misho

I have a few preset files I need to write from a standalone Max app to the user's shared folder - C:/Users/Public/ on Windows and Macintosh HD:/Users/Shared/ on Mac. I could hard-code these paths, but I see some risks here. For example - what if the user's shared folder is on a different drive (D:/ instead of C:/), or perhaps different language settings throw the whole thing off?...

The application will be installed into Program Files (Win) and Applications (Mac) folders so using (path)->[thispatcher] isn't really an option.

Is there a way of finding out the location of the user's Shared folder on application launch so that I can reliably read / write files there?

I have a few preset files I need to write from a standalone Max app to the user's shared folder - C:/Users/Public/ on Windows and Macintosh HD:/Users/Shared/ on Mac.  I could hard-code these paths, but I see some risks here.  For example - what if the user's shared folder is on a different drive (D:/ instead of C:/), or perhaps different language settings throw the whole thing off?...  

The application will be installed into Program Files (Win) and Applications (Mac) folders so using (path)->[thispatcher] isn't really an option.  

Is there a way of finding out the location of the user's Shared folder on application launch so that I can reliably read / write files there?  

writing-files-to-shared-user-folders-on-windows-and-mac

Allllrighty!.... After some digging i found out a few things, hopefully these help anyone with a similar question:

- Writing to "C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Documents/" or "Macintosh HD:/Users/Shared/" was NOT affected by OS language selection. Had to sit through a 20min XPSP3 French install to verify o.O... Mac of course much quicker : ). I even changed the name of the Documents folder in Win Explorer and it still wrote the file fine... great!

- On Windows, to determine if drive letter is other than C:/... I can pull (path)->[thispatcher], strip out the first three characters and adjust read / write locations in patch as needed.

- Shared folders are stored in different location in XP vs Vista / 7. In XP, Shared folder is C:/Documents & Settings/All Users/. On Vista and 7, it's C:/Users/Public. Since Max does not report operating system version (other than windows or mac), I'll have to check which of the two folders exists by passing them into [absolutepath] and look for "notfound", then read / write presets from the patch accordingly.

I'm sure there's probably a more elegant way to do this but hopefully this should cover all bases!

- Writing to "C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Documents/" or "Macintosh HD:/Users/Shared/" was NOT affected by OS language selection.  Had to sit through a 20min XPSP3 French install to verify o.O... Mac of course much quicker : ).  I even changed the name of the Documents folder in Win Explorer and it still wrote the file fine... great!

- Shared folders are stored in different location in XP vs Vista / 7.  In XP, Shared folder is C:/Documents & Settings/All Users/.  On Vista and 7, it's C:/Users/Public.  Since Max does not report operating system version (other than windows or mac), I'll have to check which of the two folders exists by passing them into [absolutepath] and look for "notfound", then read / write presets from the patch accordingly.

I'm sure there's probably a more elegant way to do this but hopefully this should cover all bases!


writing files to shared user folders on windows and mac