Let me take a shot at some of this for you. Please forgive me if the explanation is convoluted/unclear - I haven't tried to explain this before

I can't answer all of this, but some thoughts that come to mind:

1) Across multiple countries, so usage of Nvarchar is something to consider.

2) Agreed - likely to want to...

Fair enough. Perhaps my call for a removal was a bit harshly worded.

I do recall seeing something before about "Steve (he) said that it was not possible for him/them to...

Finally, I disagree with those that want the article removed from the site, or fault the SSC editors with allowing the article.  This site is for the exchange of ideas. ...

Hi,

I've had to do similar things, due to different domains that don't have trust. below see a piece of code that is used - note there are some UGLIES here,...

*phew*

Glad to see I'm not the only one who reacted in horror to this article! Sadly, it seems that this has been seen...

Fair enough. I'm trying to use xp_cmdshell less, since it typically ends up being ugly work arounds.

You may be right in terms of xp_cmdshell not going - I sure...

An alternaitve for you, using the undocumented xp_FileExist stored procedure:

--EXAMPLE

set nocount on

set quoted_identifier off

create table #direxists

(FileExists int,

FileIsDir int,

ParentDirExists int)

declare @movepathdata varchar(255)

set @movepathdata = 'c:\hello.txt'

insert into #direxists exec master..xp_fileexist @movepathdata

select *...

Hmm - well, here's a response

I notice that you are using:

Set @rc=Common.dbo.PathExists(@LongPath)

So you should probably include the code for that SP....

Ever wondered if a file was available to copy, for example a SQL backup file? Here’s something interesting, although I’m not 100% certain of the risks it...

Thanks Dinesh - looks good. I'll play around this weekend...

Greg, I'm in the same boat (although with less coding experience - I did a VB 6 course about 3 years ago )....

Can't comment on courses, but I can recommend a good book (in fact, 2 good books):

"The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML and HTML" by Ken Henderson

"The Guru's...

My 2cents (South African cents = +- 0/16 p )

The "SEM" also through me. I refer to it as EM, or more frequently...

On this topic, I agree with the concerns raised about "blanket refreshes", yet I do see the value of regular, simple refreshes. With that in mind, I did the following...