HyperCard: Working with Alias Manager (3/94)

I want to read from a file in a folder using an alias folder located on the
startup volume. The folder pointed to by the alias is located on another
mounted volume in the same AppleTalk zone (volume is visible on the
Desktop).

Here is the script segment:

put "myMachine:aliasFolder:theFileName" into thePath
open file thePath
read from file thePath until end
close file thePath

This returns the error that there is no open file by that name. If I
substitute the other volumes name instead of "myMachine" it works just
fine.

Why can't HyperCard resolve this alias?

Unfortunately, the Alias Manager doesn't resolve this alias. You've
created this pathname by concatenating the path of an alias file and the
leaf name of the target:

myMachine:aliasFolder:theFileName
|<--- alias file --->|

The pathname you want to resolve must refer to a real file on your desktop
-- either an alias file or the real thing, like so:

myMachine:myAliases:aliasToFile
|<------- alias file -------->|

In other words, you need to use an alias for the file you want, not for the
folder that it lives in.

This article is adapted from the Claris Tech Info database.
Support Information Services