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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I read an old thread about how to make temporary filenames
(unique filenames is what the topic was about) and I have written a simple unit
that sort of does this without needing a second to elapse (or millisecond for
that matter) to pass in order to get the next unique name. I have heard of a
possible unit or routine that MAY be available to us FPC coders that does some
sort of GUID algorithm… this would interest me. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>My algorithm is platform independent but I know my technique
may be frowned upon by many but it works. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I create a file called something intuitive: counterlockfile.lock</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Each call to my unit TRIES to open the file for REWRITE –
if it can’t (because another process has it – then it retries a few
times with a sleep/yield call and both the repeat attempts and sleep duration
are configurable.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>When the file CAN be opened, this means ownership of a
second file called something intuitive: mycounter.txt </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>This file is simply one line of text that is a zero padded string
e.g.: 00000001 </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I’m assuming readers understand there is logic in the
code to create the files if they don’t already exist and there is a way
for all programs wishing to use this little system to know how to locate the
same directory that was set up for this purpose.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Each time a program calls the function that reads the
counter, it works like an autonumber in a database application, returning the
current value and then adding 1 to it and saving the new value out there for
the next time.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The cleanup is merely closing the file that is/was named counterlockfile.lock
that has been opened for rewrite during the counter read, add one, save, close
process.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>A bit nasty… but it works – and it works EVERY
TIME.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>So this message is to one: maybe help a GO32 user who needs
unique filenames, and anyone else on (I would assume) any platform.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Again – if there is anyone who knows of a more elegant
way to do this reliably – in an environment that may have a ton of
different EXE’s all trying to do the same thing at the same time –
without choking – please let me know!</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Jason P Sage</span></font></p>
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