All, I have had a curious idea for awhile, and was wondering the best way to implement it in Python and if it is even possible. The concept is this, a file that is actually a folder that contains multiple files (Like an Archive format). The actual files are really un-important. What I want is for the folder to be represented as a single file by any normal file browser, but to be able to access the files with-in via Python. I will actually use the word archive to represent my mystical folder as a file concept for the rest of this message. Some additional things I would like to be possible: is for multiple copies of the program to write to the same archive, but different files with-in at the same time (Reading & Writing to the archive should not lock the archive as long as they are different files); and for just the desired files with-in the archive to be loaded to memory with out having to hold the entire archive in memory. Use case for these additional capabilities. I was reading about how some advanced word processing programs (MS Word) actually save multiple working copies of the file with-in a single file representation and then just prior to combining the working copies it locks the original file and saves the working changes. That is what I would like to do. I want the single file because it is easy for a user to grasp that they need to copy a single file or that they are working on a single file, but it is not so easy for them to grasp the multiple file concepts.
MS Word uses Binary streams as shown here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/0/1/501ED102-E53F-4CE0-AA6B-B0F93629DDC6/WindowsCompoundBinaryFileFormatSpecification.pdf Is this easy to do with python? Does it prevent file locking if you use streams? Is this worth the trouble, or should I just use a directory and forget this magical idea? A piece of reference for my archive thoughts, ISO/IEC 26300:2006 chapter 17.2 _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor