add lua table serialization and deserialization so abstract out loading config files

main.lua

@@ -55,6 +55,58 @@ TransmissionTypes = {
 Config = {}
 Config.ConfigPath = "/caero-attitude-control/config/config.txt"
 
+-- File serializatino and deserialization
+-- taken from https://gist.github.com/yuhanz/6688d474a3c391daa6d6
+function tableToString(table)
+    return "return"..serializeTable(table)
+end
+
+-- loadstring is deprecated, so modified to run without it
+function stringToTable(str)
+    local f = {}
+    local chunk, err = load(str)
+    if chunk then
+        f = chunk()
+    else
+        print("Error loading config string: "..err)
+    end
+    return f
+end
+
+function serializeTable(val, name, skipnewlines, depth)
+    skipnewlines = skipnewlines or false
+    depth = depth or 0
+
+    local tmp = string.rep(" ", depth)
+    if name then 
+    	if not string.match(name, '^[a-zA-z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$') then
+    		name = string.gsub(name, "'", "\\'")
+    		name = "['".. name .. "']"
+    	end
+    	tmp = tmp .. name .. " = "
+     end
+
+    if type(val) == "table" then
+        tmp = tmp .. "{" .. (not skipnewlines and "\n" or "")
+
+        for k, v in pairs(val) do
+            tmp =  tmp .. serializeTable(v, k, skipnewlines, depth + 1) .. "," .. (not skipnewlines and "\n" or "")
+        end
+
+        tmp = tmp .. string.rep(" ", depth) .. "}"
+    elseif type(val) == "number" then
+        tmp = tmp .. tostring(val)
+    elseif type(val) == "string" then
+        tmp = tmp .. string.format("%q", val)
+    elseif type(val) == "boolean" then
+        tmp = tmp .. (val and "true" or "false")
+    else
+        tmp = tmp .. "\"[inserializeable datatype:" .. type(val) .. "]\""
+    end
+
+    return tmp
+end
+
 -- Monitor Configuration  
 Config.Monitors = {}
 Config.Monitors.InstrumentPanelMonitor = nil