FileSwitch Accessing File Systems (changes)

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FileSwitch

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Accessing Filing Systems

Filing Systems

Accessing objects within different filing systems can easily be achieved by specifying the file system by suffixing a ‘:’ character to the name of the file system. This is the preferred method of specifying filing systems.

It is also possible to specify filing systems by encapsulating the file system name within the ‘-’ character, but this is not recommended as this character can be used as part of a file name, and hence may cause potential problems.

For example, both commands below would specify the same file within the same filing system.

adfs:$.Documents.Accounts.CashFlow (Preferrred Option)
-adfs-$.Documents.Accounts.CashFlow

Special Fields

Special fields are used to supply additional information to the filing system. For example, NetFS uses them to specify server names or addresses. Special fields are identified by use of the leading ‘#’ character.

net#alan::Disc1.Photos.Sunshine
#alan::Disc1.Photos.Sunshine
-net#alan-:Disc1.Photos.Sunshine
#alan-:Disc1.Photos.Sunshine

Special fields are passed to the filing system as null-terminated strings, with the ‘#’ and trailing ‘:’ or ‘-’ removed (see filing systems above for use of these characters).

Only certain commands can take advantage of special fields. If no special field is specified in a pathname then the appropriate register in the file system routine is set to zero.

The system variable FileSwitch$SpecialField is also used to store the special field.

Current Selections

If the filing system is not explicitly stated, then the currently selected one will be used by default. The FileSwitch module is responsible for maintaining a list of file systems and the current selections within each file system. The table below shows the possible selections within each filing system.

¹ The character used within the CLI to identify filing system selections.

System Variables

The FileSwitch module provides information relating to filing systems by use of system variables, which as the name suggests are global system-wide variables. Each filing has its own set of system variables, and are case sensitive.

The table below details the system variables available for use.