Re: File paths (UNC, mapped drives, etc.) in a client-server environment, how to?

From:

"Tom Serface" <tom@camaswood.com>

Newsgroups:

microsoft.public.vc.mfc

Date:

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 14:01:06 -0800

Message-ID:

<es375MFpKHA.3748@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl>

I would use a UNC, although you'll find that file access on older Windows is
a bit slower. It will normally your paths for mapped drives.

Take a look at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa385474(VS.85).aspx

If you want to map a drive or folder that is shared from a local drive
you'll have to fish around in the registry and build the path.

This might help with that:

http://www.codeguru.com/cpp/misc/misc/article.php/c3831/

Tom

"Bogdan" <bogdan@nocompany.com> wrote in message
news:#$bv8#ApKHA.1544@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

Hi,

I have an app that needs to run in a client-server environment. That is,
the app (MFC native) is installed on multiple workstations and accesses a
database on a 'server'. The app stores media file paths (video, audio,
images, etc.) in the database. These files need to be played on any
workstation running the app as well as on the server.
In addition, I also have a Web app (asp.net 3.5) that needs to access the
media files and display them in a Web page.

The app was initially designed to work on a single computer. I need to
make some changes so it could function in a client-server scenario. One
of the issues I need to deal with is file paths that are stored in a sql
database.

I'm looking for some advice on what format would be most appropriate in
this case. I was considering an 'old' way of mapping network drives to
folders. For example, I could make sure that each workstation as well as
the server have M: drive mapped into a folder on the server where the
files are stored. This would work without any code changes. Unfortunately
IIS has some issues with network drives so I need to look for other
solution.
Another option would be to use UNC paths. This would require quite a bit
of work - _makepath(), _splitpath(), translation of paths to UNC in cases
where file path is passed from drag-and-drop, standard dialogs, etc.

Has anyone gone through a similar excursive? Any advice?

Thanks,
Bogdan