[ZooLib-dev] ZFile API changes

[Andrew G. <ag...@em...>]

I've added Size(), TimeCreated() and TimeModified() methods to 
ZFileSpec, and made concomitant additions to ZFileLoc and its various 
concrete subclasses. I've also changed the names of some of the 
navigational methods on ZFileSpec, partly for aesthetics and partly to 
invalidate existing code because of a change in the interpretation of 
path parameters. Finally I've made most of the code more friendly 
towards C++ libraries where vector<XX>::iterator is a real type and not 
just a typedefed pointer.

The new ZFileSpec method names are Parent, Child, Sibling and Trail. 
They replace GetParent, GetChild, GetSibling and GetDescendant.

Parent returns the parent of the ZFileSpec, just as GetParent did.

Child takes a *filename* as a parameter and returns a ZFileSpec 
referencing the child node with that name. This differs from GetChild, 
which took a ZFileTrail which generally was conversion-constructed from 
a passed-in string. By taking just a name you can now reference 
arbitrary node names, including those containing the posix file 
separator.

Trail works like the old GetChild, in that takes a ZFileTrail. The 
ZFileTrail can be constructed from a string, in which case posix path 
notation is assumed and interpreted. It can also be constructed step by 
step, or by passing iterators referencing a string container, in which 
case there are no restrictions on the names used at each step of the 
trail (except for the empty string, indicating a bounce).

Sibling effectively calls this->Parent().Child(const string&). If you 
want to walk a trail starting at the parent then you should explicitly 
call theFileSpec.Parent().Trail(theTrail).

I've also changed the default values on the various Open and Create 
methods' iPreventWriters parameter. The rule now is that if you open or 
create with any write access then iPreventWriters by default is true. 
Otherwise it defaults to false. I wonder if perhaps there should not be 
any default values provided at all, but they remain until I hear a good 
argument for losing them.

A+
-- 
Andrew Green                           mailto:ag...@em...
Electric Magic Co.               vox: +1 (831) 621 1822