Mobile Python: Rapid Prototyping of Applications on the Mobile Platform

6.1. File Basics

Files on your Symbian device are organized in a hierarchical manner as drives and directories, similarly to a typical Windows system. The drive letters refer to the following resources:

• C: internal memory of your device

• D: operating memory space or RAM (read-only)

• E: memory card

• Z: fixed memory space or ROM (read-only).

You don't need to worry about drives D: and Z: since they are used by the operating system only. Starting with Symbian OS v9.0 (3rd Edition of S60), the directory hierarchy within the drives is strictly defined and only partly accessible to your program – see Appendix A for details.

Many examples in this book save their files to the memory card, that is, to the E: drive. If you do not have a memory card, you should change the drive letter to C:.

If your application must save anything to a file, such as private data, photos or sounds, it is polite to place the file in a logical place and try to avoid cluttering arbitrary directories unnecessarily.

If a file, typically a photo or a sound, should be visible to the standard Gallery or to other applications, including the Nokia PC Suite file manager, the standard C:\Images or C:\Sounds directories, or the corresponding locations on the E: drive, are appropriate choices.

If a file is private to your application and does not have to be visible to the user or any other application, you should make a private directory either under C:\Data or E:\Data.

The standard directories E:\Images and E:\Sounds are created ...