danieleghisi

locatefile_extended() works well to locate files in the search path, but I need to locate a *folder* in the search path. Does anybody know how to do that? Without really knowing what's inside the folder...

locatefolder

If I understand you correctly you want to locate a folder in the search path.

I assume you know the name of that folder and obviously you know the search path.

Basically the function you need to start the process is:

That will return a path ID that you will feed to:

This function will return a "folder state" structure that you should save and use to

enumerate all the folders in the directory (the search path) with:

That will provide you with the name of each folder in the directory.

You will need to compare every name with the specific folder's name you are looking for.

I recommend you check out the ext_path.h file and the folder.c example in the Max/MSP SDK 6.1.4.

All the information you really need is there.

If I understand you correctly you want to locate a folder in the search path.
I assume you know the name of that folder and obviously you know the search path.

This function will return a "folder state" structure that you should save and use to
enumerate all the folders in the directory (the search path) with:

That will provide you with the name of each folder in the directory.
You will need to compare every name with the specific folder's name you are looking for.

I recommend you check out the ext_path.h file and the folder.c example in the Max/MSP SDK 6.1.4.
All the information you really need is there.

thanks a lot for replying. I'm not sure I got your hints – I mean, I'm not sure that's what I need, or maybe I just can't see it.

I need the user to enter "foo", and if "foo" is somewhere inside the search path, the folder "/my/path/to/foo" will be returned.

The fact is that path_frompathname() on "foo" simply returns 0, and that's all. If "foo" were a file (say "foo.bar"), even if path_frompathname() is 0 I'd easily call locatefile_extended() to get path, name and type. However, since "foo" is a folder, I really don't know how to do that. I'm surely missing some important point in your answer... Can you maybe clarify a little?

Also, I'm pretty sure I don't know how to retrieve the whole search path (I just know how to retrieve the default one via path_getdefault()); if I knew that, I might traverse it entirely to look for the folder (although I was really hoping in an undocumented but perfectly working locatefolder() function ;-)

I need the user to enter "foo", and if "foo" is somewhere inside the search path, the folder "/my/path/to/foo" will be returned.
The fact is that path_frompathname() on "foo" simply returns 0, and that's all. If "foo" were a file (say "foo.bar"), even if path_frompathname() is 0 I'd easily call locatefile_extended() to get path, name and type. However, since "foo" is a folder, I really don't know how to do that. I'm surely missing some important point in your answer... Can you maybe clarify a little?

Sorry Daniele... my bad. I got confused by the way your question is worded.

You can actually use locatefile_extended() to locate folders as well.

void locatefolder(t_symbol *foldername)
{
    char name[MAX_FILENAME_CHARS];
    short path;
    t_fourcc type;
    
    strncpy_zero(name, foldername->s_name, MAX_FILENAME_CHARS);
    if (locatefile_extended(name, &path, &type, NULL, 0)) {
        error("folder %s not found", name);
    } else {
        post("folder %s, path %d", name, path);
    }
}


If you need to convert it to a fully qualified path:

char pathname[MAX_PATH_CHARS];
short err;

err = path_topathname(path, name, pathname);


Sorry Daniele... my bad. I got confused by the way your question is worded.
You can actually use locatefile_extended() to locate folders as well.

Oh gosh, I was really under the impression that the locatefile function only worked for files... And I thought I even tested that.

I must have gotten confused; indeed as you say they work great for folders as well.

Thanks a lot, Luigi, and sorry for the trivial question.

Oh gosh, I was really under the impression that the locatefile function only worked for files... And I thought I even tested that.
I must have gotten confused; indeed as you say they work great for folders as well.

Thanks a lot, Luigi, and sorry for the trivial question.
Hope you're fine!

locatefolder?