ofstream file error checks?

**Mike Wahler** · Jul 19 '05, 04:31 PM

Re: ofstream file error checks?

steve <steveu@w-steveu.ih.lucen t.com> wrote in message
news:bhtj79$irj @netnews.proxy. lucent.com...[color=blue]
>
> Is there a way to catch file errors while writing
> to a file using ofstream?[/color]

Yes. Depending upon which functions you use,
either check the function return value, or
check the stream state.
[color=blue]
> For ex., if the file is deleted or permissions changed
> by another process after it is opened,[/color]

If your operating system allows one process to delete
or modify such attributes of a file that is already open
by another process, I think you need a new operating system. :-)
[color=blue]
> or when the disk is full.[/color]

If a write operation fails for whatever reason,
the stream state willbe in a 'fail' state. Check for

stream.good() == false
or
stream.fail() == true
or
stream.bad() == true
[color=blue]
>
> I couldn't figure out which members could be used
> to check for these types of errors.
> I tried the good(), bad(), fail() etc.,
> after writing to a full disk, deleted file etc.
> They all returned success always.[/color]

Show us the code.
[color=blue]
>
> Regarding the usage, I'm opening the file using
> ofstream(....) and then using "<<" to do the writes.
> Thanks for any help.[/color]

Show us the code. Try to compose a small compilable
program that exhibits the problem behavior.

-Mike

**Raoul Gough** · Jul 19 '05, 04:31 PM

Re: ofstream file error checks?

steveu@w-steveu.ih.lucen t.com (steve) writes:
[color=blue]
> Thanks for the response.
> Below is the sample program I compiled with
> CC on Unix(Solaris8) Sun Ultra. Executed in one shell
> window. While on the sleep line, from another shell
> window, ran "rm MyFile". When done, file was removed
> but got all "SUCCESS" outputs on screen, never got
> to the "FAIL" line, no coredump.[/color]

As I mentioned in my other post, this is correct Unix behaviour.
However, there *are* o/s specific means of locking a file - maybe you
should look into them (but you'll need a newsgroup like
comp.unix.progr ammer for that, since it goes beyond what C++
provides).
[color=blue]
> Tried similar scenario
> where disk is full. Same result! Am I missing something?[/color]

Don't know about the disk full error - did you try flushing or closing
the file before assuming that the write succeeded?
[color=blue]
> =============== =============== =============== ===
> #include <string>
> #include <fstream>
> #include <iostream>
>
> using namespace std;
>
> main(int , char **)
> {
> string s1 = "MyFile";
> ofstream out(s1.c_str(), ios::out|ios::a pp);
> if(out.good()) {
> cout << "good() - SUCCESS " << endl;
> } else {
> cout << "good() - FAIL " << endl;
> }
> out << "File opened" << endl;
>
> sleep(10); // Another Unix shell window execute "rm MyFile"
>
> out << "Hello World" << endl;
> out.flush();
>
> if(out.good()) {
> cout << "good() - SUCCESS " << endl;
> } else {
> cout << "good() - FAIL " << endl;
> }
> if(out.fail()) {
> cout << "fail() - FAIL " << endl;
> } else {
> cout << "fail() - SUCCESS " << endl;
> }
> if(out.bad()) {
> cout << "bad() - FAIL " << endl;
> } else {
> cout << "bad() - SUCCESS " << endl;
> }
>
> out.close();[/color]

Try searching for some of James Kanze's articles in
comp.lang.c++.m oderated, about why you shouldn't rely on calling
close() from within destructors (if the close fails, what do you do
then?). Maybe the close is failing here?

[snip]
--
Raoul Gough
"Let there be one measure for wine throughout our kingdom, and one
measure for ale, and one measure for corn" - Magna Carta

ofstream file error checks?

ofstream file error checks?

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