[RESOLVED] Need to have the ability to copy/paste a file or folder back to my ListView

[jmsrickland]

I have an Explorer like application which displays folders and files the same as they are displayed in Explorer. If I select a file or a folder and then click on Copy menu option then click on Paste menu option I rename the file/folder to 'Copy of.....'. Now if I click on Paste again (with no other copy action) I rename that file/folder to Copy (2) of .....'. I can keep on doing this over and over each time renaming the file/folder to 'Copy (3) of .......', 'Copy (4) of......' etc, etc. Now if I select another file/folder and do a Copy/Paste I can rename that to 'Copy of....', Copy (2) of ......' etc, etc. Where my problem comes in is when I do a copy/past, let's say, on 'somefile.txt' I rename it to 'Copy of somefile.txt' and everything is OK, Now I do a copy/past on another file 'someotherfile.txt' and again I rename it to 'Copy of someotherfile.txt' and again everything is OK but if I go back to the first file, 'somefile.txt' and copy/paste it again my program isn't aware of the first time I did this so I wind up with another 'Copy of somefile.txt' so now I have two listings of the same name.

My question is how would I go about avoiding this? I'm thinking about using a table of some sort or a Collection perhaps, but I don't have an idea how I would build this table/collection, access it to check if I have already made this copy/paste and keep track of the number of times the copy/paste occured so no matter when I do a copy/past of a previous file that has already been copied/pasted I always get the next sequence number for the Copy (nn) of.......'

[fafalone]

Don't just track operations made by your program, the user could use Explorer or something else and you'll just get an error doing it that way. Instead sequentially check if a file exists for the next number in the sequence; you don't need to worry about storing them unless you're keeping them open.
Yes the logic/parsing gets a little complicated, but the only alternative is to use SHFileOperation and re-scan (once you move on from XP, IFileOperation actually reports back the new final name, but they both handle the sequential file names automatically).

[Magic Ink]

Seem to remember there is an API which will give you the next Copy(n) in the sequence for a specified file in a specified folder; probably in a Shell dll.

Sorry but cannot find it.

[jmsrickland]

I looked in Shell32.dll and couldn't find anything that might apply to this

[Bonnie West]

Seem to remember there is an API which will give you the next Copy(n) in the sequence for a specified file in a specified folder; probably in a Shell dll.

Were you thinking of PathMakeUniqueName or PathYetAnotherMakeUniqueName?

[Magic Ink]

>Were you thinking of ...
No as I remember it you passed it the filepath and it returned n or a readymade string like "Filename - Copy(n)".
Maybe I dreamt it...

No after reading further I think you got it with PathMakeUniqueName, thanks Bonnie.

[jmsrickland]

Without using API I think I have it

All variables properly defined

Private Function UpdateFileName(FileName As String) As String
  '
  '
 'See if already in Listbox
 For n = CopyOf.ListCount - 1 To 0 Step -1
   If FileName = CopyOf.List(n) Then    
     '
     ' FileName is in Listbox so make Copy of FileName and check if this is in Listbox
     '       
     CopyName = "Copy of " & FileName
     
     GoTo CheckIfCopyOfInListbox
     Exit Function
   End If
 Next n

 ' FileName is not in Listbox so just add original name and new filename to Listbox
 '
 ' Make sure we have both original
 CopyOf.AddItem FileName
 
 'and the new Copy of name
 CopyOf.AddItem "Copy of " & FileName
 
 UpdateFileName = "Copy of " & FileName
 
 Exit Function

'Yes, FileName was found in Listbox from above
CheckIfCopyOfInListbox:
 For n = CopyOf.ListCount - 1 To 0 Step -1
   If CopyName = CopyOf.List(n) Then
     '
     ' Yes, make another copy and check again 
     Sequence = Sequence + 1
     
     CopyName = "Copy (" & Sequence & ") of " & FileName
     
     GoTo CheckIfCopyOfInListbox
  End If
 Next n
 
 ' No, not in listbox
 UpdateFileName = CopyName
 CopyOf.AddItem CopyName
End Function

So, does API PathMakeUniqueName do same thing

[jmsrickland]

I tried using that API. It doesn't appear to work very well - don't think I can use it

[gibra]

Not finding the statement of functions, I tried to write by me, just doing a little test. It seems to work:

Declarations:

Private Declare Function PathMakeUniqueName Lib "Shell32.dll" _
    (ByVal pszUniqueNameOut As String, _
    ByVal cchMax As Long, _
    ByVal pszTemplate As String, _
    ByVal pszLongPlate As String, _
    ByVal pszDir As String) As Boolean

Function:

Private Function GetPathUniqueName(ByVal psFileNamePath As String) As String
    Dim bRet As Boolean
    Dim sBuffer As String * 255
    bRet = PathMakeUniqueName(sBuffer, Len(sBuffer), psFileNamePath, vbNullString, vbNullString)
    
    If bRet = False Then Exit Function
    
    GetPathUniqueName = Replace$(sBuffer, Chr(0), vbNullString)
End Function

Call:

MsgBox GetPathUniqueName(Text1.Text)

if psFileNamePath contains "D:\Codebook_menu.ini" then the function return "D:\Codebook_menu.ini (1)".
Please note that the part "- copy " is missing.

I'm not sure that is perfect for any case.
Try it.

[Bonnie West]

Note that PathMakeUniqueName and PathYetAnotherMakeUniqueName are both Unicode APIs, so if they don't seem to work, it might be because they're being called incorrectly.

Private Declare Function GetShortPathNameW Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal lpszLongPath As Long, Optional ByVal lpszShortPath As Long, Optional ByVal cchBuffer As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function lstrlenW Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal lpString As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function PathMakeUniqueName Lib "shell32.dll" (ByVal pszUniqueName As Long, ByVal cchMax As Long, ByVal pszTemplate As Long, Optional ByVal pszLongPlate As Long, Optional ByVal pszDir As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function SysReAllocStringLen Lib "oleaut32.dll" (ByVal pBSTR As Long, Optional ByVal pszStrPtr As Long, Optional ByVal Length As Long) As Long

Public Function MakeUniqueName(ByRef PathName As String) As String '<-- PathName MUST be a fully qualified long file name!
    Const MAX_PATH = 260&
    Dim Pos As Long, sBuffer As String, sLongName As String, sPath As String, sShortName As String

    SysReAllocStringLen VarPtr(sShortName), , GetShortPathNameW(StrPtr(PathName)) - 1&
    GetShortPathNameW StrPtr(PathName), StrPtr(sShortName), Len(sShortName) + 1&
    Pos = InStrRev(sShortName, "\")
    sShortName = Mid$(sShortName, Pos + 1&)

    Pos = InStrRev(PathName, "\")
    sPath = Left$(PathName, Pos)
    sLongName = Mid$(PathName, Pos + 1&)
    SysReAllocStringLen VarPtr(sBuffer), , MAX_PATH

    If PathMakeUniqueName(StrPtr(sBuffer), MAX_PATH, StrPtr(sShortName), StrPtr(sLongName), StrPtr(sPath)) Then
        MakeUniqueName = Left$(sBuffer, lstrlenW(StrPtr(sBuffer)))
    End If
End Function

? """"; MakeUniqueName("C:\New Folder\An Existing.File"); """"
"C:\New Folder\An Existing (1).File"

? """"; MakeUniqueName("C:\New Folder\An Existing - Copy.File"); """"
"C:\New Folder\An Existing - Copy (1).File"

? """"; MakeUniqueName("C:\New Folder\An Existing - Copy (2).File"); """"
"C:\New Folder\An Existing - Copy (1).File"

? """"; MakeUniqueName("C:\New Folder\A Missing.File"); """"
"C:\New Folder\A Missing (1).File"

Private Declare Function lstrlenW Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal lpString As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function PathYetAnotherMakeUniqueName Lib "shell32.dll" (ByVal pszUniqueName As Long, ByVal pszPath As Long, Optional ByVal pszShort As Long, Optional ByVal pszFileSpec As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function SysReAllocStringLen Lib "oleaut32.dll" (ByVal pBSTR As Long, Optional ByVal pszStrPtr As Long, Optional ByVal Length As Long) As Long

Public Function YetAnotherMakeUniqueName(ByRef PathName As String) As String '<-- PathName MUST be a fully qualified long file name!
    Const MAX_PATH = 260&
    Dim sBuffer As String

    SysReAllocStringLen VarPtr(sBuffer), , MAX_PATH

    If PathYetAnotherMakeUniqueName(StrPtr(sBuffer), StrPtr(PathName)) Then
        YetAnotherMakeUniqueName = Left$(sBuffer, lstrlenW(StrPtr(sBuffer)))
    End If
End Function

? """"; YetAnotherMakeUniqueName("C:\New Folder\An Existing.File"); """"
"C:\New Folder\An Existing (2).File"

? """"; YetAnotherMakeUniqueName("C:\New Folder\An Existing - Copy.File"); """"
"C:\New Folder\An Existing - Copy (3).File"

? """"; YetAnotherMakeUniqueName("C:\New Folder\An Existing - Copy (2).File"); """"
"C:\New Folder\An Existing - Copy (3).File"

? """"; YetAnotherMakeUniqueName("C:\New Folder\A Missing.File"); """"
"C:\New Folder\A Missing.File"

[jmsrickland]

I didn't say it didn't work; I said it didn't work very well. I get same results as what you are all getting but that is not what I need .

The function always returns a sequence number in the format of "C:\MyFile.txt (n)" but I need "Copy (n) of MyFile.txt" so if I get the normal return of the API then I have to rename it to "Copy (n) of...." and this will cause the next time I use the same file to get the same results again

Here is what I need:

Original File = MyFile.txt

1st time I make a copy = Copy of MyFile.txt

2nd time I make a copy = Copy (2) of MyFile.txt

3rd time I make a copy = Copy (3) of MyFile.txt

etc

The code I posted in #8 gives me exactly the above results so how then can I use the API to get these results?

Explorer does not copy files in the format of MyFile (1).txt, MyFile (2).txt, etc.

The API is OK if all you want are unique names but it doesn't serve my purpose as my app needs to name the copy files the same as Explorer

[Bonnie West]

... so how then can I use the API to get these results?

Here's some pseudocode:

If "Copy of MyFile.txt" doesn't exist
    Then copy the file as "Copy of MyFile.txt"

ElseIf "Copy (2) of MyFile.txt" doesn't exist
    Then copy the file as "Copy (2) of MyFile.txt"

Else
    Call either of the Path*MakeUniqueName APIs
End If

[Magic Ink]

Hate to disappoint but Explorer doesn't always use "Copy (n) of....", in Win 7 for instance it returns "Filename - Copy.ext" for the 2nd instance(1st copy), "Filename - Copy (2).ext" for the 3rd(2nd copy) etc.

Bonnie - GetShortPathName/ GetShortPathNameW not to be relied on with modern systems which allow 8.3 support to be switched off. System admins like to turn it off because performance is said to be improved, I think it may even be turned off by default in later versions of Windows Server. I was bitten by this in an old zipping routine which would only eat 8.3 style paths running on a client's terminal server, I fed it with long style paths shortened with GetShortPathName.

[Bonnie West]

Bonnie - GetShortPathName/ GetShortPathNameW not to be relied on with modern systems which allow 8.3 support to be switched off. System admins like to turn it off because performance is said to be improved, I think it may even be turned off by default in later versions of Windows Server. I was bitten by this in an old zipping routine which would only eat 8.3 style paths running on a client's terminal server, I fed it with long style paths shortened with GetShortPathName.

Yeah, similar comments in that API's documentation page reminded me of that possibility. It doesn't matter though whether that function fails or not, because in my tests in Windows 7, PathMakeUniqueName still succeeded even if the passed short filename template was empty.



@ jmsrickland

How are you doing the file copying by the way? Did you know that the SHFileOperation API or the IFileOperation interface can take care of these filename collision issues for you?

[jmsrickland]

Private Function UpdateFileName(FileName As String) As String
 Dim Seq As Integer
  
 Dim CopyOf As String
 
 Seq = 1
 
 CopyOf = "Copy of " & FileName
 
 Do While UpdateFileName = vbNullString
   If ListView1.FindItem(CopyOf) Is Nothing Then
     UpdateFileName = CopyOf
   Else
     Seq = Seq + 1
   
     CopyOf = "Copy (" & Seq & ") of " & FileName
   End If
 Loop
End Function

[jmsrickland]

Hate to disappoint but Explorer doesn't always use "Copy (n) of....", in Win 7 for instance it returns "Filename - Copy.ext" for the 2nd instance(1st copy), "Filename - Copy (2).ext" for the 3rd(2nd copy) etc.

.

I don't know how it works in Win 7 but in XP it goes like this:

If I have a file or a folder already in the directory and I make a copy of it and paste it I get 'Copy of filename'. If I paste it again I get 'Copy (2) of filename', 'Copy (3) of filename', etc, etc.

Now, if I make a New folder or a New file, let's say a text file, I get this: 'New Folder', 'New Text Document.txt'. Now if I make another New folder or text file I get this: 'New Folder (2)', 'New Text Document (2).txt'

[fafalone]

Windows 7 just keeps appending - Copy.. I've got a file called Blue Lace 16 - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy.bmp when copying files; but still uses (2) (3) etc when you create a new file / folder through the menu.

Which is really why you should use PathMakeUnique APIs which I had forgot about; users generally expect their apps to be consistent with their version of Windows in such matters- particularly when you're talking about what is essentially an Explorer-type file view in your app.