mcarthey has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello all!

I've tried a few methods of trying to set file attributes, but the result is always the same:

Argument "READONLY" isn't numeric

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I've tried setting the value in the following manners:

Method 1:

# get current file attributes
Win32::File::GetAttributes($file, my $attr);
# set file attributes to allow editing
$attr |= READONLY;
Win32::File::SetAttributes($file, $attr);

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Method 2: 
my $setReadOnlyAttribute = READONLY;
# set file attributes to allow editing
Win32::File::SetAttributes($file, $setReadOnlyAttribute);

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The $file value contains the path and filename. It appears obvious that the problem is the READONLY value, but I don't see how else to set this. I've searched but haven't been able to come up with anyone having the same problem. I thought perhaps READONLY was incorrectly defined, so have also tried other values such as NORMAL, and HIDDEN, but I have the same issue.

Thanks for any insight!

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Win32::File::SetAttributes not numeric?
by afoken (Chancellor) on Jun 05, 2009 at 19:25 UTC

    Looks like perl thinks READONLY is a bareword, not a constant. use Win32::File; should automatically import those constants. Show us your code, especially the part that loads Win32::File.

    Alexander

    --
    Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)
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Re: Win32::File::SetAttributes not numeric?
by mcarthey (Novice) on Jun 05, 2009 at 19:36 UTC

    Sorry to bother all... but after hours of looking at this I finally figured it out, although I don't completely understand the reason.

    I simply moved the use Win32::File; line from the top of my code to the subroutine in which it was used.

    Thanks!
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      Bad fix. The use needs to be in the same package, but it putting in the sub looses readability and maintainability points.

      By the way, use use strict; use warnings;!!

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        I am currently using the pragmas use strict; use warnings; use diagnostics;

        I'd much prefer to keep the use Win32::File;at the top of the package, but apparently my module doesn't like that.

        The subroutine contains the following:

            
my $setROattr = READONLY;
my $unsetROattr = ~READONLY;

# set file attributes to allow editing
Win32::File::SetAttributes($file, $unsetROattr);

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        .. and the error with use Win32::File; at the top of the package is still... 
        Argument "READONLY" isn't numeric in subroutine entry

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        Thanks for the help!
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