Absolute File Paths - Bug or bad Docs

[Sarah Reichelt]

On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 3:57 PM, Kay C Lan <lan.kc.macmail at gmail.com> wrote:
> The docs, for 'absolute file path':
>
> The full name and location of a file, beginning with the disk the file is
> on, including ....
>
> The 'Tip' for defaultFolder includes the above plus points out that UNIX
> naming convention is used so the path MUST begin with and folders separated
> by "/".
>
> The example under 'defaultFolder' is:
>
> set the defaultFolder to "/Hard Disk/Applications/GetIt"
>
> All simple enough.
>
> But when I do:
>
> answer files "Select a file" with "/Mac HD/Users/kcl/stacks/" titled "Choose
> a stack"
>
> I end up in the bowels of the Rev App bundle.
>
> Even if I do the above in the message box it ends up in the Rev App bundle.
>
> BUT, if I remove the reference to the hard disc everything works fine, both
> in my stack and the msg box.
>
> This applies whether I'm looking in Users, Applications, System...
> everywhere. Referring to the HD or partition fails to lead anywhere other
> than the bowels of the Rev App Bundle
>
> So has something changed in Rev 3.0 or have the Docs been wrong all this
> time?

The docs are out of date at least as far as OS X is concerned. The
hard disk name had to be specified when using Mac OS 9 or less, but
under OS X, you have to use the Unix type file name where the hard
drive is left off.
For your example, try this:
     answer files "Select a file" with "/Users/kcl/stacks/" titled
"Choose a stack"

But, if you are using a networked or removable drive, then you have to
specify the name of the drive, prefaced with "/Volumes"
e.g. /Volumes/Backup HD/Docs

The final problem is if you need to send the path to an AppleScript
routine. AppleScript clings to the old style and would use:
   Mac HD:Users:kcl:stacks:
But you can do the conversions back & forth using the
revMacFromUnixPath and revUnixFromMacPath functions.

BTW, I don't understand how specifying the drive name gets you into
the bowels, but perhaps it just uses the initial defaultFolder since
the specified folder does not really exist.

Cheers,
Sarah