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Folder utilities

Dudi Avramov

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31 Jan 2005

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Folder utilities such as creating, removing, copying folders and getting folder's space.

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Introduction

The CreateDirectory WIN32 API lets us create a folder. However, this function will succeed only if the parent folder exists. For example, creating a folder C:\AA\BB\CC\DD succeeds only if the parent folder C:\AA\BB\CC exists. Thus, CFolderUtils::CreateFolder solves that problem by creating the parent folders and then the specified folder itself.

The DeleteDirectory WIN32 API will fail to delete a folder as long there are sub-folders for that one. Thus, CFolderUtils::RemoveFolder solves that problem by removing recursively the sub-folders and after that the specified folder.

CFolderUtils::GetSpace recursively calculates a folder size.

CFolderUtils::CopyFolder uses SHFileOperation for copying a folder along with its sub-folders.

Whole four functions are implemented in FolderUtils.h as static functions to CFolderUtils.

Example

#include "FolderUtils.h"
void main()
{
    CFolderUtils::CreateFolder("C:\\AA\\BB\\CC\\DD");
    int Size = CFolderUtils::GetSize("C:\\AA");
}

History

1-Feb-2005 - Fixed a bug in CreateFolder function.
2-Feb-2005 - Fixed a bug in GetSpace that discarded folders that begin with "." and add a UNICODE support in RemoveFolder.

License

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Written By

Dudi Avramov

Web Developer

Israel

This member has not yet provided a Biography. Assume it's interesting and varied, and probably something to do with programming.

Comments and Discussions

What about '/' ?

jolindien17-Oct-07 23:33

17-Oct-07 23:33

Maybe it could be usefull to change :
while (*p != '\\')
to
while (*p != '\\' && *p != '/')
to be able to process paths with '/'.

Good class tho, very very usefull Smile | :)

Smile | :)

.

Re: What about '/' ?

jolindien18-Oct-07 0:02

18-Oct-07 0:02

And i also suggest a i=0; in the code below to avoid a 10 sub-directories limitation, but keeping your 10 times for :

<br />
// Try 10 times to create the directory<br />
		for (int i=0;i<10;i++)<br />
		{<br />
			BOOL bOK = CreateDirectory(szFolder, NULL);<br />
			DWORD dwLastError = GetLastError();<br />
			if (!bOK && dwLastError == ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND)<br />
			{<br />
				while (*p != '\\' && *p != '/')<br />
				{<br />
					if (p == pStart)<br />
						return FALSE;<br />
					p--;<br />
				}<br />
				*p = NULL;<br />
<br />
				i=0;<br />
			}<br />
			else if (bOK || (ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS == dwLastError))<br />
			{<br />
				if (p == pEnd)<br />
					return TRUE;<br />
<br />
				*p = '\\';<br />
				while (*p)<br />
					p++;<br />
<br />
				i=0;<br />
			}<br />
			else<br />
				break;<br />
		}<br />

flippydeflippydebop2-Aug-07 9:53

flippydeflippydebop

2-Aug-07 9:53

... Just what i was looking for. You save me some time.

Thanks. ive given you a 5.

CopyFolder() Uses Literals - CString vars won't work?

alan937-Feb-07 8:17

7-Feb-07 8:17

if you have your paths stored in CStrings then what?

I tried GetBuffer but() it still didn't work.

Re: CopyFolder() Uses Literals - CString vars won't work?

Dudi Avramov7-Feb-07 22:32

7-Feb-07 22:32

I don't understand your question.

Re: CopyFolder() Uses Literals - CString vars won't work?

alan938-Feb-07 1:59

8-Feb-07 1:59

I meant the CopyFolder() which uses SHFileOperation() requires LPCTSTR params for the From and To. If my paths were assigned to CString vars how would one pass this to the CopyFolder() so it would work?

At first I tried csPath.GetBuffer() trying to convert CString to LBCTSTR but then realized that it could be passes as char * BUT it needs a NULL termination which I neglected at first.

Re: CopyFolder() Uses Literals - CString vars won't work?

Dudi Avramov10-Feb-07 22:14

10-Feb-07 22:14

You can pass CString object as a parameter that get LPCTSTR since CString has this operator. (There is no need to call .GetBuffer method).

Will it work for Poket PCs with Windows CE 5.0?

MaheshKalose10-Nov-06 21:18

10-Nov-06 21:18

hi
I tried this code for Pocket PCs with windows CE 5.0 OS. I got ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED error when tried Directory copy.
Can I use SHFileOperation function in WinCE?
Also suggest the format for pFromFolder and pToFolder arguments passed to CopyFolder function.

Smile | :)

Smile | :)

-mahesh

Vladmorosan23-Mar-06 20:33

23-Mar-06 20:33

I put this line: #include <tchar.h> in your <folderutils.h> file. Work fine.

not bad, but...

S.Cartwright8-May-05 21:09

8-May-05 21:09

not bad, but I didn't like the for loop in CreateFolder.
Try this slight improvment - comments welcome

<br />
<br />
BOOL CreateFolderFromDirectory(LPCTSTR lpszdirectory)<br />
{<br />
 // recursively try to create the directory<br />
 if( CreateDirectory(lpszdirectory, NULL) == TRUE )<br />
 {<br />
   return TRUE;<br />
 }<br />
<br />
 switch( GetLastError() )<br />
 {<br />
   case ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND:<br />
   {<br />
     // get the parent directory<br />
     TCHAR szParent[MAX_PATH];<br />
     memset((void*)szParent, 0, sizeof(szParent));<br />
     TCHAR* pLast = _tcsrchr(lpszdirectory, _T('\\'));<br />
     if(!pLast)<br />
       return FALSE;<br />
     // no need to account for TCHAR differences here<br />
     int dirlen = (pLast - lpszdirectory);<br />
     if(dirlen <= 0)<br />
       return FALSE;<br />
     _tcsncpy(szParent, lpszdirectory, dirlen);<br />
     if(CreateFolderFromDirectory(szParent) == TRUE)<br />
     {<br />
       // if we could create the parent dir, then go ahead and<br />
       // try to create the input directory again<br />
       return CreateDirectory(lpszdirectory, NULL);<br />
     }<br />
     break;<br />
   }<br />
   case ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS:<br />
     return TRUE;<br />
   default:<br />
     return FALSE;<br />
   }<br />
   return FALSE;<br />
}<br />
<br />
BOOL CreateFolderFromPath(LPCTSTR lpszpath)<br />
{<br />
  TCHAR szDirectory[MAX_PATH];<br />
  memset((void*)szDirectory, 0, sizeof(szDirectory));<br />
<br />
  TCHAR* pLast = _tcsrchr(lpszpath, _T('\\'));<br />
  if(!pLast)<br />
    return FALSE;<br />
<br />
  // no need to account for TCHAR differences here<br />
  int dirlen = (pLast - lpszpath);<br />
  if(dirlen <= 0)<br />
    return FALSE;<br />
	<br />
  _tcsncpy(szDirectory, lpszpath, dirlen);<br />
  return CreateFolderFromDirectory(szDirectory);<br />
}<br />

Re: not bad, but...

Dudi Avramov9-May-05 21:51

9-May-05 21:51

The idea was to avoid recursion calls.

Some issues that need to be addressed

.:floyd:.1-Feb-05 15:36

1-Feb-05 15:36

In addition to the potential overflow in GetSpace mentioned in another comment, there are a few issues with your source code that need to be addressed:

UNICODE: Although most parts of the code can be compiled to UNICODE, there are a few glitches. In RemoveFolder the string literals "." and ".." aren't wrapped in respective _T() macros. Same goes for all character literals in CreateFolder and GetSpace.

GetSpace fails on directories starting with a "." (like .x, which is a valid directory name). Less obvious, GetSpace is a naive implementation that ignores quite a few situations that do exist. For further information on this, follow this link[^].

GetSpace and RemoveFolder fail when left with an infinitely recursive directory structure. More information on this can be found here[^].

.f

Re: Some issues that need to be addressed

Dudi Avramov1-Feb-05 20:44

1-Feb-05 20:44

Thanks for you comments.
An updated code has been posted regrading to the string literals "." and ".." in RemoveFolder and regarding to directories starting with a "." .
As for the issues discussed in the links that you mentioned, i will check it later on.

Dudi

Don Clugston24-Jan-05 19:53

24-Jan-05 19:53

Please add a line to your article stating whether your code uses MFC or is purely built on the Win32 API.

Re: Dependencies?

russeller23-Nov-05 10:15

23-Nov-05 10:15

Does not require MFC.

Sudhir Mangla24-Jan-05 18:01

24-Jan-05 18:01

usefull code

Sudhir Mangla

http://Programmerworld.net

(Free books , articles , Source Code and Programming Tools and Utilities)

You should reconsider some methods...

Markus Hlacer24-Jan-05 4:28

24-Jan-05 4:28

Dear Dudi,

maybe you should reconsider some of your methods Wink | ;)

Wink | ;)

:

For example the method GetSize returns an just a DWORD.
But DWORD is defined as unsigned long. This means you have just
4 bytes wit a range of values from 0 to 4,294,967,295 for holding
the size of a hole directory???
My smallest hardisk is 10 times bigger, so there are many directories
which contains more than 4GB...

Best regards,
Markus Hlacer
OMG | :OMG:

OMG | :OMG:

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