How do you get the name of an open saved file in memory using message box?

[Peter Brigham MD]

On Jun 14, 2010, at 10:38 AM, charles61 wrote:

>
> Hi Sarah,
>
> The user does not get the file by selecting ti. In this situation,
>
> 1. The user creates a new file and populates the file
> 2. Then saves the file "abc".
> 3. User decides to make a change in the file.
> 4. The user opens a new file without saving the changes to file abc.
>
> This is where I want to get a dialog asking the User to save file  
> "abc" or disregard the last changes made and start a new file.
>
> Charles Szasz
> cszasz at mac.com
>
>
> On Jun 13, 2010, at 6:02 AM, Sarah Reichelt-2 [via Runtime  
> Revolution] wrote:
>
>>> The question is how do you get the name of the file that is opened  
>>> from a
>>> script to save in a variable. This is what I been unable to do.
>>
>> How do you open the file? Do you get the user to select a file using
>> the answer file dialog?
>> If so, try something like this:
>>
>> global gOpenDataFile
>> answer file "Select a file to open:"
>> if it is empty then exit to top
>> put it into gOpenDataFile
>> put URL ("file:" & gOpenDataFile) into tFileData
>> -- process the file data as usual 
>>
>> Now the global variable gOpenDataFile contains the full path to the
>> data file that was opened.
>> You can use this later when asking to save:
>>
>> global gOpenDataFile
>> ask file "Save data file?" with gOpenDataFile
>>
>> And it will offer the same folder and file name as before.
>> Note that if you select the same file name, the OS will give you a
>> file exists warning, whereas if you just save directly using the file
>> name, then it won't.
>>
>> -- 
>> Cheers,
>> Sarah

How does the user create a new file -- from within Rev, eg, via a  
button or some such, or by double-clicking the file icon on the  
desktop? Does Rev open it in a Rev window, or does the file launch  
using another app? How does a user open an existing file? -- again,  
from within Rev or using the system software? It would help if you  
described in more detail what the exact process is here, and what the  
larger picture is -- what does your stack do?

As far as I can gather, the user opens an existing file "by script" --  
so you have the file location stored somewhere. If the file is  
launched using another app and then the contents are changed, the  
system will provide the usual "save before closing?" dialog. At which  
point the user can say "cancel" and instead "save as..." and choose a  
new file name. If you are opening the file and editing it from within  
Rev, eg in a field. then you can use the closefield message to give  
the user the option of saving to the existing file. But I'm having to  
guess what you want to do, since you haven't specified the details.

-- Peter

Peter M. Brigham
pmbrig at gmail.com
http://home.comcast.net/~pmbrig