File - read from EOF

[Jan Schenkel]

On Sun, 5/28/17, JB via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
>
> Subject: File - read from EOF
> To: "How to use LiveCode" <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>
> Cc: "JB" <sundown at pacifier.com>
> Date: Sunday, May 28, 2017, 2:23 AM
> 
> I want to read a file as binary of any
> size but as crazy as it sounds I want
> to read in sections form the EOF and
> stop at the beginning of the file
> instead
> reading from the start to EOF.
> 
> I have no problems opening, reading
> and
> closing files or reading in sections.
> 
> Does anyone know the easiest way
> to determine when I reach the start
> of the file similar to using EOF to
> stop reading at the end of the file?
> 
> JB
> 

Hi JB,

You could always read the file straight into a variable and then check the number of bytes.
But if it's a very large file then you could run out of memory space (at least until we get a 64-bit engine on Windows)

>From your description, it sounds like you don't need the entire content and want to cruise around the file on disk to extract bits.
In that case, you can quickly determine the file size using the 'detailed files' functionality.
I wrote a utility function for that a long time ago; here it is:

--

function qrtUtil_FileSize pFilePath
   local tFolderPath, tFileName
   set the itemDelimiter to slash
   put item 1 to -2 of pFilePath into tFolderPath
   put item -1 of pFilePath into tFileName
   local tDefaultFolder, tDetailedFiles
   put the defaultFolder into tDefaultFolder
   set the defaultFolder to tFolderPath
   put the detailed files into tDetailedFiles
   set the defaultFolder to tDefaultFolder
   filter tDetailedFiles with (tFileName & ",*")
   set the itemDelimiter to comma
   return item 2 of tDetailedFiles
end qrtUtil_FileSize

--

HTH,

Jan Schenkel.

=====
Quartam Reports & PDF Library for LiveCode
www.quartam.com

===== 
"As we grow older, we grow both wiser and more foolish at the same time."  (La Rochefoucauld)