Convert relative path to abolute path?

[Michael Mattias]

I have been working on a project for a client in which the configuration file is is to support a series of "folder names" to direct certain outputs.

I would like to support relative paths such as ...

.\data\smith << would be same as 'data\smith'
or
..\data\smith << would not be the same.

I was working with a number of WinAPI and intrinsic PB functions yesterday and could not find the magic combination which would convert these relative paths to fully-qualified absolute paths... eg
If currrent directory is "d:\RB835" then

.\data\smith ==> d:\RB835\data\smith

..\data\smith ==> D:\data\smith


Does anyone have any good ideas for converting these "dot" and "dot-dot" entries from the relative form to the absolute form?

I also want to support entry of absolute paths; but I think I can just identify these as those starting with either "x:\" [fully qualified] or just "\" [current drive assumed]

OOPS forgot....

The named path may or may not exist at the time it is checked... at which time I have to create it.

ShCreateDirectory() works great (handles any 'missing' subdirectories automatically) , but that requires a fully-qualified path, which is why I am trying to get the absolute path name.

Thanks

[Michael Mattias]

Here's as couple of functions I use once I have a fully-qualified file or folder name. Maybe these will give someone an idea to solve my direct problem....

IsValidFolder requires the folder exist (and works with relative folders)
IsValidOutfileName does not.

FUNCTION IsValidFolder (szPath AS ASCIIZ) AS LONG

  LOCAL  FA AS LONG

  FA         = GetFileAttributes(szPath)
  'MSGBOX "FA=" & HEX$(FA,8) & $CRLF & szPath
  IF FA = -1& THEN
      FUNCTION = 0
  ELSE
     FUNCTION = (FA AND %FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) = %FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY
  END IF

END FUNCTION

' FIXED. A Wildcard here is automatically an invalid output file name
FUNCTION IsValidOutFileName(szFN AS ASCIIZ) AS LONG
    ' see if a file name is valid by trying to open it
    ' returns true if we can create the file...or if it already exists else false

    LOCAL hFile AS LONG, E AS LONG, fs AS LONG
    LOCAL iPos AS LONG


    iPos = INSTR (szFN, ANY "?*")
    IF ISTRUE iPos THEN
        FUNCTION = %FALSE
        EXIT FUNCTION
    END IF

    IF DIR$(szFn) <> "" THEN  ' file exists, so the name must be valid
        FUNCTION  = -1&
        EXIT FUNCTION
    END IF

    hFile = FREEFILE
    OPEN szFN FOR BINARY AS hFILE
    E = ERRCLEAR
    'MSGBOX "E on open of " & szfn & " =" & STR$(E)
    IF ISFALSE E THEN
        fs = LOF(hFile)
        CLOSE hFile
        IF fs = 0 THEN   ' we just created it...empty..
           KILL szFN
        END IF
    END IF
    FUNCTION = (E=0)
END FUNCTION

MCM

[Erich Schulman]

http://docs.activestate.com/activepy...Name_meth.html shows there is a Python function for that. So maybe studying the Python Win32 extensions source code would give a clue.

[José Roca]

LOCAL dwLen AS DWORD
LOCAL szBuffer AS ASCIIZ * %MAX_PATH
dwLen = GetFullPathName(".\data\smith", %MAX_PATH, szBuffer, BYVAL %NULL)

[Scott Slater]

Are you looking for something like this?

Function ReturnFullPath(ByVal PathStr As String, Optional ByVal UseProgramDirectory As Dword) As String
   
   Local StartDir  As String
   Local WorkDrive As String
   Local PthSegmnt As String
   Local sWork     As String
   Local idx       As Dword
   Local idx2      As Dword
   
   If UseProgramDirectory Then
      StartDir = EXE.Path$
   Else
      StartDir = CurDir$
   End If
   
   StartDir = RTrim$(StartDir, "\") ' remove any trailing backslashes
   
   If Mid$(PathStr,2,2) = ":\" Then
      StartDir = PathStr
      StartDir = RTrim$(StartDir, "\")
      WorkDrive = Left$(StartDir, 3)
      PathStr = Mid$(StartDir,4)
      StartDir = ""
   Else
      WorkDrive = Left$(StartDir, 3)
      StartDir = Mid$(StartDir, 4)
   End If
   
   For idx = 1 To ParseCount(PathStr, "\")
      PthSegmnt = Parse$(PathStr, "\", idx)
      If PthSegmnt = ".." Then ' Back one
         If Len(StartDir) Then
            sWork = ""
            For idx2 = 1 To ParseCount(StartDir, "\") - 1
               sWork &= "\" & Parse$(StartDir, "\", idx2)
            Next idx2
            StartDir = Trim$(sWork, "\")
         End If
      ElseIf idx =1 And PthSegmnt = "" Then
         StartDir = ""
      ElseIf (PthSegmnt <> ".") And (PthSegmnt <> "") Then
         StartDir &= "\" & PthSegmnt
         StartDir = Trim$(StartDir, "\")
      End If
   Next idx
   
   Function = WorkDrive & StartDir
   
End Function

[Michael Mattias]

Thanks for the tips, they got me where I needed to be.

You are going to love what my problem was....

I was trying to make this work using GetLongPathname instead of GetFullPathName.

I can now attest from personal experience they are in fact two different functions and they do not work the same way.

MCM

[Kev Peel]

Path functions are already provided by Windows and defined in SHLWAPI.INC > PathXX functions (particularly PathRelativePathTo)

[Michael Mattias]

>Path functions are already provided by Windows

Duh, how about this one...

PathResolve Function

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Converts a relative or unqualified path name to a fully-qualified path name.

Sounds pretty close to what I wanted, huh?

[George Bleck]

This do what you need?

#INCLUDE "win32api.inc"
 
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------(')
 
FUNCTION RealPath( strSource AS STRING ) AS STRING
 LOCAL strTargetEES AS STRING
 LOCAL strTargetGFMN AS STRING
 LOCAL lngReturnedLen AS LONG
 LOCAL strBuffer AS STRING
 LOCAL pFilePart AS DWORD
 ' Expand any environment strings first
 strTargetEES = SPACE$( %MAX_PATH + 1 )
 lngReturnedLen = EXPANDENVIRONMENTSTRINGS( BYCOPY strSource, BYVAL STRPTR( strTargetEES ), LEN( strTargetEES ))
 ' did EES work?
 IF lngReturnedLen THEN
  ' Expand to a full path
  strTargetEES = LEFT$( strTargetEES, lngReturnedLen - 1 )
  strBuffer = SPACE$( %MAX_PATH + 1 )
  lngReturnedLen = GETFULLPATHNAME( BYCOPY strTargetEES, LEN( strBuffer ), BYVAL STRPTR( strBuffer ), pFilePart )
  ' did GFPN work?
  IF lngReturnedLen THEN
   FUNCTION = LEFT$( strBuffer, lngReturnedLen )
  ELSE
   FUNCTION = "Error on GFPN"
  END IF
 ELSE
  FUNCTION = "Error on EES"
 END IF
END FUNCTION
 
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------(')
 
FUNCTION PBMAIN( )
 MSGBOX RealPath( "%TEMP%" )
 MSGBOX RealPath( "%TEMP%\.." )
 MSGBOX RealPath( "%TEMP%\.." )
END FUNCTION

BTW, an important threading note about GetFullPathName from the MSDN docs (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa364963.aspx)...

Multi-threaded applications and shared library code should should not use the GetFullPathName function. The current directory state written by the SetCurrentDirectory function is stored as a global variable in each process, therefore multi-threaded applications cannot reliably use this value without possible data corruption from other threads that may also be reading or setting this value. This limitation also applies to the SetCurrentDirectory and GetCurrentDirectory functions.

[Michael Mattias]

Here is what I did...

' NEW FUNCTION VERSION 2.1
' Returns: FALSE = NO ERRORS
' TRUE = one or more errors
FUNCTION EditCustPath (szInFileNameExt AS ASCIIZ, cfg() AS CONFIGFileType) AS LONG
' for any config file entry with a custPath column, make that column the new file name
' which is the path specified in the cfg.szPath + szInfileNameExt
' and make sure I can write it.
' How do I allow for relative paths, which I want to convert to absolute full paths?
' GetLongPathName? that just might do it IT DOES NOT BUT Get**FULL**Pathname works good


' I think I will call this with some prompts as a test program.
 LOCAL sz AS ASCIIZ * %MAX_PATH
 LOCAL szFullPath AS ASCIIZ * %MAX_PATH
 LOCAL dwAddr     AS DWORD
 LOCAL iRET AS LONG
 LOCAL iVF  AS LONG
 LOCAL swChar   AS STRING
 LOCAL LE  AS LONG
 LOCAL iCfg AS LONG
 ' GETFULLPATHNAME works perfectly even with multiple nodes!!!
 ' See also PathResolve()
 LOCAL bErr AS LONG  ' set to true as soon as any error occurs
 
 FOR iCfg = LBOUND(cfg,1) TO UBOUND (cfg,1)
      sz  = Cfg(icfg).szPath    ' what was loaded from config file
      STDOUT USING$ ("Checking config File entry # _, Path is '&'", iCfg +1&, sz)
      IF LStrLen(sz)  THEN      ' if one was found
        ' get the fully-qualified name, we need that for multiple purposes
      ' Is it a valid folder?
        RESET    szFullPath
        iRet =   GetFullpathName ( sz, SIZEOF(szFullPath), szFullPath, dwAddr)  ' returns TRUE on success
        LE = getLastError
        IF ISTRUE iREt THEN    ' we got the full name back
          iRet = %ERROR_SUCCESS  ' what we use later
          STDOUT USING$ ("  Fully Qualified Path is '&'", szFullPath)
          ' is this an existing valid folder?
          ivf  =  IsValidFolder (szFullPath)
          IF ISTRUE ivf THEN
               STDOUT "   This is an existing folder"
          ELSE
               STDOUT "   Folder not found; will attempt to create it."
               swChar =  UCODE$(szFullPath) & CHR$(0,0)   ' make sure it's Unicode terminated
               iRet    = ShCreateDirectory (GetDesktopWindow(), BYVAL STRPTR(swChar))  ' returns 0 ERROR_SUCCESS
               IF iRet = %ERROR_SUCCESS THEN
                    STDOUT "   Folder successfully created"
               ELSE
                    STDOUT  USING$("   Could not create folder '&'", szFullPath)
                    STDOUT         "   See STDERR for details"
                    STDERR2 USING$("   Error message is &", SystemErrorMessageText(iRet))
                    bErr        =  %TRUE
               END IF
          END IF
                    
        ELSE
             STDOUT USING$("   Could not get full-qualified path name for '&'", sz)
             STDOUT USING$("   Error message is &", SystemErrorMEssageText(LE))
             bERR        = %TRUE
        END IF
        IF ISFALSE Iret THEN  ' everyting was OK
             ' make the cfg entry = path + Input file name
             cfg(iCfg).szpath =  szFullPath & "\" & szInFileNameExt
             STDOUT USING$ ("   Set Customer file name to '&'", cfg(iCfg).szPath)
        END IF
        
    END IF ' if customer even had a path entry in the config file
    
 NEXT iCfg
 
 ' ** LOGIcAL END OF FUNCTION **
 FUNCTION = bErr

#IF 0
   THIS IS TEST CODE ONLY             ' change cfg entry to be input file
  DO
       STDOUT USING$ ("CURDIR$==>'&'", CURDIR$)   ' does not return trailing slash
       LINE INPUT "Enter cust Path to convert", sz
       IF LEN (sz) THEN

            RESET  szFullPath
            IF ISFALSE IVF THEN
                 s = sz
                 STDOUT USING$("Pathnames for path &", PATHNAME$(PATH, s))



                 STDOUT USING$ ("   Creating folder '&'", s)
                ' sWChar =  UCODE$(s) & CHR$(0,0)

               
                 ' this needs fully-qualified path
                 MKDIR  s   ' fails with multiple nodes.Ok wioth A\DAta as long as A exists.
                 'STDOUT "Create Folder Returns " & SystemErrorMEssageText(iret)
            END IF
       ELSE
            EXIT FUNCTION
       END IF
  LOOP
#ENDIF


END FUNCTION

Probably more than you wanted to know, but hey, what the heck.

MCM