Cordova - FileSystem - why so many path alternatives?
cordova, cordova-plugins, html5-filesystem
Solution
`file.fullPath` is a part of the spec, and should actually look like: `/path/relative/to/my/root`. If you're seeing that it has `file:///`, then that's a bug.
`file.nativeURL` is meant to be an implementation detail. But sadly, it's not obviously marked as such. It's not a part of the spec, and doesn't exist on other platforms.
`file.toURL()` is likely what you want. It's a part of the spec, gives you a URL that can be passed to `resolveLocalFileSystemURL`, and has fewer gotchas compared to `cdvfile:` URLs.
`file.toInternalURL()` is not a part of the spec, but it a Cordova-specific extension. I don't think it would ever be a useful thing to use.
Problem
I am just looking through the Cordova source code to try and figure something out, and there are currently six alternate methods/properties to access the path of a file. Currently (running using iOS), there is: ``` // Properties file.fullPath; // file:///full/path/syntax/file file.nativeURL; // file:///full/path/syntax/file // Method(s) file.toInternalURL(); // formats the file.fullPath into a cdvfile://localhost/persisten/file. file.toURL(); // if file.nativeURL is set, uses file.nativeURL, otherwise use file.toInternalURL() or file.fullPath. // Deprecated method(s) file.toURI(); // deprecated - calls file.toURL(); file.toNativeURL() // deprecated - calls file.toURL(); ``` I understand two are deprecated - which both point to `file.toURL()` - so I can ignore them and focus on just four methods. But what is the difference between `file.fullPath` and `file.nativeURL` - they are exactly the same? They are both properties on the file object - both publicly accessible. As far as I can tell, `file.toURL()` uses both of these - first `file.nativeURL` if not that, then `file.toInternalURL()` or failing that, then `file.fullPath`. Then finally, `file.toNativeURL()` returns a `cdvfile://` formatted location. So, most methods point to the `file.nativeURL` property. Is `file.toURL()` the method to use since it handles all instances? If so, then what on earth is `cdvfile://`? Thanks