TemporaryRepos

Owns one folder on disk that a linelist build writes its working files into. Create takes the base directory, or falls back to the default one. RootPath answers the folder, EnsureReady creates it, and CreateFilePath builds a path inside it from a file name it cleans first. DeleteFile removes one file, DeleteAll empties the folder and creates it again, Reset empties it and marks the object as needing another EnsureReady, and Remove empties it and deletes the folder itself. Terminating an instance empties the folder.

THE KEPT FILE

A build that fails saves its unfinished workbook in this folder and drops the instance right after. KeepFile marks one file name to survive that drop: Class_Terminate deletes every other file and leaves the marked ones. Reset, DeleteAll and Remove are explicit calls and wipe the folder whole, marks included, so the next run that saves its linelist starts clean.

Depends on: ProjectError

Version: 1.2 (2026-09-01)

Factory helpers

Create #

create

Build and initialise a temporary repository service

Signature:

Public Function Create(Optional ByVal baseDirectory As String) As TemporaryRepos

Parameters:

  • baseDirectory: String. Optional custom root location.

Returns: TemporaryRepos. Ready for use.

Lifecycle

EnsureReady #

ensure-ready

Prepare the repository root if it has not already been created

Signature:

Public Sub EnsureReady()

Reset #

reset

Remove all temporary artefacts and mark repository as uninitialised

Signature:

Public Sub Reset()

The kept marks go with the files: a reset repository starts clean.

Remove #

remove

Remove every file and the folder itself

Signature:

Public Sub Remove()

What Reset does, and then the folder goes too. A build that reached its save calls this, so the working folder is not left behind next to the linelist it wrote.

The folder is removed only when it is empty. A removal the file system refuses -- a file this class cannot see, a folder another program holds open -- is left alone: the files this class wrote are gone either way, and the next EnsureReady creates the folder again.

Paths

RootPath #

root-path

Fully-qualified repository root

Signature:

Public Property Get RootPath() As String

Returns: String. Absolute path ending with a path separator.

CreateFilePath #

create-file-path

Generate a safe path for a new temporary file within the repository

Signature:

Public Function CreateFilePath(ByVal fileName As String) As String

Parameters:

  • fileName: String. Requested file name (sanitised when required).

Returns: String. Absolute path ready for file creation.

File operations

DeleteFile #

delete-file

Delete a single file; silently ignore missing paths

Signature:

Public Sub DeleteFile(ByVal path As String)

Parameters:

  • path: String. Absolute file path.

DeleteAll #

delete-all

Remove every file within the repository, then recreate the root folder

Signature:

Public Sub DeleteAll()

The kept marks go with the files, the way Reset drops them.

KeepFile #

keep-file

Mark one file of the repository to survive the drop of the instance

Signature:

Public Sub KeepFile(ByVal fileName As String)

The name is cleaned the way CreateFilePath cleans it, so the mark matches the file that call wrote. Marking the same name twice is one mark. The mark holds until Reset or DeleteAll wipes the folder.

Parameters:

  • fileName: String. The file name inside the repository.
Internal members (not exported)

Factory helpers

Initialise #

initialise

Set the root path and mark the repository as not ready

Signature:

Friend Sub Initialise(Optional ByVal baseDirectory As String)

Parameters:

File operations

IsKept #

is-kept

Whether a file name carries the keep mark

Signature:

Private Function IsKept(ByVal fileName As String) As Boolean

Parameters:

Returns: Boolean. True when KeepFile marked it.

Internal helpers

ResolveRootPath #

resolve-root-path

Determine the root directory used for temporary storage

Signature:

Private Function ResolveRootPath(ByVal baseDirectory As String) As String

Parameters:

Returns: String. Fully-qualified path ending with the repository folder.

EnsureDirectoryExists #

ensure-directory-exists

Create the supplied folder when missing and validate existing paths

Signature:

Private Sub EnsureDirectoryExists(ByVal folderPath As String)

Parameters:

CreateDirectoryTree #

create-directory-tree

Create a directory and all missing parents

Signature:

Private Sub CreateDirectoryTree(ByVal folderPath As String)

Parameters:

IsDirectory #

is-directory

Determine whether the supplied path points to a folder

Signature:

Private Function IsDirectory(ByVal path As String) As Boolean

Parameters:

Returns: Boolean. True when the path is an existing directory.

NormalizePath #

normalize-path

Remove trailing separators and normalise the supplied path string

Signature:

Private Function NormalizePath(ByVal path As String, ByVal sep As String) As String

Parameters:

Returns: String. Cleaned path.

SanitizeFileName #

sanitize-file-name

Replace characters that are invalid on common file systems

Signature:

Private Function SanitizeFileName(ByVal fileName As String) As String

Parameters:

Returns: String. Safe to append to the repository root.

DeleteAllInternal #

delete-all-internal

Wipe every file inside the repository, keeping the folder itself

Signature:

Private Sub DeleteAllInternal(Optional ByVal skipKept As Boolean = False)

The whole listing is read before the first file is deleted. Dir$ walks one folder through state the host holds, and deleting an entry part way through that walk makes the rest of the listing unreliable, so files were left behind. The listing is small: this folder holds the working files of one generation.

A file KeepFile marked is left alone when skipKept is True, which is what the instance drop asks for. The explicit wipes pass False.

Parameters:

Class_Terminate #

class-terminate

Clean up temporary files when the instance is destroyed

Signature:

Private Sub Class_Terminate()

The files KeepFile marked stay: the unfinished linelist of a failed build is saved here right before the instance is dropped.

ThrowError #

throw-error

Raise a typed project error

Signature:

Private Sub ThrowError(ByVal errNumber As ProjectError, ByVal message As String)

Parameters:

Used in (15 file(s))