cmd.exe and command.com in Windows

[J. Landman Gay]

On 10/11/04 9:24 AM, Chris Sheffield wrote:

> So does specialFolderPath use "cmd.exe" and/or "command.com"?  If so, why
> isn't this documented?  Our user was not happy at all that they had to allow
> access to these executables because they could potentially be used to format
> one's hard drive or perform other damaging tasks.  And I suspect we'll have
> others with the same problem.

I don't have a definitive answer, but I was under the impression that 
specialFolderPath is part of the syntax in the engine and uses OS-native 
calls; it doesn't need to use shell. I don't think that particular 
function is the problem.

However, a good many of the "rev" commands do use shell, since they are 
really just part of a scripted library. I believe, for example, that 
revCopyFolder and some of the other "rev" file management commands use 
shell. Those are the ones I'd look at. You can rescript some of those to 
manage files using engine-native syntax; shell commands are just a 
faster way to do it. For example, to copy a folder, you could get the 
file list from the folder and parse through it one file at a time, 
getting the binary content of the file, writing it to a new file at a 
new location, and then deleting the original. It is slower but it 
doesn't require shell commands. Other "rev" library commands can be 
handled similarly in some cases. There are probably a few that need 
shell, but hopefully you won't need to use any of those.

I guess my point here is that you should look at the "rev"-prefixed 
commands and functions you are using as the most likely culprits.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com