Humblecoder

Today I have pushed new binaries to CodePlex for DirLinker.  This new release brings support for folder links in Windows XP/2003.  It is not able to create file links, this is because of the limitations in reparse points in earlier versions of Windows.

This is something I didn’t think I would do but after releasing Dirlinker 2 on Codeplex, a ticket was raised in the bug tracker because it was failing on XP and I was chatting to a friend on IM about it who basically said “Well why doesn’t it?”.  The main reason was because the API call for creating symbolic links is only available in Vista and later.  XP does have an equivalent but the behaviour of the links they create is subtly different.  In XP they are Reparse Points where as in Vista+ they are hard links (similar to *nix), I will go in to the difference in a future post.

It turns out that with a little help from a CodeProject article, it took less than an hour to put in and test, so it made it in.  I am definitely parking this to new features now.  Only bug fixes will be added from now on.

After literally months of procrastination Directory Linker 2 is finally in state that I’m not too ashamed of.  So today I have posted up new binaries on Codeplex.

What’s New?

• Undo Support – If the process of moving and deleting a folder before creating a link at the same location failed, you could end up with some files in the new location, some in old and two partial directory structures.  If this happens now DirLinker will offer to put the original folder back how it was.

  If you’re using the just delete option and it fails, undo can not undelete any files but it will put back any folders it deleted.

• File Links – It can now create symbolic links for files as well as directories.  You don’t have to do anything different, just select a file in the link location or the link to field.  There has been a small change to the UI to allow you to browse for files aswell as folders.

  In a future post I’m going to talk about the difference between symbolic links and shortcuts.  But for now the important difference is the application opening file doesn’t know the file is only a link when using symbolic links.

• Progress Window Changes – The progress window has been slightly overhaul and now keeps a list of everything it has done.  So if it does fail or something goes wrong, you can work out exactly what it’s done.

With these features I’m planning on parking Directory Linker development, I will of course fix any bugs that may come up but I can’t see any new features being added.

Enjoy!

PS, If you have no idea what Directory Linker is, this is a good place to start.

I posted up the Directory Linker CodePlex project a little over 2 weeks ago and it has clocked up a reasonable 103 downloads in that time.  Last night I was glancing over where the traffic came from on the stats page and a lot of referrals have come from this review site, they state that:

The app works on Windows 7 and Vista only, support for Windows XP is planned in the near future.

This is incorrect and maybe I should have been more clear that Directory Linker will not support XP unless there is some overwhelming outcry for it or someone else does it.

Why?

First for selfish reasons, I don’t use a machine that has XP installed anymore, furthermore, I would encourage anyone on XP to upgrade for security if nothing else.  At the end of the day, I created this tool for my use and I don’t use XP.

The second reason is technical, without going to far in, symbolic directory links have been in NTFS for quite a while but only got ‘first class’ support by the OS recently.  Previous to Vista they were called Junction Points and had all kinds of weird side effects (more details here).  Also, the API calls used by Directory Linker to create the symobolic link is only supported by Vista and above.  It is technically possible to do the same for XP and it is not difficult but Directory Linker simply doesn’t do it.

I hope that clears things up, also if you find a download link for Director Linker that links to SoftSea in anyway please do not use it.  If you’re not a programmer it’s safe to stop reading now.

Fork You!

Well, I rather you didn’t.  I will happily accept any patch that is submitted to the project to do this.  To help you out here is a quick overview on how to do  it.

1. Locate FolderImp.cs and make the CreateLinkToFolderAt method virtual.
2. Create a new class that inherits from FolderImp and name it to show it is for XP.
3. Override only the CreateLinkToFolderAt and add the code to create a link in XP (Tip: start at DeviceIoControl).
4. Open Program.cs and go to the FillIoCContainer method and add code to conditional select the correct IFolder class when the application starts.

Quite simple really.