Zeus Tech Note
FileIO Tips

(This document last revised June 17, 1997)

Copyright © 1996-1997. Zeus Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Written by Bruce A. Epstein

Be sure to obtain the latest version of FileIO from Macromedia. Version 1.0.1 dated May 96 replaces an earlier beta version that shipped with Director 5.0

Using FileIO with Shorcuts

FileIO will detect a shortcut, but you have to supply the correct name. Even though it doesn't show up as such, a shortcut ends in the ".LNK" extension.

So to open a shortcut called "MyShortcut", use a filename of "MyShortcut.LNK"

When you open a Shortcut with FileIO, it opens the file that the shortcut points to instead of the shortcut itself (seems reasonable). But the "filename" method reports the shortcut's path, not the target's path. Thus, unfortunately, there is no way to "read" a shortcut file to determine where it points.

FileIO and Long FileNames

FileIO supports long filenames under Windows 95 when using the 32-bit Xtra. The 16-bit Xtra, required by 16-bit projectors under Windows 95, may not fully support long file names, so be careful.

GetOSDirectory Method

FileIO's ReadMe file incorrectly list this method as "GetOSdir". Use "GetOSDirectory" instead.

Under Windows the path returned by GetOSDirectory does NOT include a trailing backslash file separator. This is different than the type of path returned by "the pathname". Therefore you must add a trailing backslash when using the returned value to construct a file path.

On the Mac, the the path returned by GetOSDirectory DOES include a trailing colon ":" file separator, similar to the value returned by "the pathname".

SetFilterMask

The SetFilterMask method does not work properly under Windows 95. It appears to show all files regardless of the settings.

The SetFilterMask method does not appear to work properly under Windows 3.1. It appears to hide all files regardless of the settings. The user cna manually enter "*.*" to show all files.

...more to come...