[jira] [Updated] (VFS-443) Need an easy way to convert from a FileObject to a File

["Nicholas Allen (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

     [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/VFS-443?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel ]

Nicholas Allen updated VFS-443:
-------------------------------

    Description: 
I've seen the reasons why Apache does not want to provide an easy way to convert from a FileObject to a java.io.File and those reasons make sense - however, I think that some things are being overlooked and there are still valid reasons for needing to convert from a FileObject to a File.

Firstly, I would like to always use Apache VFS for everything I do - even if I know it's only on the local file system. The reasons for this are:

1. it makes the code more flexible (it might start of being local file system and then as specs change it could become a requirement to work over http or inside zip files for example). 

2. The API is nicer to use than the java.io.File and it's easier to write cross platform code using it (file separator is always "/" etc).

So if I work with Apache VFS for local file system use I would like to be able to get back to a java.io.File in case I need to interface with same other library. I would like a method that converted to a File or null if not possible. This would allow me to take an alternate action (eg copy file to local temp file if it's not already a local file). There's no need to copy the file if it is already local.

The simplest fix for this is to just make the getLocalFile() method in LocalFile public. Once the user knows it's a LocalFile object it makes sense to call this method to obtain the java.io.File. So I could write a method like this:

{code:title=FileUtilities.java}
/**
    * If the supplied {@link FileObject} represents a local file then this returns that, otherwise
    * returns null.
    */
   public File getLocalFile(final FileObject fileObject)
   {
      if (fileObject instanceof LocalFile)
      {
         final LocalFile localFile = (LocalFile)fileObject;

         return localFile.getLocalFile();
      }

      return null;
   }
{code}

  was:
I've seen the reasons why Apache does not want to provide an easy way to convert from a FileObject to a java.io.File and those reasons make sense - however, I think that some things are being overlooked and there are still valid reasons for needing to convert from a FileObject to a File.

Firstly, I would like to always use Apache VFS for everything I do - even if I know it's only on the local file system. The reasons for this are:

1. it makes the code more flexible (it might start of being local file system and then as specs change it could become a requirement to work over http or inside zip files for example). 

2. The API is nicer to use than the java.io.File and it's easier to write cross platform code using it (file separator is always "/" etc).

So if I work with Apache VFS for local file system use I would like to be able to get back to a java.io.File in case I need to interface with same other library. I would like a method that converted to a File or null if not possible. This would allow me to take an alternate action (eg copy file to local temp file if it's not already a local file). There's no need to copy the file if it is already local.

The simplest fix for this is to just make the getLocalFile() method in LocalFile public. Once the user knows it's a LocalFile object it makes sense to call this method to obtain the java.io.File. So I could write a method like this:

/**
    * If the supplied {@link FileObject} represents a local file then this returns that, otherwise
    * returns null.
    */
   public File getLocalFile(final FileObject fileObject)
   {
      if (fileObject instanceof LocalFile)
      {
         final LocalFile localFile = (LocalFile)fileObject;

         return localFile.getLocalFile();
      }

      return null;
   }

    
> Need an easy way to convert from a FileObject to a File
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: VFS-443
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/VFS-443
>             Project: Commons VFS
>          Issue Type: Bug
>    Affects Versions: 2.0
>            Reporter: Nicholas Allen
>            Assignee: Gary Gregory
>             Fix For: 2.1
>
>
> I've seen the reasons why Apache does not want to provide an easy way to convert from a FileObject to a java.io.File and those reasons make sense - however, I think that some things are being overlooked and there are still valid reasons for needing to convert from a FileObject to a File.
> Firstly, I would like to always use Apache VFS for everything I do - even if I know it's only on the local file system. The reasons for this are:
> 1. it makes the code more flexible (it might start of being local file system and then as specs change it could become a requirement to work over http or inside zip files for example). 
> 2. The API is nicer to use than the java.io.File and it's easier to write cross platform code using it (file separator is always "/" etc).
> So if I work with Apache VFS for local file system use I would like to be able to get back to a java.io.File in case I need to interface with same other library. I would like a method that converted to a File or null if not possible. This would allow me to take an alternate action (eg copy file to local temp file if it's not already a local file). There's no need to copy the file if it is already local.
> The simplest fix for this is to just make the getLocalFile() method in LocalFile public. Once the user knows it's a LocalFile object it makes sense to call this method to obtain the java.io.File. So I could write a method like this:
> {code:title=FileUtilities.java}
> /**
>     * If the supplied {@link FileObject} represents a local file then this returns that, otherwise
>     * returns null.
>     */
>    public File getLocalFile(final FileObject fileObject)
>    {
>       if (fileObject instanceof LocalFile)
>       {
>          final LocalFile localFile = (LocalFile)fileObject;
>          return localFile.getLocalFile();
>       }
>       return null;
>    }
> {code}

--
This message is automatically generated by JIRA.
If you think it was sent incorrectly, please contact your JIRA administrators
For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira