Moodle

this happens only when uploading a zip file and letting moodle open it as if it is a folder.

actually, i think it opens temporarily and you can not link to it permanently ?

it does not happen when loading normal files (from the local computer) which have spaces inside the file names !
(they get underscores , automatically)

We've encountered similar problems since upgrading to 1.9. Files can't be found via the directory resource, but can be accessed via the course file management screen.

Ubunutu 7.10 LAMP

To replicate this problem upload a bunch of files to your course, all with spaces in their filenames and zipped together inside a single ZIP file. Create a directory, unzip the files to that directory and then use the "Display a directory" resource to show those files. All files with spaces will generate an error of "Sorry, the requested file could not be found". Files without spaces in the filename display correctly.

Okay, this is weird. Even after manually replacing spaces with underscores via the OS, those files uploaded via a zip file still cannot be found by the directory resource module.

Using 1.9.1+ and Firefox 2 I couldn't replicate this. I had two files with spaces in their names in a folder with also a space in its name. I zipped the folder, uploaded to Moodle, unpacked via Moodle. Both linking directly and with the "Display a directory" resource worked. What else might be in play here?

Sorry for slow reporting on this - trying to get some work done at the same time! Just looked at the URLs that are being requested by the browser.

These are examples of files with spaces in the filename, that have been uploaded individually:
http://<moodleroot>/file.php/2/wordtest_individualuploads/New_Microsoft_Word_Document.doc
http://<moodleroot>/file.php/2/wordtest_individualuploads/Unit_13_Knowledge_Questions.doc

The same files, but uploaded via a zip file:
http://<moodleroot>/file.php/2/wordtest_zippeduploads/New+Microsoft+Word+Document.doc
http://<moodleroot>/file.php/2/wordtest_zippeduploads/Unit+13+Knowledge+Questions.doc

The first group of examples work, while the second don't.

It appears to be a problem with unzipped directories that contain spaces, PHP/Moodle replaces the spaces with + making the complete path incorrect.

While not ideal, a temporary fix was to add the following line of code in the function 'get_file_url' found in \lib\filelib at line 16/17 (fix surrounded by comments //MHE )

if ($CFG->slasharguments) {
//MHE
$path = str_replace(" ", "%20",$path);
//MHE

this stops the function replacing spaces with +s

Hope this helps

Marcius Herbert
Sutton Coldfield College
UK

I can confirm that the temp fix by Marcius works for us. Thanks!

I can also confirm fix worked for us

Note: Spaces in file names are not supported officially in Moodle < 2.0 (same with wierd UTF names). (both are being fixed once and for all in Moodle 2.0 with all the new file API).

This patch fixes this one issue but I suspect won't fix all of the issues with spaces. But I'll get it in CVS for 1.9.2 anyway. Thanks!

I used the fix from Marcius on a 1.8.8 site and it worked fine, in that uploaded zips with files with spaces worked correctly. However, if you then use that unzipped folder as a linked directory on the course (as martin suspects above), the + signs re-appear and the links do not work again. Does anyone know what php file controls how these links are stored in the database? I assume it is not the same filelib.php file, or is it somewhere else in that file.

the problem is more probably a simple bug, missing urlencode

Thanks for reporting this issue.

We have detected that this issue has been inactive for over a year has been recorded as affecting versions that are no longer supported.

If you believe that this issue is still relevant to current versions (2.1 and beyond), please comment on the issue. Issues left inactive for a further month will be closed.

Michael d;

lqjjLKA0p6

I'm closing this issue as it appears to have become inactive and is probably not relevant to a current supported version. If you are encountering this problem or one similar, please launch a new issue.