+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+%% Name: file.tex
+%% Purpose: wxFile documentation
+%% Author: Vadim Zeitlin
+%% Modified by:
+%% Created: 14.01.02 (extracted from file.tex)
+%% RCS-ID: $Id$
+%% Copyright: (c) Vadim Zeitlin
+%% License: wxWindows license
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
\section{\class{wxFile}}\label{wxfile}
-A wxFile performs raw file I/O. Note that wxFile::Flush is not implemented on some Windows compilers
-due to a missing fsync function, which reduces the usefulness of this class.
+A wxFile performs raw file I/O. This is a very small class designed to
+minimize the overhead of using it - in fact, there is hardly any overhead at
+all, but using it brings you automatic error checking and hides differences
+between platforms and compilers. wxFile also automatically closes the file in
+its destructor making it unnecessary to worry about forgetting to do it.
+wxFile is a wrapper around {\tt file descriptor.} - see also
+\helpref{wxFFile}{wxffile} for a wrapper around {\tt FILE} structure.
\wxheading{Derived from}
None.
+\wxheading{Include files}
+
+<wx/file.h>
+
+\wxheading{Constants}
+
+wx/file.h defines the following constants:
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+#define wxS_IRUSR 00400
+#define wxS_IWUSR 00200
+#define wxS_IXUSR 00100
+
+#define wxS_IRGRP 00040
+#define wxS_IWGRP 00020
+#define wxS_IXGRP 00010
+
+#define wxS_IROTH 00004
+#define wxS_IWOTH 00002
+#define wxS_IXOTH 00001
+
+// default mode for the new files: corresponds to umask 022
+#define wxS_DEFAULT (wxS_IRUSR | wxS_IWUSR | wxS_IRGRP | wxS_IWGRP | wxS_IROTH | wxS_IWOTH)
+\end{verbatim}
+
+These constants define the file access rights and are used with
+\helpref{wxFile::Create}{wxfilecreate} and \helpref{wxFile::Open}{wxfileopen}.
+
+The {\it OpenMode} enumeration defines the different modes for opening a file,
+it is defined inside wxFile class so its members should be specified with {\it wxFile::} scope
+resolution prefix. It is also used with \helpref{wxFile::Access}{wxfileaccess} function.
+
+\twocolwidtha{7cm}
+\begin{twocollist}\itemsep=0pt%
+\twocolitem{{\bf wxFile::read}}{Open file for reading or test if it can be opened for reading with Access()}
+\twocolitem{{\bf wxFile::write}}{Open file for writing deleting the contents of the file if it already exists
+or test if it can be opened for writing with Access()}
+\twocolitem{{\bf wxFile::read\_write}}{Open file for reading and writing; can not be used with Access()}
+\twocolitem{{\bf wxFile::write\_append}}{Open file for appending: the file is opened for writing, but the old
+contents of the file is not erased and the file pointer is initially placed at the end of the file;
+can not be used with Access(). This is the same as {\bf wxFile::write} if the
+file doesn't exist.}
+\twocolitem{{\bf wxFile::write\_excl}}{Open the file securely for writing (Uses O\_EXCL | O\_CREAT).
+Will fail if the file already exists, else create and open it atomically. Useful for opening temporary files without being vulnerable to race exploits.}
+\end{twocollist}
+
+Other constants defined elsewhere but used by wxFile functions are wxInvalidOffset which represents an
+invalid value of type {\it off\_t} and is returned by functions returning {\it off\_t} on error and the seek
+mode constants used with \helpref{Seek()}{wxfileseek}:
+
+\twocolwidtha{7cm}
+\begin{twocollist}\itemsep=0pt%
+\twocolitem{{\bf wxFromStart}}{Count offset from the start of the file}
+\twocolitem{{\bf wxFromCurrent}}{Count offset from the current position of the file pointer}
+\twocolitem{{\bf wxFromEnd}}{Count offset from the end of the file (backwards)}
+\end{twocollist}
+
\latexignore{\rtfignore{\wxheading{Members}}}
\membersection{wxFile::wxFile}\label{wxfileconstr}
\func{}{wxFile}{\param{const char*}{ filename}, \param{wxFile::OpenMode}{ mode = wxFile::read}}
-Opens a file with the given mode.
+Opens a file with the given mode. As there is no way to return whether the
+operation was successful or not from the constructor you should test the
+return value of \helpref{IsOpened}{wxfileisopened} to check that it didn't
+fail.
\func{}{wxFile}{\param{int}{ fd}}
-Opens a file with the given file descriptor, which has already been opened.
+Associates the file with the given file descriptor, which has already been opened.
\wxheading{Parameters}
\docparam{mode}{The mode in which to open the file. May be one of {\bf wxFile::read}, {\bf wxFile::write} and {\bf wxFile::read\_write}.}
-\docparam{fd}{An existing file descriptor.}
+\docparam{fd}{An existing file descriptor (see \helpref{Attach()}{wxfileattach} for the list of predefined descriptors)}
\membersection{wxFile::\destruct{wxFile}}
\func{}{\destruct{wxFile}}{\void}
-Destructor. This is not virtual, for efficiency.
+Destructor will close the file.
+
+{\bf NB:} it is not virtual so you should not use wxFile polymorphically.
+
+\membersection{wxFile::Access}\label{wxfileaccess}
+
+\func{static bool}{Access}{\param{const char *}{ name}, \param{OpenMode}{ mode}}
+
+This function verifies if we may access the given file in specified mode. Only
+values of wxFile::read or wxFile::write really make sense here.
\membersection{wxFile::Attach}\label{wxfileattach}
\func{void}{Attach}{\param{int}{ fd}}
-Attaches an existing file descriptor to the wxFile object.
+Attaches an existing file descriptor to the wxFile object. Example of predefined
+file descriptors are 0, 1 and 2 which correspond to stdin, stdout and stderr (and
+have symbolic names of {\bf wxFile::fd\_stdin}, {\bf wxFile::fd\_stdout} and {\bf wxFile::fd\_stderr}).
+
+The descriptor should be already opened and it will be closed by wxFile
+object.
\membersection{wxFile::Close}\label{wxfileclose}
\membersection{wxFile::Create}\label{wxfilecreate}
-\func{bool}{Create}{\param{const char*}{ filename}, \param{bool}{ overwrite = FALSE}}
+\func{bool}{Create}{\param{const char*}{ filename}, \param{bool}{ overwrite = FALSE}, \param{int }{access = wxS\_DEFAULT}}
Creates a file for writing. If the file already exists, setting {\bf overwrite} to TRUE
will ensure it is overwritten.
+\membersection{wxFile::Detach}\label{wxfiledetach}
+
+\func{void}{Detach}{\void}
+
+Get back a file descriptor from wxFile object - the caller is responsible for closing the file if this
+descriptor is opened. \helpref{IsOpened()}{wxfileisopened} will return FALSE after call to Detach().
+
+\membersection{wxFile::fd}\label{wxfilefd}
+
+\constfunc{int}{fd}{\void}
+
+Returns the file descriptor associated with the file.
+
\membersection{wxFile::Eof}\label{wxfileeof}
\constfunc{bool}{Eof}{\void}
Returns TRUE if the end of the file has been reached.
+Note that the behaviour of the file pointer based class
+\helpref{wxFFile}{wxffile} is different as \helpref{wxFFile::Eof}{wxffileeof}
+will return TRUE here only if an attempt has been made to read
+{\it past} the last byte of the file, while wxFile::Eof() will return TRUE
+even before such attempt is made if the file pointer is at the last position
+in the file.
+
+Note also that this function doesn't work on unseekable file descriptors
+(examples include pipes, terminals and sockets under Unix) and an attempt to
+use it will result in an error message in such case. So, to read the entire
+file into memory, you should write a loop which uses
+\helpref{Read}{wxfileread} repeatedly and tests its return condition instead
+of using Eof() as this will not work for special files under Unix.
+
\membersection{wxFile::Exists}\label{wxfileexists}
\func{static bool}{Exists}{\param{const char*}{ filename}}
-Returns TRUE if the file exists.
+Returns TRUE if the given name specifies an existing regular file (not a
+directory or a link)
\membersection{wxFile::Flush}\label{wxfileflush}
\func{bool}{Flush}{\void}
-Flushes the file descriptor. Not implemented for some Windows compilers.
+Flushes the file descriptor.
+
+Note that wxFile::Flush is not implemented on some Windows compilers
+due to a missing fsync function, which reduces the usefulness of this function
+(it can still be called but it will do nothing on unsupported compilers).
\membersection{wxFile::IsOpened}\label{wxfileisopened}
\wxheading{Return value}
-The number of bytes read, or the symbol {\bf ofsInvalid} (-1) if there was an error.
+The number of bytes read, or the symbol {\bf wxInvalidOffset} (-1) if there was an error.
\membersection{wxFile::Seek}\label{wxfileseek}
-\func{off\_t}{Seek}{\param{off\_t }{ofs}, \param{wxFile::SeekMode }{mode = wxFile::FromStart}}
+\func{off\_t}{Seek}{\param{off\_t }{ofs}, \param{wxSeekMode }{mode = wxFromStart}}
Seeks to the specified position.
\docparam{ofs}{Offset to seek to.}
-\docparam{mode}{One of {\bf wxFile::FromStart}, {\bf wxFile::FromEnd}, {\bf wxFile::FromCurrent}.}
+\docparam{mode}{One of {\bf wxFromStart}, {\bf wxFromEnd}, {\bf wxFromCurrent}.}
\wxheading{Return value}
-The actual offset position achieved, or ofsInvalid on failure.
+The actual offset position achieved, or wxInvalidOffset on failure.
\membersection{wxFile::SeekEnd}\label{wxfileseekend}
\wxheading{Return value}
-The actual offset position achieved, or ofsInvalid on failure.
+The actual offset position achieved, or wxInvalidOffset on failure.
\membersection{wxFile::Tell}\label{wxfiletell}
\constfunc{off\_t}{Tell}{\void}
-Returns the current position.
+Returns the current position or wxInvalidOffset if file is not opened or if another
+error occurred.
\membersection{wxFile::Write}\label{wxfilewrite}
-\func{bool}{Write}{\param{const void*}{ buffer}, \param{off\_t}{ count}}
+\func{size\_t}{Write}{\param{const void*}{ buffer}, \param{off\_t}{ count}}
Writes the specified number of bytes from a buffer.
\wxheading{Return value}
-TRUE if the operation was successful.
+the number of bytes actually written
+
+\membersection{wxFile::Write}\label{wxfilewrites}
+
+\func{bool}{Write}{\param{const wxString\& }{s}, \param{wxMBConv\&}{ conv = wxConvLibc}}
+
+Writes the contents of the string to the file, returns TRUE on success.
+The second argument is only meaningful in Unicode build of wxWindows when
+{\it conv} is used to convert {\it s} to multibyte representation.
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