app_data

A cross-platform Rust library for managing application data directories on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Overview

The app_data crate provides a simple and standardized way to manage application data directories across different platforms. It automatically handles platform-specific directory conventions and ensures directories are created when needed.

Features

• ✅ Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• ✅ Automatic directory creation
• ✅ Local and system directory modes
• ✅ Custom error types with detailed messages
• ✅ Zero dependencies (only uses standard library)

Directory Principles

The AppData directory follows these principles:

• Default behavior: Searches for data directory under the startup path
• Fallback: If the data directory doesn't exist under the startup path, creates data directory in the system user directory
• Force local mode: When force_local is enabled, always creates directories in the startup path

Platform-Specific Directories

Windows

• Data: %APPDATA%\app_name

macOS

• Data: ~/Library/Application Support/app_name

Linux

• Data: $XDG_DATA_HOME/app_name or ~/.local/share/app_name

Usage

Basic Usage

use app_data::AppData;

// Create with default settings
let app_data = AppData::default();

// Or specify application name
let app_data = AppData::new("my_app");

// Get data directory (creates if not exists)
let data_dir = app_data.ensure_data_dir()?;
println!("Data directory: {}", data_dir.display());

// Get file path in data directory
let config_file = app_data.get_file_path("config.json")?;

Force Local Mode

use app_data::AppData;

// Force creation in startup directory
let app_data = AppData::with_force_local("my_app", true);
let data_dir = app_data.ensure_data_dir()?;
// Creates: ./data/

Error Handling

use app_data::{AppData, AppDataError};

match app_data.ensure_data_dir() {
    Ok(dir) => println!("Directory: {}", dir.display()),
    Err(AppDataError::EnvVarNotFound(var)) => {
        eprintln!("Environment variable {} not found", var);
    }
    Err(AppDataError::IoError(msg)) => {
        eprintln!("IO error: {}", msg);
    }
    Err(AppDataError::CurrentDirError(msg)) => {
        eprintln!("Failed to get current directory: {}", msg);
    }
}

Examples

See the examples/ directory for more complete examples.

License

MIT