Get (desktop path) not working on Windows

[iMarcW]

I wrote a script that's supposed to export data as an Excel file and save it to a user's desktop. On any Mac I've tried, it works, but on any Windows machine, I get the error "filename.xls could not be created on this disk."

I've worked around the error for a while now without finding a solution, and now while looking at the FileMaker Developer Reference (Que Publishing), I see that the result of this function is often cached on the server (along with several other Get functions) in multiuser settings. Is that what's causing my problem?

[Vaughan]

Probably not. The cache thing is all about FM Server making the assumption that, once logged-in, a user probably won't change their desktop path (a reasonable assumption IMHO since it would involve renaming system folders etc).

What exactly is the calculation you're using? Even though it's a windows path, it still needs to be in FMP-syntax which is more Mac-like, especially with regard to slashes.

[iMarcW]

Attached is a screenshot of Data Viewer while the script is running. It's that leading slash before the C:, isn't it? I don't use Windows much, so I assumed it started with a slash for a reason.

[comment]

You're probably missing the "filewin:" prefix (see Help > Creating a database > Creating file paths).

[iMarcW]

Yep, that did it. I added a check for "Get (SystemPlatform)" to add "filemac:" or "filewin:" at the beginning of the $filename variable.

I kind of thought the purpose of the Get (DesktopPath) and other get path functions was to not have to worry about such things, but oh, well.