If you’ve ever had an error like 'IWonderWhere:ThisIs' is a directory you’ll understand that RISC OS’s flexible path-based filing system syntax does not make it easy to find where a problem object actually is.

WhatTheFile (WTF) fixes this by canonicalising the pathname passed to OS_File,19 (which is what generates the oh-so-helpful error report) so that you can tell WTF it’s actually complaining about.

This was written during the Zoom meeting where the problem was described, but the meeting had a late finish (they always do!) and I forgot all about it. Anyway, thanks Chris for the suggestion.

List open files!!! *Handles

Access any open file by using its file handle as a name!!! *Dump #254

Erm,  that’s it!!!

Saving to a Path Variable

If you have a path variable called Foo$Path then you can load a file called “Foo:Bar”, but RISC OS has always refused to save that file if the path variable contains more than one element. This module fixes that.

RO4.3 and RO6 use a variable called Foo$Write in preference when writing, if it is defined. This module brings this functionality to all OS versions. Even RO5.

This is a Beta: I only wrote it today after a suggestion at 2am this morning, so it’s possible that it may try to convert you to a different religion or otherwise disappoint your trust.

PublicFilter intercepts Adjust-clicks on the Filer Icons for ADFS, HostFS, ShareFS, SDFS and ResourceFS, and thereby opens a configurable directory instead of the root (or in the case of the Apps icon, the root instead of $.Apps).

System Variables

Drive names starting with a colon are ignored. Otherwise it looks for a SysVar called Public$<fs>::<drive> which should be a drive-relative path starting with $. (or the equivalent) If not defined, it will try $.Public as is commonly used for Acorn Access (ShareFS).

For example, if you use ADFS and your boot drive is called HardDisc, then this will allow Adjust-click on the drive icon to open the Boot directory:

*Set Public$ADFS::HardDisc $.!Boot.Choices.Users.Single.Boot