File

Methods:

File, changePath, close, copy, createAlias, decode, encode, execute, getRelativeURI, isEncodingAvailable, open, openDialog, openDlg, read, readch, readln, remove, rename, resolve, saveDialog, saveDlg, seek, tell, toSource, toString, write, writeln

Objects:

Boolean, Date, Number, String

Property Listing

Property Listing

Method Listing

Constructor

File File ([path:String])

Creates and returns a new File object referring to a given file system location.

Boolean changePath (path:String)

Changes the path specification of the referenced file.

Boolean close ()

Closes this open file.

Returns true if the file was closed successfully, false if an I/O error occurred.

Boolean copy (target:String File)

Copies this object’s referenced file to the specified target location.

Resolves any aliases to find the source file. If a file exists at the target location, it is overwritten. Returns true if the copy was successful.

undefined createAlias (path:String)

Makes this file a file-system alias or shortcut to the specified file.

The referenced file for this object must not yet exist on disk. Returns true if the operation was successful.

String decode (uri:String)

Decodes a UTF-8 encoded string as required by RFC 2396, and returns the decoded string.

See also String.decodeURI().

String encode (name:String)

Encodes a string as required by RFC 2396, and returns the encoded string.

All special characters are encoded in UTF-8 and stored as escaped characters starting with the percent sign followed by two hexadecimal digits. For example, the string "my file" is encoded as "my%20file". Special characters are those with a numeric value greater than 127, except the following: / - _ . ! ~ * ' ( ) See also encodeURI().

Boolean execute ()

Executes or opens this file using the appropriate application, as if it had been double-clicked in a file browser.

You can use this method to run scripts, launch applications, and so on.Returns true immediately if the application launch was successful.

String getRelativeURI (basePath:String)

Retrieves and returns the path for this file, relative to the specified base path, in URI notation.

If no base path is supplied, the URI is relative to the path of the current folder. Returns a string containing the relative URI.

Boolean isEncodingAvailable (name:String)

Reports whether a given encoding is available.

Boolean open (mode:String, [type:String], [creator:String])

Opens the referenced file for subsequent read/write operations. The method resolves any aliases to find the file.

Returns true if the file was opened successfully.The method attempts to detect the encoding of the open file. It reads a few bytes at the current location and tries to detect the Byte Order Mark character 0xFFFE. If found, the current position is advanced behind the detected character and the encoding property is set to one of the strings UCS-2BE, UCS-2LE, UCS4-BE, UCS-4LE, or UTF-8. If the marker character is not found, it checks for zero bytes at the current location and makes an assumption about one of the above formats (except UTF-8). If everything fails, the encoding property is set to the system encoding. IMPORTANT: Be careful about opening a file more than once. The operating system usually permits you to do so, but if you start writing to the file using two different File objects, you can destroy your data.

File openDialog (prompt:String, [filter:Varies=Varies], [multiSelect:Boolean=Boolean])

Opens a dialog so the user can select one or more files to open.

Opens the built-in platform-specific file-browsing dialog in which a user can select an existing file or multiple files, and creates new File objects to represent the selected files. If the user clicks OK, returns a File object for the selected file, or an array of objects if multiple files are selected. If the user cancels, returns null.

File openDlg (prompt:String, [filter:Varies=Varies], [multiSelect:Boolean=Boolean])

Opens the built-in platform-specific file-browsing dialog, in which the user can select an existing file or files, and creates new File objects to represent the selected files.

Differs from the class method openDialog() in that it presets the current folder to this File object’s parent folder and the current file to this object’s associated file. If the user clicks OK, returns a File or Folder object for the selected file or folder, or an array of objects. If the user cancels, returns null.

String read ([chars:Number])

Reads the contents of the file, starting at the current position.

Returns a string that contains up to the specified number of characters. If a number of characters is not supplied, reads from the current position to the end of the file. If the file is encoded, multiple bytes might be read to create single Unicode characters.

String readch ()

Reads a single text character from the file at the current position.

Line feeds are recognized as CR, LF, CRLF or LFCR pairs. If the file is encoded, multiple bytes might be read to create a single Unicode character. Returns a string that contains the character.

String readln ()

Reads a single line of text from the file at the current position.

Line feeds are recognized as CR, LF, CRLF or LFCR pairs.. If the file is encoded, multiple bytes might be read to create single Unicode characters. Returns a string that contains the text.

Boolean remove ()

Deletes the file associated with this object from disk immediately, without moving it to the system trash.

Does not resolve aliases; instead, deletes the referenced alias or shortcut file itself. Returns true if the file was successfully removed. IMPORTANT: Cannot be undone. It is recommended that you prompt the user for permission before deleting.

Boolean rename (newName:String)

Renames the associated file.

Does not resolve aliases, but renames the referenced alias or shortcut file itself. Returns true if the file was successfully renamed.

File resolve ()

Attempts to resolve the file-system alias or shortcut that this object refers to.

If successful, creates and returns a new File object that points to the resolved file system element. Returns null if this object does not refer to an alias, or if the alias could not be resolved.

File saveDialog (prompt:String, [filter:Varies=Varies])

Opens a dialog so the user can select a file name to save to.

Opens the built-in platform-specific file-browsing dialog in which a user can select an existing file location to which to save information, and creates a new File object to represent the selected file location. If the user clicks OK, returns a File object for the selected file location. If the user cancels, returns null.

File saveDlg (prompt:String, [filter:Varies=Varies])

Opens the built-in platform-specific file-browsing dialog, in which the user can select an existing file location to which to save information, and creates a new File object to represent the selected file.

Differs from the class method saveDialog() in that it presets the current folder to this File object’s parent folder and the file to this object’s associated file. If the user clicks OK, returns a File object for the selected file. If the user cancels, returns null.

Boolean seek (pos:Number, [mode:Number=Number])

Seeks to a given position in the file.

The new position cannot be less than 0 or greater than the current file size. Returns true if the position was changed.

Number tell ()

Retrieves the current position as a byte offset from the start of the file.

Returns a number, the position index.

String toSource ()

Creates and returns a serialized string representation of this object.

Pass the resulting string to eval() to recreate the object.

String toString ()

Converts this object to a string.

Boolean write (text:String)

Writes the specified text to the file at the current position.

You can supply multiple text values; the strings are concatenated to form a single string.For encoded files, writing a single Unicode character may write multiple bytes. Returns true if the write was successful.IMPORTANT: Be careful not to write to a file that is open in another application or object, as this can overwrite existing data.

Boolean writeln (text:String)

Writes a string to the file at the current position and appends a line-feed sequence.

You can supply multiple text values. The strings are concatenated into a single string, which is written in the file followed by one line-feed sequence, of the style specified by this object's linefeed property.For encoded files, writing a single Unicode character may write multiple bytes. Returns true if the write was successful.IMPORTANT: Be careful not to write to a file that is open in another application or object, as this can overwrite existing data.