Accessing files on a local network file server - BEST PRACTICE?

[Bob Sneidar]

Have you tried opening the file then checking the result? 

Bob S


> On Sep 25, 2020, at 12:13 PM, Paul Dupuis via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> On 9/25/2020 2:42 PM, J. Landman Gay via use-livecode wrote:
>> I know very little about Windows network addresses, but from the example you gave, I'd check to see if (slash-delimited) item 1 of the path is a single letter followed by a colon.
>> 
> 
> Thanks for thought.
> 
> In a Windows server environment (i.e many corporation, government agencies, etc.), computer are often set so tat their specific "User" directories (Documents, Desktop, "Home", etc.) at on a server rather than local disk. So a path to a file called "somefile.txt" is a user's Documents folder looks like:
> 
> //s1.somedomain.com/mountPoint/<username>/Documents/somefile.txt
> 
> The question is, if you execute the line of  LiveCode script:
> 
> if there is a file "//s1.somedomain.com/mountPoint/<username>/Documents/somefile.txt" then
>   -- true
> else
>   -- false
> end if
> 
> In the "true" case, the file is there, which means the server and network are both accessible. Yea! proceed with whatever.
> 
> In the "false" case, you do not know whether the FILE is missing OR the NETWORK is disconnected or the SERVER is down.
> 
> It is in the "false" case that I am looking for approaches (if there are any) to tell the difference between
> 1) the file is missing
> and
> 2) the network or server is down.
> 
> Bernard has a suggestion of keeping an invisible file. Being hidden, it is unlike that it could be removed by intent or accident and so, if the file I am looking for "somefile.txt" does not exists, I could test for the hidden file. If that exists, I know my file is missing and the server and network are still up. If the hidden file also does not exists, the server or network is "probably" down.
> 
> I could probably improve on Bernard's suggestion by testing for:
> 
> if there is a folder "//s1.somedomain.com/mountPoint/<username>" then
>   -- the server is up
> else
>   -- the server or network is down OR or the user has been fired and their account delete!
> end if
> 
> I was hoping someone out there had actually dealt with LiveCode working with files on a Windows network server and have a definite approach. Maybe testing for the user's folder is the definitive way OR the mountPoint folder may be even better?
> 
> -- Paul
> 
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