~~NOTOC~~

====== Asset Caching ======

---- dataentry extension ----
author_mail   : daniel@gamua.com Daniel Sperl
description   : Cache remote assets in a local directory.
compatible    : v2.4
tags          : assets, cache
homepage_url  : https://gist.github.com/PrimaryFeather/a08cda0c75ae8ff7a660d76cc391628f
----

===== Overview =====

<note important>This extension requires Starling 2.4 with its new AssetManager. Furthermore, it only works with AIR (not in the Flash Player).</note>

If your application or game loads assets (e.g. textures) from the server each time it starts, it makes sense to cache these files locally. This extension does just that. Once an asset has been downloaded, it is cached in the "cacheDirectory" of the current device; the next time the same asset is required, it's loaded directly from disk.

The extension is actually a subclass of Starling's ''starling.assets.DataLoader'' class. That class is used by the AssetManager to fetch binary data from a server or a file. Assign an instance of the ''CachingDataLoader'' to enable automatic caching.

<code as3>
var assets:AssetManager = new AssetManager();
assets.dataLoader = new CachingDataLoader(); // <-- here
assets.enqueue(/* ... */);
assets.loadQueue(/* ... */);
</code>

That's it! 

The class, as it's provided here, contains a few "trace" statements that will tell you if data is loaded or stored to the cache. You can safely remove them, of course.

==== Caching Zipped Assets ====

This extension can easily be combined with the [[Zipped-Assets]] extension. You just need to change the base class of the //ZipLoader//, like here:

<code as3>
// before:
public class ZipLoader extends DataLoader

// after:
public class ZipLoader extends CachingDataLoader
</code>

Now, when you assign the //ZipLoader// to the AssetManager's ''dataLoader'' property, it will cache the zip files locally, and then extract them on the fly.
===== Changelog =====

  * //2018/02/22//: First public version
  * //2018/06/04//: Updated fo Starling 2.4 release version

===== Source Code =====

%gist(a08cda0c75ae8ff7a660d76cc391628f)%

===== User Comments =====

//Feel free to edit this part of the page if you want to add information that's lacking in the above description.\\
Questions are better asked in the [[http://forum.starling-framework.org|forum]], though.//