I'm trying to create a temporary directory called ~/.mydirectory

When I run this code:

DirectoryPath:='~/.mydirectory/';
  if not DirectoryExists(DirectoryPath) then
  try
    ForceDirectories(DirectoryPath);
  except
    MessageDlg('A temporary path could not be
constructed.'+DirectoryPath+#13+#10+
      'Please correct this and try again', mtWarning, [mbOk], 0);
  end;

It appears that the directory (~/mydirectory) does exist although I cannot find it.

What am I doing wrong?

Dave Coventry wrote

What am I doing wrong?

LCL doesn't resolve "~" symbol, use GetUserDir function (SysUtils)

thanks,
dmitry

Ah thanks.

(it used to work, tough)

Dave Coventry wrote

Ah thanks. (it used to work, tough)

really? what version?

thanks,
dmitry

I couldn't really say, to be honest.

But that piece of code was working a year or so ago...

Dave Coventry wrote

I couldn't really say, to be honest. But that piece of code was working a year or so ago...

I'm not sure.
As far as I know "~" is actually shell specific symbol.

i.e. try to compile the following code:

begin
  if ParamCount>0 then writeln(ParamStr(1))
end.

and launch the program from terminal: "./test ~" (no quotes) instead of "~" you'll your home path. The "~" is handled by the shell (as an environment variable) and converted to the correct full-path before passing it to the application.

If you try the same command line on Window, you'll get "~" printed. Because window's shells (except for cygwin, mingwin) are not aware of unix shells conventions home-char "~".

I guess RTL/FCL/LCL is working cross-platform way and doesn't treat "~" in any special way, so the same code would work identical on any system.

thanks,
dmitry