zipb

I need to convert back and forth between max style pathnames and real Unix paths.

This has always been an incredible pain in the behind.

I searched the archives but the MXJ solution I found is a bit above my head/immediately froze Max.

Is there an easier way to convert between the 2 styles without resorting to MXJ?

UNIX (the shell object) doesn't like the G5: (diskname) part nor spaces in pathnames. Escaping with doesn't seem to work.

Yes, I tried absolutepath/relativepath etc.

It would be great if there was no difference for the user between UNIX and Max paths

Also, relative and absolute paths in Max are rather messy.

I need to convert back and forth between max style pathnames and real Unix paths.
This has always been an incredible pain in the behind.

UNIX (the shell object) doesn't like the G5: (diskname) part nor spaces in pathnames. Escaping with  doesn't seem to work.

It would be great if there was no difference for the user between UNIX and Max paths 

Also, relative and absolute paths in Max are rather messy.


path-conversion-troubles

maybe not what you are looking for, cause it's java, but the class 

below always worked well for me. if you want, give it a try,

public class vConformPath extends MaxObject

    declareInlets(new int[] { DataTypes.ALL });

    declareOutlets(new int[] { DataTypes.ALL });

    // convert max-style path to unix-style

    public void maxToUnix(String p) {

        ppath = MaxSystem.maxPathToNativePath(p);    //pretty straight forward

        System.out.println(ppath);

    // convert unix-style to max-style path (not so easy, if path is on 

    public void unixToMax(String p) {

        ppath = testForPartition(p);

    public String testForPartition(String p) {

        int idx = p.indexOf("/Volumes");

        if(idx == -1)        //not an external partition path

            return MaxSystem.nameConform(p, MaxSystem.PATH_STYLE_MAX, 

        idx = p.indexOf("/", 9);        //9 is the first char after "/Volumes/";

        partition = p.substring(9,idx);

        path = p.substring(9 + partition.length());

        return new String(partition+":"+path);

maybe not what you are looking for, cause it's java, but the class  
below always worked well for me. if you want, give it a try,
send a message [maxToUnix myMaxPath]
resp.  [unixToMax myUnixPath]
hth.
volker.

public class vConformPath extends MaxObject
{
	String ppath;

     vConformPath () {
	declareInlets(new int[] { DataTypes.ALL });
	declareOutlets(new int[] { DataTypes.ALL });
     }

	// convert max-style path to unix-style
	public void maxToUnix(String p) {
		ppath = MaxSystem.maxPathToNativePath(p);	//pretty straight forward
		outlet(0, ppath);
		System.out.println(ppath);
	}

	// convert unix-style to max-style path (not so easy, if path is on  
a partition)
	public void unixToMax(String p) {
		ppath = testForPartition(p);
		outlet(0, ppath);
		System.out.println(ppath);
	}

	public String testForPartition(String p) {
		String partition = null;
		String path = null;
		int idx = p.indexOf("/Volumes");
		if(idx == -1)		//not an external partition path
			return MaxSystem.nameConform(p, MaxSystem.PATH_STYLE_MAX,  
MaxSystem.PATH_TYPE_ABSOLUTE);
		idx = p.indexOf("/", 9);		//9 is the first char after "/Volumes/";
		partition = p.substring(9,idx);
		path = p.substring(9 + partition.length());
		return new String(partition+":"+path);

Look into conformpath, part of the standard distri...

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         Stefan Tiedje
         Klanggestalter
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Phone at CCMIX +33-1-57 42 91 09


On 03 May 2006, at 07:46, Stefan Tiedje wrote:

>> Is there an easier way to convert between the 2 styles without

> Look into conformpath, part of the standard distri...

the request was about max/unix-style conversion. conformpath can't 

> Zip Boterbloem wrote:
>> Is there an easier way to convert between the 2 styles without
>> resorting to MXJ?
>
> Look into conformpath, part of the standard distri...

  the request was about max/unix-style conversion. conformpath can't  
handle that.
v


>> Look into conformpath, part of the standard distri...

> the request was about max/unix-style conversion. conformpath can't 

what is missing with output type "boot" and style "slash"?

I am not the expert for Unix styl paths, but looking at the help file 

for shell, conform path seems at least be able to get most of the work 

vb wrote:
>> Look into conformpath, part of the standard distri...
>
>
>  the request was about max/unix-style conversion. conformpath can't  
> handle that.

what is missing with output type "boot" and style "slash"?
I am not the expert for Unix styl paths, but looking at the help file 
for shell, conform path seems at least be able to get most of the work 
done...

I tried conformpath, but it doesn't resolve disknames(volumes, in 

Unix). It just replaces the pathseparators.

I tried conformpath, but it doesn't resolve disknames(volumes, in  
Unix). It just replaces the pathseparators.

Zip Boterbloem
Media Mechanics
Zwaluwstraat 54
2025 VR  Haarlem
The Netherlands
+31627014758
zip@knoware.nl


Hm. Outputstyle boot seems to do the trick.. Nice. I'll do some more 

Hm. Outputstyle boot seems to do the trick.. Nice. I'll do some more  
tests.

Thanks, vb. I did some reading up on MXJ last night & your example came in really handy. Thanks!

On 03 May 2006, at 10:47, Stefan Tiedje wrote:

>>> Look into conformpath, part of the standard distri...

>> the request was about max/unix-style conversion. conformpath 

> what is missing with output type "boot" and style "slash"?

as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and folders 

with other discs or partitions you get the dreaded :/ again.

> vb wrote:
>>> Look into conformpath, part of the standard distri...
>>  the request was about max/unix-style conversion. conformpath  
>> can't  handle that.
>
> what is missing with output type "boot" and style "slash"?

as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and folders  
on the boot volume.
with other discs or partitions you get the dreaded :/ again.

> as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and folders 

> with other discs or partitions you get the dreaded :/ again.

Can be handled with a regular expression, mapping "name:/" to "/ 

Volumes/name/" from the output o the boot mode. In future versions we 

may support an OS X native file string (note that /Volumes/ is not 

> as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and folders  
> on the boot volume.
> with other discs or partitions you get the dreaded :/ again.

Can be handled with a regular expression, mapping "name:/" to "/ 
Volumes/name/" from the output o the boot mode. In future versions we  
may support an OS X native file string (note that /Volumes/ is not  
unix standard, but OS X specific).

On 03 May 2006, at 18:10, Joshua Kit Clayton wrote:

>> as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and 

>> with other discs or partitions you get the dreaded :/ again.

> Can be handled with a regular expression, mapping "name:/" to "/ 

> Volumes/name/" from the output o the boot mode.

yes, that's exactly what the java snippet i posted earlier is doing 

(actually based on an example by topher).

>
> On May 3, 2006, at 5:52 PM, vb wrote:
>
>> as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and  
>> folders on the boot volume.
>> with other discs or partitions you get the dreaded :/ again.
>
> Can be handled with a regular expression, mapping "name:/" to "/ 
> Volumes/name/" from the output o the boot mode.
yes, that's exactly what the java snippet i posted earlier is doing  
(actually based on an example by topher).


> as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and folders on 

yes, but for solving problems we use Max...

A solution called "JavaAvoidingConformUnixPath"

Give it a test, I have no second partition on my Powerbook....

vb wrote:
> as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and folders  on 
> the boot volume.
> with other discs or partitions you get the dreaded :/ again.

yes, but for solving problems we use Max...
A solution called "JavaAvoidingConformUnixPath"

On 4 mai 06, at 07:55, Stefan Tiedje wrote:

> yes, but for solving problems we use Max...

> A solution called "JavaAvoidingConformUnixPath"

You may have problems with spaces. I know it's just you made you 

never put spaces in your filenames :-) You can fix that easly while 

adding the symout argument to the sprintf obect (this is quite 

The version bellow uses quite human readable regular expression.

> vb wrote:
>> as zip pointed out, this works correctly only for files and  
>> folders  on the boot volume.
>> with other discs or partitions you get the dreaded :/ again.
>
> yes, but for solving problems we use Max...
> A solution called "JavaAvoidingConformUnixPath"

You may have problems with spaces. I know it's just you made you  
never put spaces in your filenames :-) You can fix that easly while  
adding the symout argument to the sprintf obect (this is quite  
recent, an documented).

> Can be handled with a regular expression, mapping "name:/" to

> "/Volumes/name/" from the output o the boot mode. In future versions we

> may support an OS X native file string (note that /Volumes/ is not unix

To be fair, "volume:/path" is much further from a Unix standard. The

unix standard is that volumes are mounted in some subdirectory of the

root filesystem. On OS X this happens to default to /Volumes, but

regardless of where a file system is mounted, its unix path should look

The thing that bothers me the most is that many objects (such as

jit.qt.movie) don't even understand the /Volumes path. The files are

there on the filesystem under /Volumes... Why can't I send jit.qt.movie

"read /Volumes/myvolume/file" instead of "read myvolume:/file"?

At any rate, the feature will be greatly appreciated if/when it is added.

Joshua Kit Clayton wrote:
> Can be handled with a regular expression, mapping "name:/" to
> "/Volumes/name/" from the output o the boot mode. In future versions we
> may support an OS X native file string (note that /Volumes/ is not unix
> standard, but OS X specific).

To be fair, "volume:/path" is much further from a Unix standard.  The
unix standard is that volumes are mounted in some subdirectory of the
root filesystem.  On OS X this happens to default to /Volumes, but
regardless of where a file system is mounted, its unix path should look
like "/path/to/somevolume".

The thing that bothers me the most is that many objects (such as
jit.qt.movie) don't even understand the /Volumes path.  The files are
there on the filesystem under /Volumes...  Why can't I send jit.qt.movie
"read /Volumes/myvolume/file" instead of "read myvolume:/file"?

> "read /Volumes/myvolume/file" instead of "read myvolume:/file"?

For all I know, the former might well work (even on Windows if you've 

only got one device), but the idea behind the whole conformpath thing 

(volume:path) is portability: a common designation and syntax for 

(multiple) volumes and files which makes sense both for Mac and Windows.

There's a pile of conversion machinery in MXJ, and of course 

[conformpath] in the Max world; it's irritating to have to deal with 

the stuff, but difficult to avoid if you want portable code.

nick rothwell -- composition, systems, performance -- 

> Why can't I send jit.qt.movie
> "read /Volumes/myvolume/file" instead of "read myvolume:/file"?

For all I know, the former might well work (even on Windows if you've  
only got one device), but the idea behind the whole conformpath thing  
(volume:path) is portability: a common designation and syntax for  
(multiple) volumes and files which makes sense both for Mac and Windows.

There's a pile of conversion machinery in MXJ, and of course  
[conformpath] in the Max world; it's irritating to have to deal with  
the stuff, but difficult to avoid if you want portable code.

   nick rothwell -- composition, systems, performance -- http:// 
www.cassiel.com


path conversion troubles