Why does DsClient have the ability to display the invalid characters but DsDrive does not?

When a DocuShare Object has a Title that contains invalid windows characters such as /, :, etc. it substitutes those invalid characters with ^. A Document object whose Title was Scan-04/01/2016 15:44:30 will display as Scan-04^01^2016 15^44:30 in DsDrive. However, the same file looks correct in the Docushare Windows Client (DSClient).

The differences in appearance between the DSClient display and the DSDrive are because the DSClient is a namespace extension for the system shell and handles everything. DSClient handles all aspects of file and folder display. The DSClient can render anything it wants including characters illegal to the Win32 subsystem of Windows.

DSDrive is not a shell extension. DSDrive is a Windows file system (network redirector) and must adhere to Win32 rules. DSDrive does not do the display, Explorer does, that is why it cannot display invalid characters. Explorer (or Win32) cannot handle them.

Note: DSClient must sanitize a DocuShare file name before it serves the file to a Win32 editor app when a user checks out the file. DSDrive does not do that since it is already sanitized.

Solution Updated: October 23, 2018

Solution ID:1756

Keywords: caret carot carrot