Re: XP -- WOW! Partial 32bit name support?

[cld@xxxxxxxx (Carl Distefano)]

Reply to note from Bill Troop  Sat, 10 Nov 2001
22:32:44 -0500

> Here's something curious. I go into Xy4 under XP to edit a file
> called "index.html." The directory in Xy4 shows "index~1.htm".
> I save it, expecting to have to rename it in Windows. No, I
> don't have to! The file has been saved as "index.html" even
> though the BACKUP file has been saved by Xy4 as index~1.bak.
> Sounds like it's just another example of Dave's great
> programming approach.

It's not Dave or Xy4. It's the NT file system (NTFS), which
generates a unique 8.3 filename to make files with long filenames
(LFNs) accessible to DOS and 16-bit Windows apps. In your example,
"index.html" and "index~1.htm" are two names for the same file. The
file system keeps track of them "transparently".

The procedure used to generate 8.3 filenames from LFNs is described
here:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q101/6/01.asp

An "exception" noted in that article is that an 8.3 filename is not
generated when the NTFS filename contains a space and fewer than 8
characters. The explanation (which I don't understand) is that this
"may cause problems if you attempt to access the file or directory
through a network." The workaround is to rename the file in the 32-
bit environment, substituting an "illegal" character (i.e., one not
permitted in an 8.3 filename) for the space. (The illegal chars are
."/\[]:;=and ,.) If you do that, NTFS will create a legal 8.3 name.

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx
http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/