Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Sven Barth via lazarus]

Graeme Geldenhuys via lazarus  schrieb am
Di., 29. Okt. 2019, 21:08:

> On 29/10/2019 12:07 pm, Bo Berglund via lazarus wrote:
> > I have been around too long so I
> > remember the old days...
>
> Same. Windows should get with the times and switch to Unix. ;-)
>
> On a side note:
> After all, Windows still start the drive letters with C: and considering
> that no PC is the last decade or two has shipped with floppy drives,
> maybe they could start from A: instead. Most of the people I work with
> have NO idea why Windows starts with C: as the boot drive instead of A: :-P
>

There is still enough software out there that assumes A: and B: are floppy
drives and thus either ignores them or handles them especially (I fixed
such a relic in our own software just two weeks ago, because a customer had
his optical drives as A: and B:, otherwise we wouldn't have noticed that...
).

Regards,
Sven

>
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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Graeme Geldenhuys via lazarus]

On 29/10/2019 9:16 pm, Michael Thompson wrote:
> Been doing this for 10 years now, no conflict on any client PC
> anywhere :-) I like those holes in A: and B:

:-D  Very clever indeed! Make full use of those relics. I wonder why
Microsoft didn't think of that for USB drives.

Regards,
  Graeme
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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[DougC via lazarus]

For me A: is  always my archives and B: is my regular backup. Easy to remember!





 On Tue, 29 Oct 2019 17:16:56 -0400 Michael Thompson via lazarus 
 wrote 



> 
maybe they could start from A:



N :-) I work offshore for a variety of clients, and using their PCs.  



I always ensure my USB key mount at B: (so I don't have to tweak paths in my 
fpc and Lazarus installs), 

I code in an encrypted folder that I mount at A: (using Veracrypt).-- 
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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Michael Thompson via lazarus]

> maybe they could start from A:

N :-) I work offshore for a variety of clients, and using their
PCs.

I always ensure my USB key mount at B: (so I don't have to tweak paths in
my fpc and Lazarus installs),
I code in an encrypted folder that I mount at A: (using Veracrypt).

The encrypted drive also holds both GIT and SVN repositories.

Been doing this for 10 years now, no conflict on any client PC anywhere :-)
  I like those holes in A: and B:   It's so convenient that my system at
home is the same.

Cheers

Mike
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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Marco van de Voort via lazarus]

Op 2019-10-29 om 21:08 schreef Graeme Geldenhuys via lazarus:

On 29/10/2019 12:07 pm, Bo Berglund via lazarus wrote:

I have been around too long so I
remember the old days...

Most of the people I work with
have NO idea why Windows starts with C: as the boot drive instead of A: :-P
I'm already happy if they can distinguish actual drive files from "most 
recent used" style virtual folders.:-)

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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Graeme Geldenhuys via lazarus]

On 29/10/2019 12:07 pm, Bo Berglund via lazarus wrote:
> I have been around too long so I
> remember the old days...

Same. Windows should get with the times and switch to Unix. ;-)

On a side note:
After all, Windows still start the drive letters with C: and considering
that no PC is the last decade or two has shipped with floppy drives,
maybe they could start from A: instead. Most of the people I work with
have NO idea why Windows starts with C: as the boot drive instead of A: :-P

Regards,
  Graeme

-- 
fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal
http://fpgui.sourceforge.net/

My public PGP key:  http://tinyurl.com/graeme-pgp
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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Michael Van Canneyt via lazarus]

On Tue, 29 Oct 2019, Bo Berglund via lazarus wrote:


On Tue, 29 Oct 2019 12:43:51 +0100 (CET), Michael Van Canneyt via
lazarus  wrote:


1. Don't hardcode '/' or '\', use the PathDelim constant instead.
   You will not need any ifdefs.


The whole thing is that paths might be read from config or other data
files and so they will come in either with / or \.
I cannot use PathDelim in the target spec because that would not find
the erroneous delimiters.


Hence the setdirseparators call. As soon as you read a path from a file,
correct it with SetDirSeparators. For the rest you use PathDelim and all
will be well.

You're not the only one to have to deal with this, we've all been there :-)

Michael.
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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Bo Berglund via lazarus]

On Tue, 29 Oct 2019 12:43:51 +0100 (CET), Michael Van Canneyt via
lazarus  wrote:

>1. Don't hardcode '/' or '\', use the PathDelim constant instead.
>You will not need any ifdefs.

The whole thing is that paths might be read from config or other data
files and so they will come in either with / or \.
I cannot use PathDelim in the target spec because that would not find
the erroneous delimiters.

That said, both you and Mehmet pointed out that Windows accepts both
delimiters, which I did not know. I have been around too long so I
remember the old days...

Anyway, given that the delimiters do not matter I will just code for
Linux (the main platform) and not bother with the Windows case.

Thanks for your information!

-- 
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden

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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Bo Berglund via lazarus]

On Tue, 29 Oct 2019 14:32:18 +0300, Mehmet Erol Sanliturk via lazarus
 wrote:

>In Windows XP , it is possible to use "/" instead of "\" . Therefore , it
>is NOT necessary to make two different file path representations . I am not
>using any Windows now , therefore I can not say anything about last Windows
>versions .
>
>It is very easy to check whether "/" is usable on your Windows : Use a file
>path with "/" . My opinion is that it will find the related file assuming
>that your file path is correct other than "/" .
>

OK, did not know this.
Now tested on Windows 7 via Windows Explorer and the command line.
Both work fine...
So I will use forward slashes in all paths from now on.


-- 
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden

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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Michael Van Canneyt via lazarus]

On Tue, 29 Oct 2019, Bo Berglund via lazarus wrote:


I am writing a console application intended to be portable between
Windows and Linux and it uses files on the file system for
configuration and also for processing data.

Since the path delimiter is different on Unix and Windows I believe I
have to handle this in my code, but how?

I could create all paths inside the application using Windows
delimiters and then upon usage send them to a "platform filter" like
FixPlatformPath() below, which returns the string with the proper
delimiters for the platform.
Or else I have to check wherever the paths are dealt with and put
conditionals inside the code in many places.
Either way it feels a bit convoluted.

Is there a better way?

function FixPlatformPath(PathIn: string): string;
begin
 {$ifdef UNIX}
   Result:= StringReplace(PathIn, '\', PathDelim, [rfReplaceAll]);
 {$else}
   Result:= StringReplace(PathIn, '/', PathDelim, [rfReplaceAll]);
 {$endif}
end;

This would apply to all functions where files are handled such as
reading config data, creating data files or reading data files etc...


1. Don't hardcode '/' or '\', use the PathDelim constant instead.
   You will not need any ifdefs.

2. FPC does not care whether you use '\' or '/', and windows normally will
accept '/' as well.

3. your "fixplatformpath' exists in FPC, in 2 forms:

   
https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/current/rtl/sysutils/dodirseparators.html
   
https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/current/rtl/sysutils/setdirseparators.html

   There are many routines that handle all this transparently:

   
https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/current/rtl/sysutils/filenameroutines.html

Michael.
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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Mehmet Erol Sanliturk via lazarus]

In Windows XP , it is possible to use "/" instead of "\" . Therefore , it
is NOT necessary to make two different file path representations . I am not
using any Windows now , therefore I can not say anything about last Windows
versions .

It is very easy to check whether "/" is usable on your Windows : Use a file
path with "/" . My opinion is that it will find the related file assuming
that your file path is correct other than "/" .



Mehmet Erol Sanliturk





On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 2:25 PM Bo Berglund via lazarus <
lazarus@lists.lazarus-ide.org> wrote:

> I am writing a console application intended to be portable between
> Windows and Linux and it uses files on the file system for
> configuration and also for processing data.
>
> Since the path delimiter is different on Unix and Windows I believe I
> have to handle this in my code, but how?
>
> I could create all paths inside the application using Windows
> delimiters and then upon usage send them to a "platform filter" like
> FixPlatformPath() below, which returns the string with the proper
> delimiters for the platform.
> Or else I have to check wherever the paths are dealt with and put
> conditionals inside the code in many places.
> Either way it feels a bit convoluted.
>
> Is there a better way?
>
> function FixPlatformPath(PathIn: string): string;
> begin
>   {$ifdef UNIX}
> Result:= StringReplace(PathIn, '\', PathDelim, [rfReplaceAll]);
>   {$else}
> Result:= StringReplace(PathIn, '/', PathDelim, [rfReplaceAll]);
>   {$endif}
> end;
>
> This would apply to all functions where files are handled such as
> reading config data, creating data files or reading data files etc...
>
>
> --
> Bo Berglund
> Developer in Sweden
>
> --
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Re: [Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Carlos E. R. via lazarus]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

On 29/10/2019 12.25, Bo Berglund via lazarus wrote:
> I am writing a console application intended to be portable between
> Windows and Linux and it uses files on the file system for
> configuration and also for processing data.
>
> Since the path delimiter is different on Unix and Windows I believe
> I have to handle this in my code, but how?

Thinking...

Define a something case {what system} array of strings. Depending on
the system detected, you use one or the other array of (constant?)
strings, that contains the paths. Assuming they are fixed.


- -- 
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 15.1 x86_64 at Telcontar)
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[Lazarus] Multi-platform console application, how to handle file paths?

[Bo Berglund via lazarus]

I am writing a console application intended to be portable between
Windows and Linux and it uses files on the file system for
configuration and also for processing data.

Since the path delimiter is different on Unix and Windows I believe I
have to handle this in my code, but how?

I could create all paths inside the application using Windows
delimiters and then upon usage send them to a "platform filter" like
FixPlatformPath() below, which returns the string with the proper
delimiters for the platform.
Or else I have to check wherever the paths are dealt with and put
conditionals inside the code in many places.
Either way it feels a bit convoluted.

Is there a better way?

function FixPlatformPath(PathIn: string): string;
begin
  {$ifdef UNIX}
Result:= StringReplace(PathIn, '\', PathDelim, [rfReplaceAll]);
  {$else}
Result:= StringReplace(PathIn, '/', PathDelim, [rfReplaceAll]);
  {$endif}
end;

This would apply to all functions where files are handled such as
reading config data, creating data files or reading data files etc...


-- 
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden

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