Unicode in file paths...

[Paul Dupuis]

I am trying to simply prompt for a movie file and set the filename of a
player to that filespec. Essentially:

answer file "Pick a movie:"
set the fileName of player 1 to shortFilePath(it)

If I have a movie file, say video.mov in a folder with Unicode
characters, say "Κάποια έρευνα" (Greek), the answer file command in
LC6.7.4 returns a string (i.e. C:/Users/Paul/Desktop/HR400-LC674/Media
Testing/??p??a ??e??a/video.mp4) that is not recognized by the player
object for accessing that file. The same movie file is recognized on OSX
or Win if it is in a file path with no Unicode characters in it.

Under LC 7.0.4, answer file returns a legible filespec (i.e.
C:/Users/Paul/Desktop/HR400-LC674/Media Testing/Κάποια
έρευνα/video.mp4), and the player recognizes the movie under Windows
(using Quicktime - this is because of the use of the shortFilePath
function, without shortFilePath, QT does not recognize a filespec with
Unicode in it) and under OSX 10.8+ using the AVFoundation. However, it
fails under OSX 10.7 and 10.6 (using QT instead of AVF)

Given that every OS today support robust folder and file names, my
question is: Is there any work around for this in LC6.7.4 (or 6.7.5)?

I can not migrate to LC7 just now - we have too much code tied to the
old way Unicode works that need to be updated and perhaps a zillion
places where 'char' is used on binary data that need to be updated to
byte. However, if I could go to LC7, it appear that you still can not
play movies with Unicode in the file path under OSX10.6 or 10.7 (i.e QT
under OSX) or is there a workaround for that?

If there is anyone who has cracked this nut, help would be much appreciated.