[pymel] filetest problems and updating python variables in mel

[jan-ace]

Hello all,

I recently started learning pymel and currently I want to check if a filepath is a folder or a file.

so i used the "filetest" command. However this did not work as I expected it.
if i do this:

 
var1 = "C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2011/"
mel.filetest(var1, d=True)
 
# Error: line 1: Invalid call to "filetest". 
# Check number and types of arguments expected by the procedure. #

I think I am just missing something but i have tried almost every combination i can think of.

if i do it the mel way then maya instantly crashes

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var1= "C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2011/"

mel.eval("filetest -d "+var1)

So i thought it could be because i use a pymel variable in a mel command.
So I tried to convert the pymel variable to a mel variable but that does not happen on runtime for some reason.

For example when doing this : 

 
def varTest():
 
	var1= "C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2011/"
	if mel.eval("$singleFileLocationMel = `python(\"var1\")`; filetest -d $singleFileLocationMel;"):
 
		print ' its a folder'
 
	else:
 
		print 'its not a folder'
 
varTest()
 
# MelError: Error during execution of MEL script: line 1: name 'var1' is not defined

So it can not find the variable because its not defined ... which is wierd in my opinion since i have just defined it.

Sometimes it does work but then it only takes the variable that is already in the memory.

Does anyone have any idea how to get that filetest to work ?
Any suggestion would be most appriciated.
Thanks,
Jan

[joojaa]

mel.filetest(var1, d=True)

files test is largely irrelevant for python. See there's no point is giving you a function that has LESS functionality than what python already has. So including it is just making your life harder, making more to maintain and just waste of space, but yes its not maintained either its auto generated. Dont use filetest.

You should use the pythons os module instead. Anyway yeah its NOT a true python call its just a mel eval with some candy on top the call would look like (no you couldn't guess this as a python programmer, you would have to read the pymel source to know this)

mel.filetest( "-d", var1)

But seriously use:

import os

...
os.path.isdir(var1)

instead

mel.eval("filetest -d "+var1)

ahh yes you need to call:

var1 = ' "C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2011/" '
mel.eval("filetest -d "+var1)

you still need to qualify with mel rules. so the string needs to be quoted i added needless spaces around the quotes so you see the syntax better.

[jan-ace]

Hey Joojaa.

as always THANK YOU for the explanation !!!
That was extremely helpfull.

Thank you for your time !