clean working directory?

General
1

I want to have a tmp folder for each instance of my application running on a server.
When my application finishes I want to clean up that folder and any subdirectories it create under that folder + files within those.
Suggestions… folder.delete might work if the folder has no children… but I need to be thorough and clean recursively from my tmp folder down…

2

There’s an example in the LR that seems to do what you want :slight_smile:
http://documentation.xojo.com/index.php/FolderItem.Delete

Function DeleteEntireFolder(theFolder as FolderItem, continueIfErrors as Boolean = false) As Integer
  // Returns an error code if it fails, or zero if the folder was deleted successfully
  
  dim returnCode, lastErr, itemCount as integer
  dim files(), dirs() as FolderItem
  
  if theFolder = nil or not theFolder.Exists() then
    return 0
  end if
  
  // Collect the folder‘s contents first.
  // This is faster than collecting them in reverse order and deleting them right away!
  itemCount = theFolder.Count
  for i as integer = 1 to itemCount
    dim f as FolderItem
    f = theFolder.TrueItem( i )
    if f <> nil then
      if f.Directory then
        dirs.Append f
      else
        files.Append f
      end if
    end if
  next
  
  // Now delete the files
  for each f as FolderItem in files
    f.Delete
    lastErr = f.LastErrorCode   // Check if an error occurred
    if lastErr <> 0 then
      if continueIfErrors then
        if returnCode = 0 then returnCode = lastErr
      else
        // Return the error code if any. This will cancel the deletion.
        return lastErr
      end if
    end if
  next
  
  redim files(-1) // free the memory used by the files array before we enter recursion
  
  // Now delete the directories
  for each f as FolderItem in dirs
    lastErr = DeleteEntireFolder( f, continueIfErrors )
    if lastErr <> 0 then
      if continueIfErrors then
        if returnCode = 0 then returnCode = lastErr
      else
        // Return the error code if any. This will cancel the deletion.
        return lastErr
      end if
    end if
  next
  
  if returnCode = 0 then
    // We‘re done without error, so the folder should be empty and we can delete it.
    theFolder.Delete
    returnCode = theFolder.LastErrorCode
  end if
  
  return returnCode
End Function
3

Boy, that was timely! I was just starting to implement a recursive folder deletion routine for an app I’m writing. You just saved me at least a couple of hours coding and testing.