[Win32utils-devel] File.nopen alpha

[win32utils-devel at rubyforge.org]

Hi all,

I've committed an alpha version of File.nopen (native open) to
win32-file.  This is a wrapper for CreateFile().  A quick synopsis:

 * File.nopen(file,access_mode,share_mode,creation_mode,flags)
 * 
 * A 'native' open method.  This uses CreateFile() behind the scenes
instead of
 * the _open() function.  This allows much greater flexibility when it
comes
 * to Windows files.  It also allows you to open directories, which
File.open
 * cannot do on Windows.
 * 
 * The access mode defaults to READ_DATA | WRITE_DATA
 * The share mode defaults to SHARE_READ | SHARE_WRITE
 * The creation mode defaults to OPEN_EXISTING
 * The flags default to NORMAL
 * 
 * To open a directory, pass File::BACKUP_SEMANTICS as the 'flags'
argument.

So, with this I can do:

dir = "C:\\TEST" # directory
fh = File.nopen(dir,nil,nil,nil,File::BACKUP_SEMANTICS)
p fh # Yup, it's a File object
p fh.class # File
fh.close

I can also open a plain file and read the contents.  So far, so good.
But, when I try to write to the file, I get an IOError claiming the file
isn't opened for writing.  Shouldn't the WRITE_DATA flag have given me
permission to write?  I tried combinations of some other flags with no
luck.

Also, I noticed that if I try to use some of the new instance methods
like this:

fh = File.nopen("C:\\temp.txt",File::WRITE_ATTRIBUTES)
fh.hidden = true
fh.close

I get "test.rb:16:in `hidden=': cannot convert nil into String
(TypeError)"

Any ideas on these?

Please take a look and also let me know what you think in general of an
nopen() method.

Regards,

Dan