in reply to File Saving

I'm trying to figure out how I can take a file that is currently opened in another program such as Microsoft Word, Paint, etc. and slurp the file data into a Perl variable?

The answer to this will depend upon how the other application has opened the file, and will vary from 'trivial' to 'impossible'.

Of course, the user id that your program runs under will need to have read permissions for the file and directory it is in, regardless of the above.

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Re^2: File Saving
by signalb (Initiate) on Nov 08, 2008 at 18:35 UTC
    Thanks for the reply.

    Do processes typically lock files during runtime or is this an exception and not the rule?
[reply]

      It absolutely depends upon the application. My editor does. Typically spreadsheets do.

      As a rule of thumb, if the application is modifying the file in-place, then it will deny read access, as any asynchronous read might read a non-coherant intermediate state.

      That said, I've got three different video player apps, and even on the same filetype one denies all access, one denies write access and the third doesn't appear to care what other apps do to the file after it has opened it.

      Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
      "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
      In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
[reply]

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