How can I tell if a path is a file or directory?

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Tyler

Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 1216
Location: NC, USA

Tyler 15 Jun 2010, 03:56

I'm making an quick app to create symbolic links in Windows. There's no good app to do this, but there is an API call. One of the params asks whether the target is a file or directory, how can I tell?

Just to show I'm not asking another dumb theoretical question, here's my code(it's sloppy):

Code:

format pe console
entry start
include 'win32ax.inc'
section '.text' code readable writeable executable

start:
   push      printf_Target
   call      [printf]
   add       esp,4
   push      strTarget
   push      scanf_get_path
   call      [scanf]
   add       esp,8
   push      printf_Location
   call      [printf]
   add       esp,4
   push      strLocation
   push      scanf_get_path
   call      [scanf]
   add       esp,8
   push      strTarget
   call      [printf]
   add       esp,4
   call      newline
   push      strLocation
   call      [printf]
   add       esp,4
   call      newline
   push      printf_yn
   call      [printf]
   add       esp,4
   push      charAnswerYN
   push      scanf_yn
   call      [scanf]
   add       esp,8
   cmp       charAnswerYN,'y'
   je        .correct
   cmp       charAnswerYN,'Y'
   jne       .incorrect
   .correct:
; Test if dir or file and create link here...
   .incorrect:
   push 0
   call [ExitProcess]

strNewLine db 0dh,0ah,0
newline:
   push      strNewLine
   call      [printf]
   add       esp,4
   ret

section '.data' data readable writeable
   scanf_get_path db '%255s',0
   scanf_yn db '%1s',0
   printf_Location db 'Location: ',0
   printf_Target db 'Target: ',0
   printf_yn db 'Correct? (Y/N): ',0

section '.bss' readable writable
   strLocation rb 255
   strTarget rb 255
   charAnswerYN rb 2

section '.idata' import data readable writeable

   library kernel,'kernel32.dll',\
           msvcrt,'msvcrt.dll'

   import kernel,\
          CreateSymbolicLinkA,'CreateSymbolicLinkA',\
          ExitProcess,'ExitProcess'

   import msvcrt,\
          printf,'printf',\
          scanf,'scanf'

15 Jun 2010, 03:56

mindcooler

Joined: 01 Dec 2009
Posts: 423
Location: Västerås, Sweden

mindcooler 15 Jun 2010, 04:04

Tyler wrote:

There's no good app to do this

http://elsdoerfer.name/=ntfslink

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15 Jun 2010, 04:04

mindcooler

Joined: 01 Dec 2009
Posts: 423
Location: Västerås, Sweden

mindcooler 15 Jun 2010, 04:10

To not really answer your question: Whenever I work with files and directories, I use FindFirstFile and FindNextFile, and get that information from them.

To answer your question: GetFileAttributes and the attribute
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY 16 0x0010

15 Jun 2010, 04:10

Tyler

Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 1216
Location: NC, USA

Tyler 15 Jun 2010, 04:12

Umm... Nah. I'd prefer to just make a simple app that will accomplish the same task without wasting HDD space.

Thanks for the suggestion though. After I realize I suck and give up coding my own, I'll use that one.

Edit: Thanks, that's exactly the thing I was looking for.

15 Jun 2010, 04:12

baldr

Joined: 19 Mar 2008
Posts: 1651

baldr 15 Jun 2010, 10:42

Tyler,

Never ever let someone or something discourage you from trying to accomplish some task. Even if you don't complete it, you often learn something useful by the way (NTFS reparse point concept, for example).

15 Jun 2010, 10:42

Tyler

Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 1216
Location: NC, USA

Tyler 15 Jun 2010, 20:15

The thing about giving up was a joke, and I think we all already know I suck Wink

. Thanks for being supportive though, your a nice person Smile

. The thanks was for his suggestion, that function was what I failed to find after ~3 hrs googling and searching msdn.

15 Jun 2010, 20:15

Tyler

Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 1216
Location: NC, USA

Tyler 16 Jun 2010, 03:07

Wow. What a waste of time. When I saw "symbolic link," I thought Linux-style seamless symbolic links. Turns out, the "CreateSymbolicLink" function just creates a .lnk file.

16 Jun 2010, 03:07

score_under

Joined: 27 Aug 2009
Posts: 27

score_under 20 Jun 2010, 19:32

1. Create a directory.
2. Open it with CreateFile.
3. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa364595%28VS.85%29.aspx

And that's how you symlink. Only works on NTFS, so check for that first too.

20 Jun 2010, 19:32

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