Create directory on Windows and check if it exists - c++

Question

I have to create some directories and when I try to search one I have to know if it was already created.
The problem is that after creating a directory with CreateDirectory() and trying to check if it was created I get an error which says that it wasn't created.
If I close and restart the program, without creating the directory but just checking if it was created, everything works.
bool DirectoryExists( const char* absolutePath ){
if( _access( absolutePath, 0 ) == 0 ){
struct stat status;
stat( absolutePath, &status );
return (status.st_mode & S_IFDIR) != 0;
}
return false;
}
marca = "database\\"+marca;
CreateDirectory (marca.c_str(), NULL);
// useless operation
if(! DirectoryExists(marca.c_str() ) )
{
cout<<" Error !";
return -1;
}

Answer 1

If marca was "database" it would work. But if marca is "database/foo" you cannot create both of these at the same time.
Here's a version of your code where I separate these operations.
#include <windows.h>
#include <io.h>
#include <string>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
bool DirectoryExists( const char* absolutePath )
{
if( _access( absolutePath, 0 ) == 0 ){
struct stat status;
stat( absolutePath, &status );
return (status.st_mode & S_IFDIR) != 0;
}
return false;
}
bool MakeDirectory(const string& marca)
{
if(! CreateDirectory(marca.c_str(), NULL))
{
DWORD error = GetLastError();
TCHAR buf[256];
FormatMessage(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
NULL, GetLastError(), MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
buf, (sizeof(buf) / sizeof(TCHAR)), NULL);
cout << "Failed to create directory: " << buf << '\n';
return false;
}
if(! DirectoryExists(marca.c_str() ) )
{
cout << "Directory does not exist\n";
return false;
}
return true;
}
int main()
{
// name of subdirectory
string marca = "foo";
// first create top directory
string d = "database";
MakeDirectory(d);
// then subdirectory
d += "/" + marca;
MakeDirectory(d);
return 0;
}