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While recently working on a project, I needed to create a
series of subdirectories from a user supplied string. These could
be two, three, four or more deep. Of course the MSVC Help files
lived up to their normal level of support. After beating my head
aginst the wall I finally realized I could only create a single
subdirectory at one time. In other words if none of the sub-directories
previously existed then the code CreateDirectory("C:DataTestMondayBackupArchive")
would continually fail.
I finally realized that the function CreateDirectory is only a
wrapper for _mkdir which will only create a single sub-directory
so I would need to recursively call CreateDirectory() several
times. Since there is really no way around this I created a small
subroutine WriteDir() which takes care of all of the work for me.
What are the steps required
creation.
tem one character at a time.
the CStringArray.
order to continue to separate the directories.
**Note** Notice we have to add the final value
of tem to the CString Array since there is NO at the
end of the Directory String
Now we can start creating the directories
directory already exists. If it does then go to the next
item.
CreateDirectory().
see if the full directory actually was created. If it was
then return TRUE, otherwise return FALSE;
From the Example: Original CString =
C:DataTestMondayBackupArchive
CStringArray members [0] = C: [1] = C:Data [2] = C:DataTest [3] = C:DataTestMonday [4] = C:DataTestMondayBackup [5] = C:DataTestMondayBackupArchive Remeber we skipped the first entry. Then we cycled through and created each string independently.
How do we put this to use
Add the files WriteDir.h and WriteDir.cpp to your
project. Add #include "WriteDir.h"
in the cpp file where you are going to call the function.
Set up a test variable: BOOL test; CString someString;
Set someString to a Directory path you need to create (Do
not add a at the end of the string) test = WriteDir(someString);
if test == TRUE SUCCESS if test == FALSE FAILURE
The Source Code
#include "stdafx.h" #include "WriteDir.h"
Setup Internal
Variables
BOOL WriteDirectory(CString dd)
{
HANDLE fFile; // File Handle
WIN32_FIND_DATA fileinfo; // File Information Structure
CStringArray m_arr; // CString Array to hold Directory Structures
BOOL tt; // BOOL used to test if Create Directory was successful
int x1 = 0; // Counter
CString tem = ""; // Temporary CString Object
Before we go to a lot of work. Check to see if the Directory exists
fFile = FindFirstFile(dd,&fileinfo);
// if the file exists and it is a directory
if(fileinfo.dwFileAttributes == FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
{
// Directory Exists close file and return
FindClose(fFile);
return TRUE;
}
m_arr.RemoveAll(); // Not really necessary - Just habit
Separate the String into its compounded components
for(x1 = 0; x1 < dd.GetLength(); x1++ ) // Parse the supplied CString Directory String
{
if(dd.GetAt(x1) != '\') // if the Charachter is not a
tem += dd.GetAt(x1); // add the character to the Temp String
else
{
m_arr.Add(tem); // if the Character is a
Add the Temp String to the CString Array
tem += "\"; // Now add the to the temp string
}
if(x1 == dd.GetLength()-1) // If we reached the end of the String
add the remaining string
m_arr.Add(tem);
}
// Close the file
FindClose(fFile);
Create each level of the Directory Structure
// Now lets cycle through the String Array and create each directory in turn
for(x1 = 1; x1 < m_arr.GetSize(); x1++)
{
tem = m_arr.GetAt(x1);
tt = CreateDirectory(tem,NULL);
// If the Directory exists it will return a false
if(tt)
SetFileAttributes(tem,FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL);
// If we were successful we set the attributes to normal
}
// Now lets see if the directory was successfully created
fFile = FindFirstFile(dd,&fileinfo);
Check to see if the Directory was created and it actually is a Directory
m_arr.RemoveAll();
if(fileinfo.dwFileAttributes == FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
{
// Directory Exists close file and return
FindClose(fFile);
return TRUE;
}
else
{
// For Some reason the Function Failed Return FALSE FindClose(fFile); return FALSE; } }
