the detailed folders returning incorrect data

J. Landman Gay jacque at hyperactivesw.com
Fri Jul 1 13:50:01 EDT 2016


For Windows you can specify specialFolderPath( "0x001a" ) which is the 
approved location for writing app data. On Mac it's the Application Support 
folder ; I thought there was a special designator for that too but I don't 
see one in the dictionary. If memory serves, it's" apsup" I think.


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



On July 1, 2016 10:15:24 AM Paul Dupuis <paul at researchware.com> wrote:

> On 7/1/2016 7:49 AM, Mark Waddingham wrote:
>> I just wonder if there is a better away to approach the problem you
>> are trying to solve; or whether there is actually a problem to solve
>> at all (which isn't already solved by thorough error checking and
>> handling).
>
> The problem I am working on has to do with reading and writing a
> preferences file and a license file across platforms and within
> platforms across versions of the OS and even within a platform (Windows)
> and OS version, the wide range or ways corporate and university customer
> take to secure computers in their labs and on their networks where
> "typical" folders may be read only or otherwise restricted.
>
> While the problem is predominately on the Windows side, we have run into
> a university owned OSX box(es) in a lab where the Preference folder was
> read only.
>
> So, we also, for legacy reasons, need to look into multiple locations
> for older versions of the license file or preference file that may have
> been installed by (a) older versions of our software; (b) administrator
> command line installs using site desktop management and deployment
> software line LanDESK; (c) where current OS Manufacturer guidelines say
> to put them (admittedly, not changed much on OSX, but has over time on
> Windows and Windows moves more and more to a "sandboxed" model)
>
> So, I walk through a list of locations, looking for existing files, if I
> find it, and it is readable and writable, I use it. If I don't find it
> OR it it is not read/writable, I also want to walk through a list of
> location (different order) to find the first writable folder I can store
> our preferences and license file in.
>
> It is no longer the case where you can 100% rely of
> specialFolderPath("preferences") [OSX] and specialFolderPath(26) [Win]
> 100% of the time in the real world out there.
>
> I was hoping to use the detailed files and  detailed folders to check
> read/write permissions vs the classic test file trick (which can also
> suffer from changing over time). Given it not available on Windows, I
> will go back to the classic model of testing folder write-ability by
> trying to write a temp test file and deleting it if successful. And to
> test existing file read/write by trying to open it for update and if no
> errors, then closing it. Obviously, on successive writes, whether via
> "put ... into URL ..." or via "open file ...", we check for errors in
> case permissions have changed, disk space has been exceeded or the user
> pulled the USB cable or whatever.
>
> I am leaning towards writing everything into a sub-folder of the users
> "Documents" folder as that seems to be the only place "guaranteed" by
> both Apple and Microsoft to fully accessible to the user as them evolve
> their OSes more and more to a locked down/sand boxed model.
>
> I'm sure that's more background info that you either wanted or have time
> for Mark :-)
>
>
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