TemporaryFile

The TemporaryFile intrinsic class represents a temporary file name in the local file system. Temporary files can be used to store data too large to conveniently store in memory.

You create a temporary file with 'new TemporaryFile()'. This automatically assigns the object a unique filename in the local file system, typically in a system directory reserved for temporary files. The local file can then be opened, read, written, and otherwise manipulated via the File class, just like any other file. Simply pass the TemporaryFile object in place of a filename to the File.openXxx methods.

The underlying file system file will be deleted automatically when the TemporaryFile object is collected by the garbage collector (or when the program terminates). This means that you don't have to worry about cleaning up the file system space used by the file; it'll be released automatically when the file is no longer needed. However, you can call the deleteFile() method to explicitly release the file when you're done with it, if you want to ensure that the resource is returned to the operating system as soon as possible.

TemporaryFile objects are inherently transient - they're only valid for the current session on the current local system, so they can't be saved or restored.

Temporary files are exempt from the file safety level settings, because the inherent restrictions on temporary files provide the same system protections that the safety level settings provide for ordinary files.

intrinsic class TemporaryFile : Object

Delete the underlying file system object. This deletes the temporary file and marks the TemporaryFile object as invalid. After calling this, you can no longer open the file via the File.openXxxFile methods.

This method allows you to release the underlying file system resources as soon as you're done with the temp file. It's never necessary to do this. TADS automatically deletes the underlying file system resources when the TemporaryFile object is deleted by the garbage collector (or when the program terminates), so the operating system file will be deleted eventually whether you call this method or not. The point of this method is to let you tell the system *exactly* when you're done with the file, so that the resources can be released earlier than if we waited for garbage collection to take care of it. This should make little difference in most situations, but in a program that will run for a long time and use a lot of temporary files, it might be worthwhile to release resources manually as soon as possible.

Get the name of the underlying file system object. This returns a string with the local filename. This is mostly for debugging purposes or for displaying to the user. You can't necessarily use this filename in a call to File.openXxxFile, because the file path is usually in a system directory reserved for temporary files, and the file safety level settings often prohibit opening files outside of the program's own home directory. To open the temp file, you should always pass the TemporaryFile object itself in place of the filename.