Issue with opening PDF file from FilePro

[Kenneth Brody]

Fairlight wrote:
[...]
> 1) Check for file's existance with exists().  If it's there, open it.  If
> you can open it read/write, then:
> 
> 2) Check the file's size with FILESIZE() on the opened handle.
> 
> 3) Institute a loop that sleeps for one second.  Close the file, re-open
> it, and check FILESIZE() each iteration.  If you go a second with no new
> data, you're -probably- safe to exit the loop and proceed onwards.

There's no need to close/re-open the file.  If the file size changes, then 
FILESIZE() will see it.  (Unless the O/S lies to filePro, which would mean 
that bigger things would fail, like adding records to a file with no free 
records.)

> NOTE:  I do -not- like this solution, as it IS still subject to a race
> condition.

I'm not sure if I would call it a "race condition".  But, you are depending 
on the file size changing between checks, which is in no way guaranteed.

> And if you don't close/re-open the file between checks, be
> it on your own head; I'm 50/50 as to whether or not FILESIZE() will pick
> up on changes to the file's size once it's opened--depends how it's done
> internally.  This could be OS-dependant, or it may be absolute behaviour,
> and only Ken can answer that.

As I said, filePro will see the file size change unless the O/S lies to 
filePro, which would cause other problems elsewhere.

> That said, it -should- give reasonably consistent results if you check the
> actual size over time.

-- 
Kenneth Brody