Q36030: QuickBASIC Uses File Handles, Not File Control Blocks (FCBs)

Article: Q36030
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 1.00 1.01 1.02 2.00 2.01 3.00 4.00 4.00b 4.50
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | B_BasicCom | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 15-DEC-1989

MS-DOS supports two distinct but overlapping sets of file and record
management services:

1. File control blocks (FCBs) (introduced in MS-DOS Versions 1.x)

2. File handles (introduced in MS-DOS Version 2.00)

The OPEN statement in the following products opens a file handle, not
an FCB: Microsoft QuickBASIC Versions 1.00, 1.01, 1.02, 2.00, 2.10,
3.00, 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50 for MS-DOS, Microsoft BASIC Compiler
Versions 6.00 and 6.00b for MS-DOS, and Microsoft BASIC PDS Version
7.00 for MS-DOS.

A QuickBASIC or BASIC compiler program can indirectly use FCBs by
calling an assembly language routine or DOS interrupts to perform the
FCB manipulations.

The Microsoft BASIC Compiler Versions 5.35 and 5.36 both use File
Control Blocks. These versions of the compiler were designed to
operate under DOS 1.x and, therefore, always use FCBs to access files.

The handle-oriented MS-DOS functions use null-terminated (ASCII)
filenames and 16-bit file identifiers, called handles, which are
returned by MS-DOS after a file is opened or created. File handles
allow names that may include paths that show the location of the file
within the hierarchical directory structure. The following file-handle
information is maintained in a table internal to MS-DOS:

   The current read/write pointer for the file

   The date and time of the last write to the file

   The file's read/write permissions, sharing mode, and attributes

In contrast, the FCB-oriented MS-DOS functions use a 37-byte structure
called a file control block, located in the application program's
memory space, to specify the name and location of the file. After a
file is opened or created, the FCB is used to hold other information
about the file, such as the current read/write file pointer, while
that file is in use.

Because FCBs predate the hierarchical directory structure introduced
in MS-DOS Version 2.00, the FCB functions cannot be used to access
files that are not in the current directory. FCBs also do not support
the file and record locking functions that are essential to network
applications.

This information about FCB's and file handles is taken from "The
MS-DOS Encyclopedia" (Published by Microsoft Press, Copyright 1988).

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