How should we handle a forward slash "/" in new file and rename dialogs?

[David Faure]

On Friday 02 November 2012 22:15:18 Mark wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 10:08 PM, Mark <markg85 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 10:39 PM, Frank Reininghaus
> > 
> > <frank78ac at googlemail.com> wrote:
> >> Hi Mark and Emmanuel,
> >> 
> >> thanks for your investigations!
> >> 
> >> 2012/10/30 Mark:
> >> > Hi,
> >> > 
> >> > I'm doing a bit of dolphin bug triaging and encountered a few bugs
> >> > already that have something to do with a "/" in a filename. See [1]
> >> > and [2]. I can see a few possible solutions here.
> >> > 
> >> > 1. "/" is forbidden.
> >> > --------------------------------------
> >> > Since "/" is a directory seperator it might just be unwise to even
> >> > consider using it in a filename. Also, if dolphin supports this it's
> >> > by far a certainty that others support it as well.
> >> > 
> >> > 2. Replace "/" by "⁄".
> >> > --------------------------------------
> >> > It looks like a slash but is a divider sign. This might be a workable
> >> > solution but will change the user input (a "/") to the divider symbol.
> >> 
> >> it seems that this currently happens when renaming with the rename
> >> dialog, even though I can't see why this could make sense. Before we
> >> discuss this further, could someone investigate where in the code the
> >> replacement happens and why it's done?
> >> 
> >> Best regards,
> >> Frank
> > 
> > I've done a few hours (!!) of digging just to find where the / is
> > replaced by a ⁄ and couldn't find it within the dolphin sources.
> > Actually, the new file stuff all seems to be going through
> > DolphinNewFileMenu which goos back to a KNewFileMenu which can be
> > found here:
> > http://api.kde.org/4.9-api/kdelibs-apidocs/kfile/html/knewfilemenu_8cpp_s
> > ource.html From there on i'm losing it's path since i'm trying to follow
> > the
> > KInputDialog, but that class in only included in that file, not
> > actually used.
> > 
> > Adding David to the CC since he might know more here? (he is in the
> > author list of that file). David, what i'm trying to figure out is why
> > a "/" is replaced by a "⁄" (notice the subtle difference) when it's
> > used inside a filename. A "\" doesn't get replaced and just works as
> > expected.
> 
> GOTCHA!
> http://api.kde.org/4.9-api/kdelibs-apidocs/kio/html/global_8cpp_source.html
> line 149 is the one that translates "/" to "⁄".
> 
> Now the question is: Why?

So that it can be used in a filename.

E.g. you can create a file named http:⁄⁄www.kde.org.desktop
containing a link to that URL.

KDE - no limitations in file names, even '/' is allowed.

-- 
David Faure, faure at kde.org, http://www.davidfaure.fr
Working on KDE, in particular KDE Frameworks 5