ToolsFso module

Helps with path names and folders: it completes a relative path with the folder of the program, tidies the slashes of a path, creates the missing folders of a path, and builds a new file name from an old one. It keeps one Scripting.FileSystemObject, Inst, for its own use and for a program to use.

Debug.Print ToolsFso.ClearSpan("C:/data//a", True)
Debug.Print ToolsFso.AutoCompleteFullPath("C:\data\\a.json", True)
Debug.Print ToolsFso.MakeNewFileFulPath("C:\data\a.json", "old")
' Output:
' C:\data\a
' C:\data\a.json
' a_old.json

cJson uses AutoCompleteFullPath and AutoMakeDir to find and prepare the file for its SaveTo, and cCsv uses AutoMakeDir.

Members
See Also

Members

AutoCompleteFullPath

Completes a relative path with the folder of the program and tidies its slashes.

Syntax: ToolsFso.AutoCompleteFullPath ( Path [ , IsFile ] ) As String

Path: required A String, a path. It is passed by reference and is not changed.
IsFile: optional A Boolean, False by default. Set it to True when Path names a file. When it is False, the result ends with a backslash, as the path of a folder does.

If Path does not contain the two characters :\ anywhere, it is taken to be relative: App.Path, a backslash and Path are joined, and the result goes through ClearSpan. A path that contains :\ goes through ClearSpan alone. In a debug run, App.Path is the folder of the project.

Note

Only :\ marks a path as complete. A path with a drive letter written with forward slashes, such as C:/data/a.json, and a network path such as \\server\share\a.json do not contain it, so they are given the folder of the program in front of them and come out wrong.

AutoMakeDir

Creates the missing folders of a path and returns the path of the folder.

Syntax: ToolsFso.AutoMakeDir ( Path [ , IsFile ] ) As String

Path: required A String, a folder path, or a file path when IsFile is True. It is used as written: a relative path is relative to the current folder of the program, and is not completed with App.Path.
IsFile: optional A Boolean, False by default. When it is True, Path names a file, and the folders that are created are those of its parent folder. When it is False, the whole of Path is taken to be a folder.

All the folders of the path that do not exist are created, by the Windows function MakeSureDirectoryPathExists. The function returns the path of the folder after ClearSpan, so it ends with a backslash. The result of the Windows function is not tested: if a folder cannot be created, no error is raised. That function takes ANSI text, so a folder name that has characters outside the system code page is not created as written.

Warning

With IsFile left at False, the last name of the path becomes a folder: AutoMakeDir("C:\data\log.txt") creates a folder named log.txt. Pass True for a file. cCsv.SaveTo calls the function without it.

Dim Base As String
Base = Environ$("TEMP") & "\tbmanlib-docs-fso"

Debug.Print ToolsFso.AutoMakeDir(Base & "\a\b\file.txt", True) = Base & "\a\b\"
Debug.Print Dir(Base & "\a\b", vbDirectory) = "b"

RmDir Base & "\a\b"
RmDir Base & "\a"
RmDir Base
' Output:
' True
' True

ClearSpan

Replaces the slashes of a path with single backslashes.

Syntax: ToolsFso.ClearSpan ( Path [ , IsFile ] ) As String

Path: required A String, a path. It is passed by reference and is not changed.
IsFile: optional A Boolean, False by default. When it is False, a backslash is added at the end of Path first.

The function makes four replacements, one after the other, on the whole string: each pair of backslashes becomes one, each pair of forward slashes becomes one backslash, each backslash followed by a forward slash becomes one backslash, and each remaining forward slash becomes a backslash. Each replacement is made once, from left to right, so a run of four backslashes becomes two, not one. A network path loses one of the two backslashes at its start.

Inst

The Scripting.FileSystemObject that the module uses. A field, declared Public Inst As New Scripting.FileSystemObject, created the first time it is used. It is shared by every caller.

MakeNewFileFulPath

Builds a file name from a file name and a suffix.

Syntax: ToolsFso.MakeNewFileFulPath ( FileSrc , AppendFix [ , JoinStr ] ) As String

FileSrc: required A String, a file path. The file need not exist.
AppendFix: required A String, the text to add after the base name of the file.
JoinStr: optional A String, _ by default. It is placed between the base name and AppendFix.

Returns the base name of FileSrc, then JoinStr, then AppendFix, a period and the extension of FileSrc: MakeNewFileFulPath("C:\data\a.json", "old") returns a_old.json.

Note

Despite the word FulPath in the name, the result holds no folder. The function reads the folder of FileSrc and does not use it. Join the result to the folder with &. A file name with no extension gives a result that ends with a period.

Test

A procedure of the author’s own tests. It writes the names of the files and folders under D:\code\_html\easyweb\spa-3.1.8 to the Debug Console, and raises an error on a computer that has no such folder. A program has no use for it.