@FILEOPEN with W(rite) empties file!

May 20, 2008
12,178
133
Syracuse, NY, USA
Maybe everyone else knew that but I didn't. I just lost a good one testing
Code:
SET h=%@FILEOPEN[%0,w,t]
as a means of preventing another instance of TCC from running a BTM.

I know the behavior isn't going to change since it has been around since shortly after the big bang (at least back to 4NTv8). But isn't it a bit harsh?

The help says "To open a file for both reading and writing, open it in append mode". But what if I don't want to read ... I only want to write, say change one character at a known location.

As it is, @FILEOPEN's distinction between "write" and "append" is not what most would expect it to be.

I doubt it would have helped me but the help should say LOUDLY that the W(rite) option causes the file to be emptied.
 
May 20, 2008
12,178
133
Syracuse, NY, USA
This is normal Windows behavior (not TCC-specific). If you open a file for write, it gets truncated. That goes way back to MS-DOS.
That's the (unfortunate) behavior of the CRT (if you use L"w" or L"w+". You can do better. This doesn't destroy the contents of the file.
Code:
HANDLE hFile = CreateFile(L"v:\\hello.txt", GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_ALWAYS, 0, NULL);
CloseHandle(hFile);
 
May 20, 2008
12,178
133
Syracuse, NY, USA
99.9% of the time, when you specify a "w" you want to overwrite any existing file. Your approach would make that impossible, and you'd end up with a new file composed of some new content and some old content.
I guess you're right there, since I apparently just discovered the behavior after 20+ years with 4DOS, 4NT, and TCC. I'm just cranky because I have to re-write a BTM. A newbie not familiar with C's mode characters might make the same mistake. It should be made clearer in the help.
 
Jun 2, 2008
407
3
Newton, MA
I'm just cranky because I have to re-write a BTM.

What, you hadn't backed up that file?! Even though I have cloud backup (and regular backup to external disk), I still have CascadePoint running for just such situations. You presumably had to save the file to test-run it, so CP would have saved it (along with previous versions).

-- Jay
 
Jan 19, 2011
614
15
Norman, OK
The download links for the legacy CascadePoint (32 and 64bit) are at page https://jpsoft.com/cascadepointdes.html. However, the download links point the FTP server which does not accept anonymous connections (requires a login and password.)