Avoid the Windows 256 path+filename limitations

[erasmus]

I sent in a bug report a few months back and you correctly pointed that I had run afoul of this Windows limitation regarding the max char length of path and or filename in a playlist and so was having the tracks skipped. 

I was wondering if there were any plans of addressing this issue or is it something that just has to be put up with due to Windows?

I can understand if you feel it's out of scope for Wacup but it's pretty annoying.

[dro]

It's something I would like to fully support & I've made some changes over the past few builds to better improve the handling compared to Winamp/earlier WACUP builds where I've been able to.

However the generic opt-in that running on the specific Win10 build & newer doesn't work well unless everything running knows how to deal with it. It is possible to do it on older versions but it also relies upon using fully qualified UNC paths & that itself needs support to deal with it which isn't the case.

Realistically this is something I'd aim to be done when a native 64-bit WACUP client is available as I don't have to worry much about 3rd party compatibility at that point.

-dro

[Aminifu]

I use TLPD (https://sourceforge.net/projects/tlpd/) to check for path name too long for my audio and video files. It's a free utility that runs relatively quickly and generates a log of all paths longer than a settable threshold value.

[erasmus]

It's something I would like to fully support & ......

Realistically this is something I'd aim to be done when a native 64-bit WACUP client is available as I don't have to worry much about 3rd party compatibility at that point.

-dro

Ok great, thanks for explaining.  I'm hopeful the project gets to that point and kudos for the progress you've been currently maintaining. 

I use TLPD (https://sourceforge.net/projects/tlpd/) to check for path name too long for my audio and video files. It's a free utility that runs relatively quickly and generates a log of all paths longer than a settable threshold value.

Thanks for the link  , but for the most part this issue comes in play it's not from filenames I've generated but from digitally source albums (from Steam, bandcamp, etc..) and I'd rather not alter the original filenames, even if they're long and include album/artist/track#/title/year/etc...

[dro]

Funny thing is I never feel like I'm making enough progress but I probably shouldn't be comparing myself to the big teams or what webdevs can knock out, heh.

-dro

[Dr.Flay]

Don't change the file names, change the folder locations.
I have my steam games installed to F:/Steam/
My music is in Y:/Audio/Music/

Windows itself is the problem, so give it a helping hand by not having your folders buried so deep.

[dro]

The "issue" is down to the limits for paths from FAT32 being the common upper limit so things could run consistently across Win9x & NT (unless you adopted UNC paths & then depending on the OS support can go to a 32K buffer size). Should longer paths be allowed / accessible if not done via the common apis is a whole can of worms but it is what it is & is something I'm keeping in mind as I gradual work my way through things.

It's a pain that MAX_PATH (260 characters) exists in a number of the OS APIs but then also lots of programs aren't coded to go higher (Winamp / WACUP not helped with often old input plug-ins that are still used being the issue). Compatibility is a double-edged sword in being helpful at times & a hindrence at others.

-dro

[HannibalAnthrope]

fwiw: I've used an open-source lib called "Alphaleonis" which replaces System.IO entirely and has a ton of great features, like solving this problem, as well as a lot of security related "no access" type problems as well.  Great lib (I have no connection to them), and it was a literal drop-in replacement for every project I tried, and a couple were large.