RE: [platform-core-dev] Pathology, take two

[John Arthorne <John_Arthorne@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Without giving more specific examples,
let me try to clarify the purpose of the two methods.  fromOSString
would be used to parse paths from *all* external sources, including all
of those you list below (user input, and output of java.io.File/URI/URL
methods you mention).  The *only* purpose of fromString would be to
parse the output of a previous IPath.toString call. The only purpose here
is to have a platform-neutral encoding of a path as a string that is suitable
for serializing paths in data files so they can be read back in on other
platforms.  It may well be that the method names I chose are too similar,
and would cause inadvertant use of the inappropriate fromString method
on strings from other sources.  Perhaps fromToString would be more
to the point, though possibly even more confusing.

"Ed Burnette" <Ed.Burnette@xxxxxxx>
Sent by: platform-core-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx

10/05/2004 05:52 PM

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Subject	RE: [platform-core-dev] Pathology, take two

The difference between Path.fromString()
and Path.fromOSString() is really subtle. Can you provide some more examples
of inputs and outputs of these functions (as would go into creating a testcase)?
 
Also some more guidance about
which one to call would be helpful. For example, which would you use for
paths entered by a user in a dialog? Paths that come from a user written
config file? Paths that come from a message file? Paths hardcoded in a
Java program? Output from URI.getPath()? URL.getPath()? File.getPath(),
.getAbsolutePath(), and .getCanonicalPath()? Etc....