OpenEuphoria

RE: Current Directory

• Posted by Al Getz <Xaxo at aol.com> Feb 13, 2003
• 506 views

Hello,

Having to interface with a file is much easier then having
to interface with a human directly, except when it comes to
errors.

Derek wrote:
>So how can I find out, using basic Euphoria, what is the current
>directory
>for ANY drive in the system?

I dont think you can do that because maintaining a
current directory for each drive is not supported in Euphoria,
unless Rob plans to do this in 2.4, but i doubt it.
As is, the process starts a new current directory and
it's only one, not several.  If you use the system() 
command it starts a new process, so you're starting with
no current dir names again.
One attempt is to use the system() command using the dos
"cd mydir" command.  This would probably work, except as 
soon as the command returns the directory is long forgotten
so when you go to access the drive with the next system()
command the current directory is back to "C:\"   
I guess you could create a dos server app but is it really
worth it, and will it be as platform independent as you're
looking for?

On the other hand, maintaining a list yourself really isnt that
hard.  Use a sequence acessed by the drive letter and that
will return (or set) the current directory for each drive.
Not much of a problem.  You can then use this info to resolve
all your paths that are of the relative type.  How hard can
that really be?  No direct dependence on dos either.

You'll have to parse each path into it's type first, then
update the drive list as required.

The only thing you havent told us is how the user's data tells
you when they decide to switch current directories for a
particular drive?

Note that the form:

  d:directory\filename.txt

cant be the first entry in the file because it contains a 
relative path, and since there hasnt yet been a current 
directory established for that drive (other then "d:\"),
this path would be invalid or it would have to name a path
using the current directory "d:\" .
I think you can check for valid paths by using:
object=dir().

So, to repeat the question:
How does the user convey the new current directory for
a particular drive?

Good luck with it,
Al

PS
In most of my apps i've almost eliminated the concept of
'current directory' altogether because how do you know what
it really is: startup directory or working directory?
This means im now labeling my special directories 
"StartupDirectory" and "WorkingDirectory" respectively
which clears matters up completely.
I never have to maintain a current directory for each drive
because i always use the full path, except for those two above,
in which case i'll still use the full path but i'll construct
it from one of those two.