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Blaise Pascal Magazine

1) The document describes how the author programmed a recursive file search tool in Lazarus to find files on their company server. 2) When testing the tool at work, no files were found which was puzzling. Returning home, the author debugged the code and found the issue was special characters like umlauts in the file paths which Lazarus/FreePascal did not handle properly. 3) The solution was to update the code to use UTF8 encoding functions which properly handled the special characters, resolving the file searching issue.

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jmpessoa
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© © All Rights Reserved
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390 views

Blaise Pascal Magazine

1) The document describes how the author programmed a recursive file search tool in Lazarus to find files on their company server. 2) When testing the tool at work, no files were found which was puzzling. Returning home, the author debugged the code and found the issue was special characters like umlauts in the file paths which Lazarus/FreePascal did not handle properly. 3) The solution was to update the code to use UTF8 encoding functions which properly handled the special characters, resolving the file searching issue.

Uploaded by

jmpessoa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

FINDFIRST/FINDNEXT AND THE POWER OF HABITS PAGE 1/2

BY HEIKO ROMPEL
starter

expert

At work I recently needed a tool for searching


the company's server for certain files and
showing some information about them.

As soon as I arrived home I opened Lazarus and


started programming. For informations about
how to program a recursive file search I used a
search engine and found this site:
http://www.entwickler-ecke.de/
topic_nach+Dateien+suchen_1107,0.html
Here is the content:
Procedure FindFiles (aPath, aFindMask: String; aWithSub: Boolean; aResult: tStrings);
Var
FindRec: tSearchRec;
Begin

// Wenn die Stringliste nil ist oder aPath oder aFind nicht angegeben ist dann raus
// If the string list is nil or the aPath or aFind is not found then exit
If (aPath = '') or (aFindMask = '') or Not Assigned (aResult) Then Exit;
// Wenn am Ende der Pfadangabe noch kein \ steht, dieses hinzufgen
// If at the end of the path there is no \ add it
// (Oder die Funktion IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter aus der Unit SysUtils.pas verwenden)
// Otherwise use the function IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter from unit SysUtils.pas
If aPath[Length (aPath)] <> '\' Then aPath := aPath + '\';

// Im aktuellen Verzeichnis nach der Datei suchen


// Search for data
If FindFirst (aPath + aFindMask, faAnyFile, FindRec) = 0 Then
Repeat
If (FindRec.Name <> '.') and (FindRec.Name <> '..') Then

// ...Ergebnis in die Stringlist einfgen


// ...Fill in result into Stringlist
aResult.Add (aPath + FindRec.Name);
Until FindNext (FindRec) <> 0;
FindClose (FindRec);

// Wenn nicht in Unterverzeichnissen gesucht werden soll dann raus


// If not ment to search in other data then exit
If Not aWithSub Then Exit;
// In Unterverzeichnissen weiter suchen
// Search in other Dirs
If FindFirst (aPath + '*.*', faAnyFile, FindRec) = 0 Then
Repeat
If (FindRec.Name <> '.') and (FindRec.Name <> '..') Then

// Feststellen, ob es sich um ein Verzeichnis handelt


// Make sure it is a Dir
If Boolean (FindRec.Attr and faDirectory) Then
// Funktion erneut aufrufen, um Verzeichnis zu durchsuchen (Rekursion)
// Call function again, to search the Dir (recursion)
FindFiles (aPath + FindRec.Name, aFindMask, aWithSub, aResult);
Until FindNext (FindRec) <> 0;
FindClose (FindRec);
End;

FINDFIRST/FINDNEXT AND THE POWER OF HABITS PAGE 2/2


I had already used this code in Delphi before
- so I was able to adapt it quickly to my current
project.
The first test run took place on a local drive and
it was a success. Then came a test run on the NAS
* at home and that was a success also.
*(Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level
computer data storage server connected to a computer
network providing data access to a heterogeneous
group of clients. NAS is specialized for serving files
either by its hardware, software, or configuration. It
is often manufactured as a computer appliance a
purpose-built specialized computer.[nb 1] NAS
systems are networked appliances which contain one
or more hard disk drives, often arranged into logical,
redundant storage containers or RAID.)
So I sent the EXE-File via email to my workplace.
Next day at work there was a surprise:
No files found.
Maybe it was because of the UNC path
(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uni
form_Naming_Convention )?
Back at home, I looked at the full paths and on
the NAS there were UNC paths but they didn't
cause problems. So the problem had to have
other origins. Next day - back at work - I went to
work with the source code and I ran the program
in DEBUG-mode .
What on earth could be the problem?
Simple- as ever - special characters like ,, !!!
(In 2015 you still have to bother with them.)
The almost endless paths had special characters
at the start section. I found out I had to use the
UTF8-function of Lazarus/FreePascal.
Fortunately changing to the UTF8 wasn't very
complicated in this case.

Here are the things you to change in the code:


// Is required for the UTF8-function
uses FileUtil;

old:
// Search the current directory for the file
If FindFirst (aPath + aFindMask, faAnyFile,
FindRec) = 0 Then

new:
// Search the current directory for the file
If FindFirstUTF8(aPath + aFindMask,
faAnyFile, FindRecord) = 0 Then

old:
Until FindNext (FindRec) <> 0;
FindClose (FindRec);

new:
Until FindNextUTF8 (FindRecord) <> 0;
FileUtil.FindCloseUTF8(FindRecord);

Usually you simply forget that you can't use an


old code without problems. But I have to admit
that I never encountered the problems described
above in Delphi before.
Perhaps this story saves somebody from an
irritating job.
A special thanks to my son for the translation.

Heiko Rompel
Germany

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