4D Doc Center : COPY DOCUMENT

4D v13.4

COPY DOCUMENT


COPY DOCUMENT ( sourceName ; destinationName {; *} )

Parameter	Type	Description
sourceName	String	Pathname of file or folder to be copied
destinationName	String	Name or pathname of copied file or folder
*	Operator	Override existing document if any

The COPY DOCUMENT command copies the file or folder specified by sourceName to the location specified by destinationName.

Copying files
In this case, the sourceName parameter must contain a complete file pathname, expressed with respect to the root of the volume.
The destinationName parameter can contain several types of locations:
- a complete file pathname expressed with respect to the root of the volume: the file is copied to this location
- a file name or relative file pathname: the file is copied into the database folder (the subfolders must already exist)
- a complete folder pathname or a pathname relative to the database folder (destinationName must end with the folder separator for the platform): the file is copied into the designated folder. These folders must already exist on the disk; they are not created.
An error is generated if there is already a document named destinationName unless you specify the optional * parameter which, in this case, instructs COPY DOCUMENT to delete and override the existing document in the destination location.

Copying folders
To indicate that you are designating a folder, the strings passed in sourceName and destinationName must end with a folder separator for the platform. For example, under Windows "C:\\Element\\" designates a folder and "C:\\Element" designates a file.
To copy a folder, pass its complete pathname in sourceName. This folder must already exist on the disk. When a folder is set in the sourceName parameter, a folder must also be designated in the destinationName parameter. You must pass the complete folder pathname (where each element must already exist on the disk)
If a folder with the same name as the one designated by the sourceName parameter already exists at the location set by the destinationName parameter and it is not empty, 4D checks its contents before copying the items. An error is generated when a file with the same name already exists, unless you have passed the optional * parameter which, in this case, indicates to the command to delete and replace the file in the destination location. .

Note that you can pass a file in the sourceName parameter and a folder in the destinationName parameter, in order to copy a file into a folder.

The following example duplicates a document in its own folder:

COPY DOCUMENT("C:\\FOLDER\\DocName";"C:\\FOLDER\\DocName2")

The following example copies a document to the database folder (provided C:\\FOLDER is not the database folder):

COPY DOCUMENT("C:\\FOLDER\\DocName";"DocName")

The following example copies a document from one volume to another one:

COPY DOCUMENT("C:\\FOLDER\\DocName";"F:\\Archives\\DocName.OLD")

The following example duplicates a document in its own folder overriding an already existing copy:

COPY DOCUMENT("C:\\FOLDER\\DocName";"C:\\FOLDER\\DocName2";*)

Copying a file into a specific folder while keeping the same name:

COPY DOCUMENT("C:\\Projects\\DocName";"C:\\Projects\\")

Copying a file into a specific folder while keeping the same name and overriding the existing document:

COPY DOCUMENT("C:\\Projects\\DocName";"C:\\Projects\\"; *)

Copying a folder into another folder (both folders must already be present on the disk):

COPY DOCUMENT("C:\\Projects\\";"C\\Archives\\2011\\")