Re: DIR-reading problems

[John Negus jxz@xxxxxxxx]

Further to the problems Xy - in association with Windows - can have with long file and directory
names, what look to be short names can actually be long names. I'm not sure of the exact details
but if you create a folder or file in Windows 98 (at least), it's likely to be recorded on the disk
as a long name, whatever its actual length. The decider may be the case of the characters you
enter. Entering it as all capitals gives the highest chance of it being a long name while any
lower-case character in the name will almost certainly make it a long name.

Also, I suspect, but haven't verified, that a copy operation under Windows is capable of
transforming a short name to a long one.

Xy isn't the only software which is troubled by this. MonsterSoft's own `Label' program in its Dos
6, which is supposed to read and write disk volume names, is unable to do either if there is a long
name in the directory. The reason being Windows' stealing of attributes which originally had
specific meanings. As Patricia said, every long name is, by its attributes, also read-only, a
system file, a hidden file, a volume name - you name it. Programs which relied on the old rules
being respected can, under the new regime, find themselves hung.

(The version of a name Windows displays is not necessarily a guide to what's actually on disk: by
default it converts an all-caps Dos name to initial cap, rest lower case, though there's an option
somewhere (in Folder: | View | Folder Options) to alter this.)

If you create a folder or file in Dos, it will certainly be a short name and all upper case (except
for accented characters) - Dos can't handle anything else.

John



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