I'm not a developer of [vfs], only a user, but having seen the source code for the File class, it's not worth the effort to subclass. Most people anyway make assumptions when they see a "File" object (as they should). One of the basic assumptions is that they can pass it to a FileReader or FileInputStream to read it. Which, of course, if you subclass File for something that is not really a local file, isn't going to work very well. The constructor of FileInputStream calls the native method "open", which is coded for local files.
As a result, it's much better to create a new abstraction (which they've done), so there's no confusion, and less potential for error. -----Original Message----- From: Gary Gregory [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 2:20 PM To: 'Jakarta Commons Developers List' Subject: [vsf] WAS: [general] Zip file proxy? Ah, yes, I do recall seing this component, it quite impressive. Could a [vsf] developer comment on the possibility of a java.io.File subclass (or subclasses)? I'd rather not port code... Gary > -----Original Message----- > From: Inger, Matthew [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 10:53 > To: 'Jakarta Commons Developers List' > Subject: RE: [general] Zip file proxy? > > Try commons-vfs > > under the sandbox. You can't treat it as a java.io.File, but there > is a seperate FileObject which abstractly represents a file from any > given file system. Some of the supported filesystems include local, > jar,zip,http,ftp,cifs (windows share),etc... > > Comes with a nice set of ANT tasks as well. :) > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gary Gregory [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 1:49 PM > To: 'Jakarta Commons Developers List' > Subject: [general] Zip file proxy? > > > Hello, > > Does anyone know of a doo-dad in Commons or somewhere that would allow me > to > use a .zip file (and other compressed format) as java.io.File /directory/. > What I have found so far (can't recall now) only works if your code uses a > whole framework of proxies/wrappers. Ideally, such a subclass of File > should > let me traverse the archive just as if it were a directory on disk, which > would allow my current pile of File-based code to work as is. > > Thanks, > Gary
