DOCUMENT:Q189751  21-JUL-1998  [vbwin]
TITLE   :INFO: Limitations of the FileSystemObject
PRODUCT :Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
PROD/VER:WINDOWS:5.0
OPER/SYS:WINDOWS
KEYWORDS:

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions
   for Windows, version 5.0
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SUMMARY
=======

This article describes the limitations of the FileSystemObject stored in
the Microsoft Scripting Runtime file, scrrun.dll. For more information
about the FileSystemObject, see the appropriate topics in the Visual Basic
documentation.

MORE INFORMATION
================

 - Reads only ASCII data - while the FileSystemObject can create an ASCII
   or Unicode text file, the FileSystemObject can only read ASCII text
   files.

 - Forward reading line-by-line - the FileSystemObject reads a text file in
   one direction: from the beginning to the end of the text file. Further,
   the FileSystemObject only reads line-by-line. If you need to go back to
   a previous line, then you must return to the beginning of the file and
   read forward to the required line.

 - Cannot open a file for simultaneous reading and writing - you can open
   a file for reading by using the ForReading IOMode parameter of the
   OpenTextFile method. However, if you want to modify the file, you must
   reopen the file for appending or writing and then open a textstream
   object to make your file modifications.

 - Cannot search for file names using wildcards - the FileSystemObject can
   only retrieve a specified file using the GetFile method. You cannot use
   wildcard characters in the filespec parameter of the GetFile method.

 - Cannot return the file version number - the File object in the Files
   collection of the FileSystemObject can return several file properties.
   However, there is no version property. Use the GetFileVersionInfo
   Windows API function to get a file's version information.

 - Cannot sort file names from the files collection - you can iterate
   through the File objects in the Files collection to obtain a list of the
   files in a folder. However, the File objects are not sorted. You need to
   use a sort routine to sort the File objects in the Files collection.

REFERENCES
==========

For additional information, please see the following articles in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q185476
   TITLE     : HOWTO: Search Directories to Find or List Files

   ARTICLE-ID: Q185601
   TITLE     : HOWTO: Recursively Search Directories Using FileSystemObject

   ARTICLE-ID: Q186118
   TITLE     : HOWTO: Use FileSystemObject with Visual Basic

Additional query words: kbDSupport kbDSD kbVBp500 kbVBp kbNoKeyWord
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Version           : WINDOWS:5.0
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbinfo

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