QSettings: How to read array from INI file - c++

Question

I wanna read comma separated data form INI file. I've already read here:
QSettings::IniFormat values with "," returned as QStringList
How to read a value using QSetting if the value contains comma character
...that commas are treated as separators and QSettings value function will return QStringList.
However, my data in INI file looks like this:
norm-factor=<<eof
1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0
1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0
1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0
1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0
1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0
1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0
eof
I don't need a whole matrix. All rows joined up together are fair enough for me. But can QSettings handle such structure?
Should I read this using:
QStringList norms = ini->value("norm-factor", QStringList()).toStringList();
Or do I have to parse it in another way?

Answer 1

The line breaks are a problem since INI files use line breaks for their own syntax.
Qt seems to not support your type of line continuation (<<eol ... eol).
QSettings s("./inifile", QSettings::IniFormat);
qDebug() << s.value("norm-factor");
yields
QVariant(QString, "<<eof")
The <<eol expression might be invalid INI in itself. (Wikipedia on INI files)
I suggest you parse the file manually.

Answer 2

Ronny Brendel's answer is correct ...i am only adding code that solves above problem ...it creates temporary INI file with corrected arrays:
/**
* #param src source INI file
* #param dst destination (fixed) INI file
*/
void fixINI(const QString &src, const QString &dst) const {
// Opens source and destination files
QFile fsrc(src);
QFile fdst(dst);
if (!fsrc.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly)) {
QString msg("Cannot open '" + src + "'' file.");
throw new Exception(NULL, msg, this, __FUNCTION__, __LINE__);
}
if (!fdst.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly)) {
QString msg("Cannot open '" + dst + "'' file.");
throw new Exception(NULL, msg, this, __FUNCTION__, __LINE__);
}
// Stream
QTextStream in(&fsrc);
QTextStream out(&fdst);
bool arrayMode = false;
QString cache;
while (!in.atEnd()) {
// Read current line
QString line = in.readLine();
// Enables array mode
// NOTE: Clear cache and store 'key=' to it, without '<<eof' text
if (arrayMode == false && line.contains("<<eof")) {
arrayMode = true;
cache = line.remove("<<eof").trimmed();
continue;
}
// Disables array mode
// NOTE: Flush cache into output and remove last ',' separator
if (arrayMode == true && line.trimmed().compare("eof") == 0) {
arrayMode = false;
out << cache.left(cache.length() - 1) << "\n";
continue;
}
// Store line into cache or copy it to output
if (arrayMode) {
cache += line.trimmed() + ",";
} else {
out << line << "\n";
}
}
fsrc.close();
fdst.close();
}