Software Status Bulletin 103

HydroCAD^® Stormwater Modeling - Since 1986

Software Status Bulletin # 103

Subject: Project Files May be Deleted at Startup

Applies to: HydroCAD 6.1-7.0

Description

When creating or opening a project with a name that is exactly six characters long, other projects that begin with the same six characters may be deleted. This can also occur with names containing less than six characters, but this is much less common.

Note: It's the projects with names longer than six characters (e.g. "Sample Project") that are endangered by the use of a project with a matching six character name (e.g. "Sample"). The six-character project name is not at risk of being deleted, but it will endanger any projects with matching longer names.

Recommendation

Always use project names that are at least seven characters long. Avoiding the use of shorter names will completely avoid this problem.

Comments

Since most project names are longer than six characters, this problem is unlikely to be encountered in normal use.

Technical Details

Whenever a project is opened in HydroCAD, the software attempts to locate and delete any temporary files associated with that project. Any file name that starts with the name of the project and a tilde (~) is considered to be a temporary file. (See the HydroCAD Owner's Manual and Help system for details.)

The problem occurs because Windows generates a false match between the intended temporary file names and unrelated files that have a similar "short-file-name". For example, opening a project called "Sample" will attempt to delete all file names that begin with "Sample~". This causes unintended matching with short files names such as "Sample~1", which could be associated with an unrelated file such as "Sample Project".