selectLoader
The selectLoader()
and selectLoaderSync()
functions will automatically select
an appropriate loader for a specific resource. selectLoader()
is called by the
parse()
and load()
functions, but can also be called directly from applications.
Loader selection heuristics are based on:
- Filename (or url) extensions
- MIME types (from
Response
content-type
headers orBlob.type
/File.type
fields) - Initial bytes - for certain inputs, the initial bytes in the supplied data can be compared against known "magic bytes" for various file formats.
loader registry - selectLoader()
and selectLoaderSync()
are also aware of the
loader registry.
The list of pre-registered loaders will be included in the search for a compatible loader,
unless options.ignoreRegisteredLoaders
is true
.
Usage​
Select a loader from a list of provided loaders:
import {selectLoaderSync} from '@loaders.gl/core';
import {ArrowLoader} from '@loaders.gl/arrow';
import {CSVLoader} from '@loaders.gl/csv';
selectLoaderSync('filename.csv', [ArrowLoader, CSVLoader]); // => CSVLoader
Select a loader from pre-registered loaders in the loader registry:
import {registerLoaders, selectLoader} from '@loaders.gl/core';
import {ArrowLoader} from '@loaders.gl/arrow';
import {CSVLoader} from '@loaders.gl/csv';
registerLoaders(ArrowLoader, CSVLoader);
await selectLoader('filename.csv'); // => CSVLoader
Select a loader by specifying MIME type (using unregistered MIME types, see below)
const data = new Blob([string], {type: 'application/x.csv'});
await selectLoader(blob); // => CSVLoader
The async selectLoader
function can identify loaders without extension and mimeType
by content sniffing Blob
and File
objects (useful when user drags and drops files into your application).
const data = new Blob(['DRACO...'] /* Binary Draco files start with these characters */]);
await selectLoader(blob, DracoLoader); // => DracoLoader
Functions​
selectLoader(data: Response | ArrayBuffer | String | Blob, ..., loaders?: LoaderWithParser[], options?: object, context?: object): Promise<Loader>
​
Selects an appropriate loader for a file from a list of candidate loaders by examining the data
parameter, looking at URL extension, mimeType ('Content-Type') and/or an initial data chunk.
Parameters:
data
- data to perform autodetection againstloaders
- can be a single loader or an array of loaders, or null.options
- SeeLoaderOptions
.options.nothrow
=false
- Return null instead of throwing exception if no loader can be found
Returns:
- A single loader (or
null
ifoptions.nothrow
was set and no matching loader was found).
Throws:
- If no matching loader was found, and
options.nothrow
was not set.
Regarding the loaders
parameter:
- A single loader object will be returned without matching.
- a
null
loader list will use the pre-registered list of loaders. - A supplied list of loaders will be searched for a matching loader.
selectLoaderSync(data: Response | ArrayBuffer | String | Blob, ..., loaders?: LoaderWithParser[], options?: object, context?: object): Loader
​
Supported Formats​
- strings / non-data urls:
- strings / data urls: The mime type will be extracted from the data url prologue (if available)
- fetch
Response
objects:url
andheaders.get('Content-Type')
fields will be used. File
andBlob
objects:
Peeking into batched input sources is not supported directly by selectLoader
:
Response
: Avoids requesting initial data to make sure the response body is not marked as used.Stream
: It is not possible to non-destructively peek into a stream.Iterator/AsyncIterator
: it is not possible to peek into an iterator.
Instead use helpers to get access to initialContents and pass it in separately.
MIME types​
If the standard MIME types for each format are not precise enough, loaders.gl also supports unregistered MIME types. Each loader will match the application/x.<id>
where the <id>
is the documented id
of the loader, e.g. application/x.ply
/application/x.draco
/etc ...
Remarks​
- File extensions - An attempt will be made to extract a file extension by stripping away query parameters and base path before matching against known loader extensions.
- Stream autodetection - Currently not well supported.