>Larry,
>
>>Joe,
>>Do you have the appropriate namespace installed on the Noevell server to support long file names? I believe (although I'm not sure) it's the OS2 namespace. Maybe that would have something to do with it.
>
>I am not sure what you mean or how to check it... We have long file names supported on Novell, and can access everything just fine. I just noticed this little quirk where a directory name greater than 8 characters will return .T. for both DIRECTORY() and DIRECTORY()
>
>This isn't a bug that is hosing me up at all, I just wanted to try to figure it out. I still think it may have something to do with SALVAGE or some other file info that Novell caches, as I am sure we probably had sometihng of that name before...wait, easy enough to test...nope, even with a completely original directory name ("blahblahyadayada") DIRECTORY() returns true for both "blahblahyadayada" and "blahblah".
>
>Let me know more how to check on what you asked, and I will see what I can find out...thanks for your response!
>
>JoeK

Joe,
All long file names have an associated short (DOS) file name. The problem is in how Novell translates the long file names. It uses the first 8 characters of the name if no other files/directories exist with that name. If one does, it truncates the name by 1 character and appends a 0 for the first, 1 for the second, etc. NT/2000 uses the first 6 characters and appends a ~1 for the first, ~2 for the second, etc. Because Novell translates it that way, the first 8 charcaters is valid. If you try to create a file in that directory, it will use the it.

FYI, to check namespaces install on a given volume:

From a DOS/CMD prompt, run Filer from the Noevell SYS:Public directory. Choose Select Current Directory. Press Insert to bring up a listing and navigate until you get to the appropriate volume. From the menu, choose View Volume Information - Features. You can see the namespaces installed on the display.

Because you can create files/directories with long file names, it is installed (as you said). It also happens to be what is causing the unexpected behavior.

Larry Miller
MCSD
LWMiller3@verizon.net

Accumulate learning by study, understand what you learn by questioning. -- Mingjiao