checking properties of folders

checking properties of folders

• pra_30

  Ya know....
  
  I was a VMS Engineer for years and I avoided this domain like the plague. I can see why.
  
  OK... here's what I've discerned so far.
  
  We're interested in the field...
  
  system.security.accesscontrol.controlflags
  
  There will be a bit in the field called:
  
  SystemAclAutoInherited   ( As far as I can see)
  
  Ordinarily in any other computing field this would be child's play. But not as far as I discern here.
  
  Control flags is a field in the Security Descriptor......
  
  This is where things become less than clearly defined......
  
  
  There are two possible forms of the the security descriptor:
  
  The first is an array of bytes:  That looks exactly like this:
  
  0.) 1
  1.) 0
  2.) 4
  3.) 128
  4.) 20
  5.) 0
  6.) 0
  7.) 0
  8.) 48
  9.) 0
  10.) 0
  11.) 0
  12.) 0
  13.) 0
  14.) 0
  15.) 0
  16.) 76
  17.) 0
  18.) 0
  19.) 0
  20.) 1
  21.) 5
  22.) 0
  23.) 0
  24.) 0
  25.) 0
  26.) 0
  27.) 5
  28.) 21
  29.) 0
  30.) 0
  31.) 0
  32.) 67
  33.) 23
  34.) 10
  35.) 50
  36.) 131
  37.) 61
  38.) 43
  39.) 70
  40.) 7
  41.) 229
  42.) 59
  43.) 43
  44.) 235
  45.) 3
  46.) 0
  47.) 0
  48.) 1
  49.) 5
  50.) 0
  51.) 0
  52.) 0
  53.) 0
  54.) 0
  55.) 5
  56.) 21
  57.) 0
  58.) 0
  59.) 0
  60.) 67
  61.) 23
  62.) 10
  63.) 50
  64.) 131
  65.) 61
  66.) 43
  67.) 70
  68.) 7
  69.) 229
  70.) 59
  71.) 43
  72.) 1
  73.) 2
  74.) 0
  75.) 0
  76.) 2
  77.) 0
  78.) 160
  79.) 0
  80.) 6
  81.) 0
  82.) 0
  83.) 0
  84.) 0
  85.) 16
  86.) 24
  87.) 0
  88.) 255
  89.) 1
  90.) 31
  91.) 0
  92.) 1
  93.) 2
  94.) 0
  95.) 0
  96.) 0
  97.) 0
  98.) 0
  99.) 5
  100.) 32
  101.) 0
  102.) 0
  103.) 0
  104.) 32
  105.) 2
  106.) 0
  107.) 0
  108.) 0
  109.) 16
  110.) 20
  111.) 0
  112.) 255
  113.) 1
  114.) 31
  115.) 0
  116.) 1
  117.) 1
  118.) 0
  119.) 0
  120.) 0
  121.) 0
  122.) 0
  123.) 5
  124.) 18
  125.) 0
  126.) 0
  127.) 0
  128.) 0
  129.) 16
  130.) 36
  131.) 0
  132.) 255
  133.) 1
  134.) 31
  135.) 0
  136.) 1
  137.) 5
  138.) 0
  139.) 0
  140.) 0
  141.) 0
  142.) 0
  143.) 5
  144.) 21
  145.) 0
  146.) 0
  147.) 0
  148.) 67
  149.) 23
  150.) 10
  151.) 50
  152.) 131
  153.) 61
  154.) 43
  155.) 70
  156.) 7
  157.) 229
  158.) 59
  159.) 43
  160.) 235
  161.) 3
  162.) 0
  163.) 0
  164.) 0
  165.) 16
  166.) 24
  167.) 0
  168.) 169
  169.) 0
  170.) 18
  171.) 0
  172.) 1
  173.) 2
  174.) 0
  175.) 0
  176.) 0
  177.) 0
  178.) 0
  179.) 5
  180.) 32
  181.) 0
  182.) 0
  183.) 0
  184.) 33
  185.) 2
  186.) 0
  187.) 0
  188.) 0
  189.) 16
  190.) 24
  191.) 0
  192.) 4
  193.) 0
  194.) 0
  195.) 0
  196.) 1
  197.) 2
  198.) 0
  199.) 0
  200.) 0
  201.) 0
  202.) 0
  203.) 5
  204.) 32
  205.) 0
  206.) 0
  207.) 0
  208.) 33
  209.) 2
  210.) 0
  211.) 0
  212.) 0
  213.) 16
  214.) 24
  215.) 0
  216.) 2
  217.) 0
  218.) 0
  219.) 0
  220.) 1
  221.) 2
  222.) 0
  223.) 0
  224.) 0
  225.) 0
  226.) 0
  227.) 5
  228.) 32
  229.) 0
  230.) 0
  231.) 0
  232.) 33
  233.) 2
  234.) 0
  235.) 0
  
  
  The security descriptor is also available in an SDDL form
  
  O:S-1-5-21-839522115-1177238915-725345543-1003G:S-1-5-21-839522115-1177238915-725345543-513D:(A;ID;FA;;;BA)(A;ID;FA;;;SY)(A;ID;FA;;;S-1-5-21-839522115-1177238915-725345543-1003)(A;ID;0x1200a9;;;BU)(A;ID;LC;;;BU)(A;ID;DC;;;BU)"
  
  Erm..... what's missing is
  
  The field identifying the control flags. I can't see to find any definition of that at all
  
  Hmmmmm though ... there is one field in there that looks like a single integer....hmmmmm
  
  
  
  
  

• Zeeshan Ali changazi

   

  Here is the text file searching code. It does something a little more complicated than you may require. It will handle mutliple occurrences of the search string in the same file. The solution would look a little different especially around the read itself.

  Anyway... here is the code:

  Public Class Form1

  Protected Structure LogInfo

  Public lineNumber As String

  Public User As String

  Public ErrMessage As String

  End Structure

  Dim MsgPkt As LogInfo

   

  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

  Dim i As Integer

  Dim foo As New ArrayList

  Dim filespec As String = "D:\TestdIR\log.txt"
  

  textbox1.Multiline = True
  
  foo = DeniedList(filespec, "Session: retrieve")

  For i = 0 To foo.Count - 1

  MsgPkt = foo(i)

  If MsgPkt.errmessage = "" Then

  TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text & vbCrLf & "Line No: " & MsgPkt.lineNumber & " String: " & _

  MsgPkt.User

  Else

  TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text & vbCrLf & "Error Opening: " & filespec & ". The error was: " & _

  vbCrLf & MsgPkt.ErrMessage

  End If

  Next

   

  End Sub

  Public Function DeniedList(ByVal Filespec As String, ByVal Instring As String) As ArrayList

  Dim file As System.IO.StreamReader

  Dim Inbuf As String

  Dim count As Integer

  Dim Dummy As New ArrayList

  Dummy.Clear()

  DeniedList = Dummy

  Try

  file = My.Computer.FileSystem.OpenTextFileReader(Filespec)
  
  Catch ex As Exception

  With MsgPkt

  .lineNumber = "N/A"

  .User = "File Access Error on file " & Filespec

  .ErrMessage = ex.Message

  End With

  DeniedList.Add(MsgPkt)

  GoTo Common_exit

  End Try

  While Not file.EndOfStream

  count += 1

  Inbuf = file.ReadLine

  If Inbuf.Contains(Instring) Then

  With MsgPkt

  .lineNumber = CInt(count)

  .User = Inbuf

  .ErrMessage = ""

  End With

  DeniedList.Add(MsgPkt)

  End If

  End While

  FileClose_Exit:

  file.Close()

         file = Nothing
  
  Common_Exit:

  End Function

  End Class

  
  This was the output I found in the textbox the first time I ran it:

  
  Error Opening: C:\Temp\log.txt. The error was:
  Could not find file 'C:\Temp\log.txt'.

  
  ---------------------------------------

  This was a good thing because the file was actually on Drive D: in an entirely different directory. :)

  
  This was the output when I corrected the Filespec :)

  Line No: 9 String: 2005-09-10 23:11:48,750 [   DEBUG] DataPump.Session: retrieve
  Line No: 20 String: 2005-09-10 23:12:48,500 [   DEBUG] DataPump.Session: retrieve
  Line No: 21 String: 2005-09-10 23:12:48,530 [    INFO] DataPump.Session: retrieve OK, state is Free user

  
  Good Luck !!!!!!

  
  
  

• Revolution

  Andy,
  
  
  Since I didn't know the format of your file, I couldn't  exactly tailor the search code to do exactly what you want, it's just a close model of what you want.
  
  I started to look at the inheritance thing.... but I was a little tired... and had other things on my plate.... perhaps today....
  
  

• J Griffin

  ok,
  
  so to find out if a folder is inherited, how would i code...
  
  dim inherit as system.security.accesscontrol.aceflags
  
  if inherit = aceflags.inherited then .............
  
  how do i fit in the foldername with this. In otherwords how do i tell it which foldername to check for being inherited   If i add the foldername in brackets, it says it is not allowed with array, (or something to that effect)
  
  Sorry, if I am not understanding correctly, however I am new to all this and it is the first time I have ever tried to communicate with folder properties
  
  Thanks
  
  Andy
  

• Waheeda

  Thank You Renee!!
  
  Your an absolute life saver
  
  I get frustrated trying to search, as I can spend half an hour wondering how things will be worded in the help files Most of the time I am looking for a class or method and without knowing the name  of it, trying to search for help on it is hard, unless lucky enough to pick the right keywords that someone else has described it by.  Not that this is restricted to VB!!  This is searching in general.
  
  Anyway now that I have had my 2 pence worth, I will try the code.  Just hope that when I get to checking the inheritance bit, i find that one a little easier LOL
  
  Thank You again for your help and info, and I'm glad the Pizza was good
  
  Cheers
  
  Andy
  

• Rick8728

  Working code would look like this:
  
  In the Main class the imports are:
  
  

  Imports System

  Imports System.IO

  Imports System.Security.AccessControl

  
  Routine:
  
  Private Function OwnerIs(Byval FileSpec as string) as string
  
  

  Dim scal As New SystemAcl(True, True, 10)

  Dim fSecurity As FileSecurity = File.GetAccessControl(FileSpec)

  Dim IR As System.Security.Principal.IdentityReference

  IR = fSecurity.GetOwner(System.Type.GetType("System.Security.Principal.NTAccount"))

  OwnerIs = IR.Value
  
  end function
  
  ------------------------------------------------------
  Copied from the debugger:
  
  TheINearlyKilledMyselfGettingThisOne = "BLISS\Renee"
  
  
  If I change the filename to "C:\documents and Settings" the result becomes:
  
  TheINearlyKilledMyselfGettingThisOne = "BUILTIN\Administrators"
  
  I wish I could say this one was easy. Certainly the documentation was very little help. There was just no documentation on getting a file owner. So I studied and studied the object browser and out of desperation found a routine that converted a string describing a datatype into a system type. I'd been trying things like that for hours and I never dreamed it would work.
  
  It also amazes me to no end that you can research something to the ends of the earth and all you have to show in the end is .... one line of code. :(
  
  I also must confess that the Pizza was good but didn't help much....

  
  
  

• tibear

  Huy,
  
  Thanks for your reply.
  
  I have now found the GetOwner Method, however, the help topics on this are a bit vague  (Or I am a bit thick ) They mention that this method gets the owner assiociated with a primary group, and that the group should be specified.
  
  What is the "group" that is being referred to
  
  This is my code that I have used to connect, so far...
  
  **************************
  
  

  Dim Foldername As String

  Foldername = "c:\My Documents"

  Dim dinfo As New DirectoryInfo(Foldername)

  Dim results

  Dim dsecurity As DirectorySecurity = dinfo.GetAccessControl()

  results = dsecurity.GetOwner()
  

  
  **************************
  
  What I am stuck on is the bit in the brackets that is asking for the primary group.  What is this group
  
  Hope you can help.
  
  Thanks In Advance
  
  Andy Perry
  
  

• Sue Mosher - Outlook MVP

  Oh shoot.....
  
  I'll have something for you in a few..........
  
  

• tosch9

  Hi,

  For 1 and 2, I think you can use FileSecurity class (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hdwe2zfh) or DirectorySecurity class (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/23c9e959(en-US,VS.80).aspx). If the link does not work, you can search for the class at http://msdn2.microsoft.com.

  For 3, you can use My.Computer.FileSystem.FindInFiles to see if the log file contains the text. Or you can use StreamReader to read lines from the log file and check if the string contains the text.

  Hope this helps,

  
  
  

• Sentient

  Thanks Renee.
  
  I'm gonna have another look into all this this afternoon, so I'll let you know how i get on.
  
  Changing my documentation at the moment as my code has changed a lot so I thought I had better update my design docs before it ends up looking like Spaghetti Junction LOL
  
  I'll keep you updated on my progress
  
  Cheers
  
  Andy
  

• Joel Miranda

  Andy!!!!
  
  It's rare that I become as frustrated as I am.
  
  As a point of interest, about two hours ago I began playing with this. I ran into exactly what you did. That identity type, when I began researching it, is a derived system type.
  
  As I started to play with the identityreference collection to use as an argument, my IDE locked up as it does from time to time and I had to terminate the process with the taskmanager.
  
  The documentation in this area for Beta II anyway is awful. All the examples that I saw are about setting ACL's and directory owner. There were no materials  about getting the owner, anywhere in the documentation could I find. I absolutely took the object browser apart in research this before the IDE crashed.
  
  I did find this:
  
  

  Public Class IdentityReferenceCollection

  Inherits System.Object

  Member of: System.Security.Principal

  Summary:

  Represents a collection of System.Security.Principal.IdentityReference objects and provides a means of converting sets of System.Security.Principal.IdentityReference-derived objects to System.Security.Principal.IdentityReference-derived types.
   
  It seems to me the 'trick' or art here is to find the derived type - that is correct and that looks like a system type for the getowner method.
  
  At this instant... I don't know how to do that.
  
  When I come up against an impasse such as this, I recommend Mushroom, sausage and pepperoni pizza. I am going to take my own advice and order one and return to think about this.
  
  
  Renee

  
  
  

• Ricardo Tomé

  You can probably use the NetShareGetInfo() API, or under Active Directory using ADSI the IADsFileShare function...
  
  

• jpaskett

  Andy,
  
  I keep learning more about this.....
  
  There are three kinds of security descriptors.
  
  There there is the common, the generic and file security descriptors. Notice that in beginning with a file security desciptor we have begun with the specific case and not a generic case.
  
  These classes are heirrarchicalized with supporting routines that make it easy to go from the generic to the specific. There set are "setfrom" both binary or sddl conversion routines.
  
  However there are no corresponding routines to convert from the specific file security desciptor to the generic descriptors.
  
  Why is this interesting at all
  
  It's interesting because it appears that the generic desciptors expose the the control and inheritance flags but the file security one do not.
  
  Right about now, pizza left over from yesterday is really looking good.
  
  

• Rusty Miller

  The flags are in the ACE.
  
  
• checking properties of folders