Polymorphism between Strings and FileReference

> Hi,
>
> I am often in the case where I have a method taking a file or a string
> as parameter and I often want to use #readStreamDo:/#writeStreamDo: in
> the method because with I do not have to care if I need to close the
> file stream or not with those. But since String do not understand
> #readStreamDo:/#writeStreamDo: I cannot do that.
>
> Maybe it's worth to implement them on String?
>
> https://pharo.fogbugz.com/f/cases/20796/String-should-understand-readStreamDo-writeStreamDo-to-be-polymorph-with-FileReference
>
> Since it add methods to String I prefer talk about it on the mailing
> list to have everyone's advice.

> On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 11:55 AM, Alistair Grant <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> Hi Cyril,
>>
>> The normal way to handle this is #asFileReference, so you can just have:
>>
>> aStringOrReference asFileReference readStreamDo: ...
>>
>
> In that case, if it is a String like 'test', we will get a readStream
> on the file './test' and not on the string 'test'. This is not what I
> want.
>
> What I want is this for example:
>
>
>
> MyClass>>addComaAtTheEndOf: aStringOrFileReference
>   "If the argument is a String, add a coma at the end. If the
> parameter is a file, add a coma at the end of its contents"
>
>   aStringOrFileReference writeStreamDo: [ :s | s atEnd; nextPut: $, ]
>
>
>
> If I use your code, it will not add a coma at the end of the string
> parameter, but at the end of the file represented by the string if it
> exists.

> On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 11:55 AM, Alistair Grant <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> Hi Cyril,
>>
>> The normal way to handle this is #asFileReference, so you can just have:
>>
>> aStringOrReference asFileReference readStreamDo: ...
>>
>
> In that case, if it is a String like 'test', we will get a readStream
> on the file './test' and not on the string 'test'. This is not what I
> want.
>
> What I want is this for example:
>
>
>
> MyClass>>addComaAtTheEndOf: aStringOrFileReference
>   "If the argument is a String, add a coma at the end. If the
> parameter is a file, add a coma at the end of its contents"
>
>   aStringOrFileReference writeStreamDo: [ :s | s atEnd; nextPut: $, ]
>
>
>
> If I use your code, it will not add a coma at the end of the string
> parameter, but at the end of the file represented by the string if it
> exists.
>
>> Cheers,
>> Alistair
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Cyril Ferlicot
> https://ferlicot.fr
>
> http://www.synectique.eu
> 2 rue Jacques Prévert 01,
> 59650 Villeneuve d'ascq France
>