🚀 go-pugleaf

> Keeping a list of the files around is pretty much a requirement, unless
> you plan on re-scanning the disk everytime the user scrolls the area
> you use to display the available files.  I don't think Keith is keeping
> the files in a list to enhance performance, but to provide functionality.
> 
> >
> >This is a worth-while idea; caching a list of file names.  To make it
> >workable though requires a change to AmigaDOS.  If programs kept a lock
> >on the directory that the list came from, then all we need is a new
> >function to tell AmigaDOS to send us a message whenever the directory
> >changes.  The messsage is a signal to the program to flush its file name
> >cache.

  It would be even nicer, if AmigaDOS would just cache the filenames of
all the directories on all the disks that are physically in the drives,
up to a limited number of files(Hard disks could provide a problem
here).  Then, the application could rescan the directory every time, and
never have to hit the disk again.  When the disk is ejected, wipe that
portion of the cache, don't refill it until the directory is scanned again.

  Anytime files were added to the directory, both the disk and the cache
could be updated, or the cache could be thrown away.  This would mean
that the disk would only be searched once, and that only one copy of the
directory would be kept, regardless of the number of applications
running.

  This already happens to a limited extent, when the directory portions
get cached in the track buffers, and it is very nice.  It doesn't even
seem that hard to do.

Mark Jones