How would I create/ delete/ read/ write/ NTFS alternate data streams from .NET?
If there is no native .NET support, which Win32 API's would I use? Also, how would I use them, as I don't think this is documented?
How would I create/ delete/ read/ write/ NTFS alternate data streams from .NET?
If there is no native .NET support, which Win32 API's would I use? Also, how would I use them, as I don't think this is documented?
Not in .NET:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/105763
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
void main( )
{
HANDLE hFile, hStream;
DWORD dwRet;
hFile = CreateFile( "testfile",
GENERIC_WRITE,
FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
NULL,
OPEN_ALWAYS,
0,
NULL );
if( hFile == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE )
printf( "Cannot open testfile\n" );
else
WriteFile( hFile, "This is testfile", 16, &dwRet, NULL );
hStream = CreateFile( "testfile:stream",
GENERIC_WRITE,
FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
NULL,
OPEN_ALWAYS,
0,
NULL );
if( hStream == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE )
printf( "Cannot open testfile:stream\n" );
else
WriteFile(hStream, "This is testfile:stream", 23, &dwRet, NULL);
}
Here is a version for C#
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var mainStream = NativeMethods.CreateFileW(
"testfile",
NativeConstants.GENERIC_WRITE,
NativeConstants.FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
IntPtr.Zero,
NativeConstants.OPEN_ALWAYS,
0,
IntPtr.Zero);
var stream = NativeMethods.CreateFileW(
"testfile:stream",
NativeConstants.GENERIC_WRITE,
NativeConstants.FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
IntPtr.Zero,
NativeConstants.OPEN_ALWAYS,
0,
IntPtr.Zero);
}
}
public partial class NativeMethods
{
/// Return Type: HANDLE->void*
///lpFileName: LPCWSTR->WCHAR*
///dwDesiredAccess: DWORD->unsigned int
///dwShareMode: DWORD->unsigned int
///lpSecurityAttributes: LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES->_SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES*
///dwCreationDisposition: DWORD->unsigned int
///dwFlagsAndAttributes: DWORD->unsigned int
///hTemplateFile: HANDLE->void*
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute("kernel32.dll", EntryPoint = "CreateFileW")]
public static extern System.IntPtr CreateFileW([System.Runtime.InteropServices.InAttribute()] [System.Runtime.InteropServices.MarshalAsAttribute(System.Runtime.InteropServices.UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string lpFileName, uint dwDesiredAccess, uint dwShareMode, [System.Runtime.InteropServices.InAttribute()] System.IntPtr lpSecurityAttributes, uint dwCreationDisposition, uint dwFlagsAndAttributes, [System.Runtime.InteropServices.InAttribute()] System.IntPtr hTemplateFile);
}
public partial class NativeConstants
{
/// GENERIC_WRITE -> (0x40000000L)
public const int GENERIC_WRITE = 1073741824;
/// FILE_SHARE_DELETE -> 0x00000004
public const int FILE_SHARE_DELETE = 4;
/// FILE_SHARE_WRITE -> 0x00000002
public const int FILE_SHARE_WRITE = 2;
/// FILE_SHARE_READ -> 0x00000001
public const int FILE_SHARE_READ = 1;
/// OPEN_ALWAYS -> 4
public const int OPEN_ALWAYS = 4;
}
There is no native .NET support for them. You have to use P/Invoke to call the native Win32 methods.
To create them, call CreateFile with a path like filename.txt:streamname
. If you use the interop call that returns a SafeFileHandle, you can use that to construct a FileStream that you can then read & write to.
To list the streams that exist on a file, use FindFirstStreamW and FindNextStreamW (which exist only on Server 2003 and later - not XP).
I don't believe you can delete a stream, except by copying the rest of the file and leaving off one of the streams. Setting the length to 0 may also work, but I haven't tried it.
You can also have alternate data streams on a directory. You access them the same as with files - C:\some\directory:streamname
.
Streams can have compression, encryption and sparseness set on them independent of the default stream.
BTW, if you want to copy file(s) with standard file-copying progress dialog, you can't use ::SHFileOperation() - it does not work with AltDataStreams at all (checked on Windows 7). As for ::CopyFileEx(), it works in some cases (e.g. it can copy a file into AltDataStream while calling the progress callback), but it don't work in others.