How do I get the byte size of a substack?

[trevix]

I would like to get by script the file size of a sub stack (well, also of a stack).
Do I have to go the long way?
https://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?t=5397

Thanks

[bogs]

Not sure what you mean by 'the long way' ?

I'm assuming (bad habit there eh wot?) that you already know at least the relative location of the stack and substack your going to check the size of?

If that is the case, you can skip about half the lines in the two examples on that page trying to determine where the stack is located, so whats left?

Those two examples aside though, why wouldn't you just get item 2 of the detailed files?

The detailed files form returns a list of files, one file per line. Each line contains the following attributes, separated by commas:
* The file's name, URL-encoded
* The file's size in bytes (on Mac OS and OS X systems, the size of the file's data fork)
* The resource fork size in bytes (Mac OS and OS X systems only)
* The file's creation date in seconds (Mac OS, OS X, and Windows systems only)
* The file's modification date in seconds
* The file's last-accessed date in seconds (Unix, OS X and Windows systems only)
* The file's last-backup date in seconds (Mac OS and OS X systems only)
* The file's owner (Unix and OS X systems only)
* The file's group owner (Unix and OS X systems only)
* The file's access permissions
* The file's creator and file type (Mac OS and OS X only)
Any attribute that is not supported on the current system is reported as empty.

1, 2, ....

Selection_001.png (10.2 KiB) Viewed 6409 times

I don't know if that would work for a substack, but it should for a main one. I suppose you could always temporarily write the substack out somewhere too.

We haven't even discussed just shelling out and using the OS utilities for doing the same thing, which sometimes are easier to work with.

[FourthWorld]

For what purpose? The size on disk is not the size in RAM. Once we know the goal we can advise on how to achieve it.

[trevix]

I am uploading from LC, using the Filemaker data API, stacks to the remote DB.
I also need to load substack of the same main stack that is doing the routine.
I convert them and put in a var that I upload:

Code: Select all

 put URL ("binfile:/" & tPath) into tFile
put  textEncode(base64Encode(tFile)) into tVar

It works fine, for upload and, on reverse, for download.

Together with the stack, I upload a series of info, like the name, the creation date, description, etc.
I would like also, in Filemaker, to show the size of the stack.
This is the reason for my question.

In effect, I am so used to easy functions of LC, that I hoped for some native GetTheSize(thePath).
May be I can get a rough size of the file from the length of the binary, but I see no corrispondence with real size given by the OS.

So I was just checking out if i missed something from the manual.

[bogs]

In effect, I am so used to easy functions of LC, that I hoped for some native GetTheSize(thePath).

item 2 of the detailed files will do just that, as shown above. There are probably at least 6 more easy ways to do it as well.

[Klaus]

Hi Trevix,

why not create your own GetTheSize(thePath) funktion?
Will take as much time as setting up this thread!


Best

Klaus

[bogs]

Will take as much time as setting up this thread!

Where is the fun in that ?!
Also, would such a function use the detailed files at all?

[Klaus]

Where is the fun in that ?!

Well, teh creation itself would be fun, right?

Also, would such a function use the detailed files at all?

If you know another ways (ecept SHELL) to do this in LC, I'm all ears.

[jacque]

Since the file is in a variable I'd think you could just get the length of the variable.

[trevix]

jacque, as I said:

May be I can get a rough size of the file from the length of the binary, but I see no corrispondence with real size given by the OS.

Couldn't find proportionality

[jacque]

Ah. Right, I missed that. On the other hand, if the variable is what you're uploading, wouldn't the length of it be the actual size? It wouldn't be the same as the memory footprint but it should be the size for transport. (This may be wrong-think, I've never compared the two.)

The only other way I can think of is to query the files as Bogs suggested.

[FourthWorld]

Ah, so we're talking about stack files, not a substack within a stack file. Much simpler.

Getting the length used to be sufficient, back when LC only handled single-byte encodings. But now that LiveCode supports multiple encodings Mark Waddingham recommends using the byte chunk type for binary data, e.g.:

Code: Select all

get the number of bytes of tVar

[trevix]

PERFECT.
This is what I needed.
Thank you

[FourthWorld]

Maybe. If you've already done a binary read of the file into memory, that will help. But if the file is still on disk, the function below will help.

One tip for geting help here is distinguishing between stack files and substacks: A stack file is a file in LiveCode format that contains one mainstack and zero or more substacks.

Obtaining the size of any specific part of a LiveCode file is a different task than just getting the size of a file.

The FileSize function here provides the latter:

Code: Select all

-- Calling example:
on mouseUp
   put "/home/rg/somefolder/somefile.txt" into tFilePath
   put FileSize(tFilePath) into tSize
   put tSize
end mouseUp


-- FileSize takes the path to a file and returns the
-- file's size in bytes:
function FileSize pFilePath
   set the itemdel to "/"
   put files(item 1 to -2 of pFilePath, "detailed") into tFiles
   filter tFiles with urlEncode(last item of pFilePath)&",*"
   set the itemdel to ","
   return item 2 of tFiles
end FileSize