Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!pasteur!dog.ee.lbl.gov!csa2.lbl.gov!eastman From: eastman@csa2.lbl.gov (JACK EASTMAN) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Standard File and Working directories... Message-ID: <14699@dog.ee.lbl.gov> Date: 26 Jun 91 17:27:53 GMT References: <1991Jun26.084825.9019@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> Reply-To: eastman@csa2.lbl.gov Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA Lines: 29 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4 X-Local-Date: Wed, 26 Jun 91 09:37:45 PDT In article <1991Jun26.084825.9019@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>, llama@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Joe Francis) writes... >chuck@brain.UUCP (Chuck Shotton) writes: > >>Given the raft of Tech Notes on the subject, and the general noise concerning >>them, I get the impression that Working Directories have fallen from grace. >>Do they serve a purpose anymore? Why would I ever use one? (This IS a serious >>question.) > >In answer to why would you ever use one... > >Before there were the new high level file manager calls (doc'd in a tech >note, then put in IM VI), the only way I know of to take a Volume Name, >Dir ID, and File Name and manage to open that file is to open a working >directory. I would LOVE to be proven wrong on this, so please post any >alternatives (given the above assumptions). > Let us also not forget tech note #140, "Why PBHSetVol is Dangerous", wherein we learn that using _HSetVol to change the default directory is a no-no. If you want to change the default directory to a given vRefNum+dirID, and you want to be compatible with all post-HFS systems, you have to compose a working directory and pass it to PBSetVol instead. I presume the bad behavior has been fixed in some more recent version of the System, but I haven't seen a revised TN 140 that tells me so. Am I wrong? Jack Eastman Berkeley Systems, Inc. eastman@lbl.gov