Re: BJ's right, BASIC program in FAQ can't retype $00

[shack@onyx-206.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford)]

pubpc1@library.ucla.edu wrote:
: Nate, the FAQ needs to be revised.  The "Filetype Mismatch"
: error that BASIC.System responds with is not due to resource
: forks at all.  It is due to BASIC.System's inability to deal
: with filetype $00.

Say what?

: After rereading the problems that BJ and others had, I went
: ahead and used a ProDOS 8 utility to retype a test file from
: TXT to $00 and tried to use your BASIC method to type it
: correctly.  I got the same error, so the problem is not the
: fault of the Macintosh.  It can't be a resource fork added
: by GS/OS either, because P8 file typers can still access the
: file.  The problem is specific to filetype $00.  A test file
: of the BIN filetype could be typed to TXT from BASIC.System.

The only things ProDOS 8 can't do with extended files are open,
read, write, destroy, and rename. You can get_file_info and
set_file_info, the system calls used to set file types.

: Try it yourself and see what happens.  Since BASIC.System
: can't handle $00 files, I think it best that you recommend
: readers of the FAQ to get BINSCII from Shareware Solutions II
: (and for GS/OS users, GSHK and GSCII+ from SSII so that they
: can deal with resource forks on an archive and in them).

Here's what I tried:

]create try,t$00
]rename try,test
]verify test
]delete test

Nary an error popped up. So BASIC has no trouble with type $00 files.

You see FILE TYPE MISMATCH with these files since the old ProDOS file system
extension and PC Exchange have a habit of making files extended type $00
files if they can't figure out anything better. BASIC translates the ProDOS 8
unsupported storage_type error into FILE TYPE MISMATCH. And for some dorky
reason, ProDOS 8 returns unsupported storage_type when the rename call is
given the path to an extended file. There's no reason why it couldn't rename
these files.
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