Feature: support "shortcut" Custom directory

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I use Dropbox to keep things synchronized between computers with the builder.  
(For example, my "Saved Characters" directory gets pointed into my dropbox 
folder.

It would be nice to keep the Custom folder synchronized the same way.  
Obviously I could make a symlink, but XP doesn't come with any native utility 
to create symlinks.  A shortcut seems the more natural way, but that requires 
special handling from the application, apparently.

I created a shortcut called "Custom".  When I run the loader I get "Could not 
find a part of the path 'C:\Program File\Wizards of the Coast\Character 
Builder\CharBuilderFull_p\custom'

Could using a shortcut for the custom directory be supported?

Original issue reported on code.google.com by kilpa...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2010 at 4:21

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Forgive me, i'm a bit unclear about the use case here. 
Is this all correct? You have some dropbox folder, lets call it c:\dropbox\ 
with a shortcut inside to C:\Program File\Wizards of the Coast\Character 
Builder\CharBuilderFull_p\custom? When you sync with dropbox between machines, 
and then run cbloader, you get an error about that directory not existing?

If that _is_ all correct, can you confirm that C:\Program File\Wizards of the 
Coast\Character Builder\CharBuilderFull_p\custom _does_ exist on your machine?

If it isn't, please help me understand what you are doing.

Original comment by jeff.h...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2010 at 4:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

C:\Documents and Settings\Doug Kilpatrick\My Documents\My Dropbox

Dropbox has a daemon running, so that folder is synchronized between machines 
in real time... (or when you log in, if the machine was off when the changes 
were made).

I have a folder "C:\Documents and Settings\Doug Kilpatrick\My Documents\My 
Dropbox\cbloader\Custom" that has two *.part files in it.

I have a shortcut inside "C:\Program File\Wizards of the Coast\Character 
Builder\CharBuilderFull_p" called "Custom" that points to the folder of the 
same name inside dropbox.  I can double click on that shortcut in the file 
browser, and I get taken to the view of the folder inside dropbox.

Does that help?

Original comment by kilpa...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2010 at 4:57

[GoogleCodeExporter]

If I go into the directory and run "dir", the shortcut shows up as 
"Custom.lnk", not "Custom", which I assume is the issue or part of the issue.  
"cd Custom.lnk" does not work, obviously.

Original comment by kilpa...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2010 at 5:02

[GoogleCodeExporter]

it does. Very much. I understand the issue, I would have to add explicit 
support for this scenario. Have you tried using a shortcut from within your 
dropbox folder to the 'real' character builder folder? If dropbox already 
supports resolving the shortcut, we can bypass this one for now.

Original comment by jeff.h...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2010 at 5:05

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Dropbox is cross platform, so that won't really work.  (It will copy of the 
foo.lnk file, and not know to recurse into it.  Or if something happens, it 
might delete the link and recreate it as a directory.)

I have created symlinks in XP before, so I know it's possible.  But i don't 
happen to have the utility ("junction") handy right now.  I'll download that 
for my workaround.

Original comment by kilpa...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2010 at 5:23

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'll add this when I can.

Original comment by jeff.h...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2010 at 5:30

• Changed state: Accepted
• Added labels: Priority-Low, Type-Enhancement
• Removed labels: Priority-Medium, Type-Defect

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Any easy workaround for this is to simply copy the entire CharBuilderFull_p 
folder into your dropbox folder - It's what I've been doing for some time.

Original comment by YeOldeSt...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2010 at 11:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

NTFS junctions are quirky, but they're probably close enough to symlinks.  the 
linkd.exe utility can be easily found on Google to create them.

Original comment by vaultdwe...@gmail.com on 25 Nov 2010 at 1:46

[GoogleCodeExporter]

While I have not added shortcut support, the best workaround for this is 
probably to create your own file named cbloader.bat containing the following 
line:
cbloader.exe -f "C:\Documents and Settings\Doug Kilpatrick\My Documents\My 
Dropbox\cbloader\Custom"

this will force cbloader to look in your custom directory for .part files. 
(This feature is now functional in v1.1.2.

Original comment by jeff.h...@gmail.com on 27 Nov 2010 at 7:39

• Changed state: Fixed