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A Simple Question

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    #1

    A Simple Question

    What is the xbasic syntax to display the contents of a folder the path of which is held in a global variable.

    Bob
    Bob Whitaker

    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: A Simple Question

    I chuckle when folks ask "simple" questions. In my experience a "simple" solution in the computer world often requires a lot of work.

    Have you discovered Filefind.first() in the help system yet?

    Are you having trouble adapting the examples you find there to your situation?

    Comment

      #3
      Re: A Simple Question

      Pretty much the same as discussed here yesterday but different flag.

      vpath= "c:\temp\*.*"
      v_dir= filefind.get(vpath,FILE_FIND_NORMAL)

      stores the contents of c:\temp in the v_dir variable.
      There can be only one.

      Comment

        #4
        Re: A Simple Question

        Thanks Tom and Stan the Filefind.get was exactly what I was looking for - your assistance is very much appreciated.

        Bob
        Bob Whitaker

        Comment

          #5
          Re: A Simple Question

          Originally posted by Tom Cone Jr View Post
          Have you discovered Filefind.first() in the help system yet?

          Are you having trouble adapting the examples you find there to your situation?
          Sarcasm with a soft touch. Ya gotta love it.
          Peter
          AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

           [email protected]
          https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

          Comment

            #6
            Re: A Simple Question

            Originally posted by Peter.Greulich View Post
            Sarcasm with a soft touch. Ya gotta love it.
            I didn't read it as sarcasm. Tom isn't shy about saying his true feelings. But I'll let him speak for himself.
            Al Buchholz
            Bookwood Systems, LTD
            Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

            Occam's Razor - KISS
            Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
            Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
            When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
            "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
            Albert Einstein

            http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

            Comment

              #7
              Re: A Simple Question

              Peter, I'm glad you were amused, but I hadn't intended anything by the phrasing. Was just trying to find out what steps Bob might have already taken before he decided he needed some help. Personally, I find the "FileFind" functions among the most obscure and arcane of any that Alpha provides. -- tom

              Comment

                #8
                Re: A Simple Question

                Originally posted by Tom Cone Jr View Post
                Peter, I'm glad you were amused, but I hadn't intended anything by the phrasing. Was just trying to find out what steps Bob might have already taken before he decided he needed some help. Personally, I find the "FileFind" functions among the most obscure and arcane of any that Alpha provides. -- tom
                OK, no problem. I just thought those two lines seemed sarcastic as I thought it seemed pretty clear that Bob hadn't discovered the Filefind fucntion set. But, you're right, I was amused. Esp. as I can be pretty sarcastic myself - often have to bite my tongue!
                Peter
                AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

                 [email protected]
                https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: A Simple Question

                  You might want to test the results of v_dir= filefind.get(vpath,FILE_FIND_NORMAL) carefully to make sure it's what you want.

                  Be aware that FILE_FIND_NORMAL returns everything that is not hidden - including folders. If you want to get only the files (no folders), use FILE_FIND_NOT_DIRECTORY. (I don't find that terribly intuitive. Once you think about it, it makes complete sense but it didn't jump out at me as the obvious choice at first.)

                  Also - just a warning - you will have to be even more careful if you want to add the hidden files and folders....

                  Combining two or more "types" in one command only works for certain combinations. In other words, something like:
                  filefind.get(vpath,FILE_FIND_NORMAL+FILE_FIND_HIDDEN)
                  always returns nothing. The Help doesn't give any indication of limits when combining types but I can guarantee that some don't work.

                  If you need to deal with hidden files, it can get complicated.

                  Here are the results of some testing I did awhile back. (I keep this list in my A5v5_Help file which occassionally gets updated with things from newer versions when I want to record additional info or make a command easier to find.):
                  Code:
                  [COLOR=blue]'These are the files I'm looking for:[/COLOR]
Archived.tst
Hidden_archived.tst
Hidden_not_archived.tst
Not_archived.tst
Test_folder.tst
Test_folder_hidden.tst
[COLOR=blue]'"Archived" means the Archive bit under the advanced properties is checked. This 
'means the file has been modified since it was last backed up and, therefore, 
'needs to be included in the next backup. Not all backup programs use this.
'NOTE: According to my tests, how the Archive bit is set for a directory doesn't 
'seem to have any effect on the results of filefind.get().[/COLOR]
 
[COLOR=blue]'Returns all files and folders that are not hidden. (Note the folder "Test_folder.tst")[/COLOR]
?[COLOR=green]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_normal)
= Archived.tst
Not_archived.tst
Test_folder.tst
 
[COLOR=blue]'But I know there are some hidden files and I want to list those also.
[/COLOR]?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_normal+file_find_hidden)
= ""
 
[COLOR=blue]'FYI - This eliminates the folders but does not show the hidden files.
[/COLOR]?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_not_directory)
= Archived.tst
Not_archived.tst
 
[COLOR=blue]'And now we get nothing.
[/COLOR]?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_not_directory+file_find_hidden)
= ""
 
?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_hidden+file_find_archive+file_find_not_archive)
= ""
 
[COLOR=blue]'Finally we get hidden files! This gives me the two hidden files and the 'archive' file 
'that is not hidden BUT not the Not_archived.tst file and neither of the folders.[/COLOR]
?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_hidden+file_find_archive)
= Archived.tst
Hidden_archived.tst
Hidden_not_archived.tst
 
?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_hidden+file_find_archive+file_find_not_archive)
= ""
 
?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_hidden+file_find_not_archive)
= ""
 
?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_hidden+file_find_not_directory)
= ""
 
[COLOR=blue]'This seems to be the only way to get the "not_archive" file.[/COLOR]
?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_not_archive)
= "Not_archived.tst"
 
[COLOR=blue]'This gets all folders including the hidden folder.[/COLOR]
?[COLOR=#008000]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",FILE_FIND_DIRECTORY+file_find_hidden)
= Test_folder.tst
Test_folder_hidden.tst
 
[COLOR=blue]'This seems to be the only way to get all of them "together".
'Note that you must include a crlf() between each one when combining the lists.[/COLOR]
?[COLOR=green]sortsubstr(filefind.get( [/COLOR]"E:\*.tst",file_find_hidden+file_find_archive)+[COLOR=green]crlf()[/COLOR]+[COLOR=green]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",file_find_not_archive)+[COLOR=green]crlf()[/COLOR]+[COLOR=green]filefind.get([/COLOR] "E:\*.tst",FILE_FIND_DIRECTORY+file_find_hidden),[COLOR=green]crlf()[/COLOR])
= Archived.tst
Hidden_archived.tst
Hidden_not_archived.tst
Not_archived.tst
Test_folder.tst
Test_folder_hidden.tst

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