Tips & Tidbits

By Steve Sisak, Contributing Editor

Here is a handy function for making sure that an undeletable “file from hell” doesn’t get in the way during program execution, just move it to the Trash. This only works when the file is on the same volume as the Trash, however.

Greg Poole

File: FSpTrashFile.h

/******************************************************************************
    FSpTrashFile.h
    
    history:
    modified:  xx/xx/xx  who are you? what did you do?
    created:   11/23/94         greg poole

    Greg Poole
    Vital Images, Inc.
    email: greg@vitalimages.com

 ******************************************************************************/

#pragma once

#ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
#endif
 extern OSErr  FSpTrashFile( FSSpecPtr file );
#ifdef __cplusplus
 }
#endif


File: FSpTrashFile.c
    
/******************************************************************************
    Move a file to the trash if it is not possible to delete it.
    Can only move file to the trash if it is on the same volume
    as the file to be deleted.
 ******************************************************************************/

#include <Folders.h>
#include "FSpTrashFile.h"

OSErr FSpTrashFile( FSSpecPtr theFile )
{
 OSErr  theErr = noErr;
 short  vRefNum;
 long   dirID;
 FSSpec spec;
 FSSpecPtrtheTrash = &spec;
 
    // don’t go any further if there isn’t a file to deal with or if the
    // file was deleted successfully
    //
 theErr = FSpDelete( theFile );
 if ( theErr == fnfErr || theErr == noErr )
 return noErr;
 
    // if we got this far, we had a problem deleting the file,
    // don’t worry, relax and just trash it
 theErr = FindFolder( kOnSystemDisk, kTrashFolderType, 
 kDontCreateFolder, &vRefNum, &dirID );
 
 if ( theErr == noErr )
 theErr = FSMakeFSSpec( vRefNum, dirID, "\p", theTrash );

 if ( theErr == noErr )
 if ( theFile->vRefNum != theTrash->vRefNum )
 theErr = diffVolErr;
 
 if ( theErr == noErr )
 theErr = CatMove( theFile->vRefNum, theFile->parID, 
 theFile->name, theTrash->parID, theTrash->name );

 return theErr;
 
} // end FSpTrashFile

// define TEST_TRASH_FILE for a standalone test
#define TEST_TRASH_FILE

#if defined( TEST_TRASH_FILE )

    // local function prototypes
 static void     InitTheMac( void );
 static Boolean  GetAFile( FSSpecPtr file );
 
 static void InitTheMac( void )
 {
 InitGraf( &qd.thePort );
 InitFonts();
 InitWindows();
 InitMenus();
 TEInit();
 InitDialogs( 0L );
 InitCursor();
 MaxApplZone();
 } // end InitTheMac
 
 static Boolean GetAFile( FSSpecPtr file )
 {
 SFTypeList types;
 StandardFileReply reply;
 
 StandardGetFile( NULL, -1, types, &reply );
 if ( reply.sfGood )
 BlockMove( &reply.sfFile, file, sizeof( FSSpec ) );
 return reply.sfGood;
 } // end GetAFile

 void main( void )
 {
 FSSpec srcFileSpec;
 OSErr  theErr = noErr;
 
 InitTheMac();
 if ( GetAFile( &srcFileSpec ) )
 theErr = FSpTrashFile( &srcFileSpec );
 } // end main

#endif // TEST_TRASH_FILE