to construct the UID. As a special case, if the item passed in is null, this method returns a null UID.

Parameters

item:Object — Object that we need to find the UID for.

Returns
String — The UID that was either found or generated.

isUID

()method 
public static function isUID(uid:String):Boolean

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 3
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

A utility method to check whether a String value represents a correctly formatted UID value. UID values are expected to be in the format generated by createUID(), implying that only capitalized A-F characters in addition to 0-9 digits are supported.

Parameters

uid:String — The value to test whether it is formatted as a UID.

Returns
Boolean — Returns true if the value is formatted as a UID.

toByteArray

()method 
public static function toByteArray(uid:String):ByteArray

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 3
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Converts a UID formatted String to a ByteArray. The UID must be in the format generated by createUID, otherwise null is returned.

Parameters

uid:String — representing a 128-bit UID

Returns
ByteArray — ByteArray 16 bytes in length representing the 128-bits of the UID or null if the uid could not be converted.