Learn how to read, write and copy directories and fills in ProdigyView using PHP

1. File Management Basics

2. Overview
Objective
Learn how to create, copy and delete files within a file
system using PHP and ProdigyView.
Requirements
 Access read/write access to various locations in a file
system
Estimated Time
5 Minutes

3. Follow Along With Code Example
1. Download a copy of the example code at
www.prodigyview.com/source.
2. Install the system in an environment you feel
comfortable testing in.
3. Proceed to examples/util/FileManagement1.php

4. What is File Management
File management is the process of reading and writing a
file.
If you have performed reading and writing files in
PHP, you may have come across minor frustration if
fread() and fwrite() are being used. You may also have
come across problems with encoding issues or questions
on how to copy entire directories.
ProdigyView takes care of those difficulties for you.

5. File Locations
Let’s begin this example with creating the directories the
file will be placed in. If you remember the PV_FILE
defines, it sets the location in your file system to place
files.

6. Writing A File
Writing a file is accomplished with this method:
Passing the variables to this function break down like this.
 $file: The location of the file to write
 $content: The contents to put in the file
 $mode : The mode in writing the file. The default is ‘w’ which
means write only. If you pass ‘a’, that will append to the file.
 $encoding: By default, no encoding is added to a file but you
can always add one.

7. Write a File Code
With our previous variables set up, lets write information to a
file.
1. File Location 2. Content to write to file 3. Append content to file
4. Set the encoding

8. Reading A File
Reading a file has similar options of writing a file. To read
a file, this function is used:
 $file: The location of the file to read
 $mode: The mode to use when reading the file. The
same mode options are used that are used in fopen()
function can be used here.
 $encoding: Default is no encoding, but an encoding
can be used for the file being returned.

9. Reading File Example
Now that you have the functions for writing and reading a
file, lets put our code to use.
`. Read the file from a location 2. Set the mode for reading a file
3. Set the encoding for the file

10. New File Only!
Now that we have basics for writing and reading a file, lets
implement some file protection. Using the function
writeNewFile() takes in the exact same parameters as
writeFile, except it checks if the file exist first.
Will write a file only if it does not exist

11. Write File Only If It Exist
The opposite of of writeNewFile() is to rewriteNewFile().
This function will only write to a file if it already exist.
1. Write to file only if it exist
2. Read the file

12. Directories
One of the things ProdigyView tries to make easier to
manage is directories. ProdigyView provides the ability to
copy entire directories and the ability to delete directories
will relative ease.
1. Set directory to copy 2. Set location to copy directory
3. Delete an entire directory

13. Review
1. Write a file with PVFileManager::writeFile() method.
1. PVFileManager::writeNewFile() will only write a file if it
DOES NOT already exist.
2. PVFileManager::rewriteNewFile() will only write a file if
it DOES exist
2. Read a file using PVFileManager::readFile() method.
3. Copy directories using
PVFileManager::copyDirectory() method.
4. Delete A directory by using
PVFileManager::deleteDirectory() method.

14. API Reference
For a better understanding of file management in
ProdigyView, visit the api by clicking on the link below.
PVFileManager
More Tutorials
For more tutorials, please visit:
http://www.prodigyview.com/tutorials
www.prodigyview.com