how to get a file's modified date/time and size in bytes?

[madscijr]

Does anyone know how to do this in native QB64PE? 
It would be useful to get all the file attributes, but last modified date/time and size in bytes is what I'm looking for right now. 
Native QB64 would be best but I'll take whatever method is most reliable and cross-platform if possible. 
Any help much appreciated...

[mdijkens]

Timestamps are only available via platform dependant API's (I do have code-samples for Win)
Filesize is easiest via:

Code: (Select All)

Open myfile$ for input access read as #99

filesize&&= lof(99)

close #99

[SpriggsySpriggs]

I don't have my code handy right now but you need to look at the FILETIME structs in Win32 API. The functions that use that will be what you need.
I used some of that for this FTP library on the old forums.
Huge FTP Library for Windows (WinAPI) (alephc.xyz)

[madscijr]

I don't have my code handy right now but you need to look at the FILETIME structs in Win32 API. The functions that use that will be what you need.
I used some of that for this FTP library on the old forums.
Huge FTP Library for Windows (WinAPI) (alephc.xyz)

Thank you, sir. I'll give it a look when I'm back at my computer...

[euklides]

Well, for a single file, you can use this...
(Here the code do not test if the file exist !)

Code: (Select All)

FICO$ = "d:\temp\CATALOGUE_PEARL_AVRIL_SEPT_2024.pdf"

GoSub INFOFIC
Print NAMEFIC$ + Chr$(10) + Str$(volufic#) + Chr$(10) + DATEFIC$ + Chr$(10) + TIMEFIC$
Sleep
End
'--------------------------------


'---SUB, go in with 'fico$' = full path+name of the file--informations given for one single ------
INFOFIC: Shell _Hide "cmd /c dir " + FICO$ + " /X > D0S-DATA.INF"
DATEFIC$ = "": canal = FreeFile: Open "D0S-DATA.INF" For Input As canal
While Not EOF(canal): Line Input #canal, i$:: i$ = _Trim$(i$)
    If Mid$(i$, 3, 1) = "/" And Mid$(i$, 6, 1) = "/" Then
        DATEFIC$ = Left$(i$, 10): i$ = _Trim$(Right$(i$, Len(i$) - 10))
        TIMEFIC$ = Left$(i$, 5): Mid$(TIMEFIC$, 3, 1) = "h"
        i$ = _Trim$(Right$(i$, Len(i$) - 5)):  J = InStr(i$, " "): VoluFic$ = Left$(i$, J - 1): VoluFic1$ = ""
        For u = 1 To Len(VoluFic$): V$ = Mid$(VoluFic$, u, 1): If InStr("0123456789", V$) > 0 Then VoluFic1$ = VoluFic1$ + V$
        Next u: volufic# = Val(VoluFic1$):  NAMEFIC$ = _Trim$(Right$(i$, Len(i$) - J))
    End If
    If DATEFIC$ <> "" Then GoTo finito
Wend
finito: Close canal: Kill "D0S-DATA.INF": Return
'-------------------------------------------

[SMcNeill]

wmic DataFile where "Name='D:\\Path\\To\\myfile.txt'" get LastModified /VALUE

[madscijr]

Well, for a single file, you can use this...
(Here the code do not test if the file exist !)

Thanks, I will give that a try when at the computer!

---

wmic DataFile where "Name='D:\\Path\\To\\myfile.txt'" get LastModified /VALUE

Thanks - is this a command line thing? Can you show how to get that in a variable in a QB64PE program?

[SMcNeill]

Well, for a single file, you can use this...
(Here the code do not test if the file exist !)

Thanks, I will give that a try when at the computer!

---

wmic DataFile where "Name='D:\\Path\\To\\myfile.txt'" get LastModified /VALUE

Thanks - is this a command line thing? Can you show how to get that in a variable in a QB64PE program?

Code: (Select All)

Shell "wmic DataFile where " + Chr$(34) + "Name='Z:\\foo.pdf'" + Chr$(34) + " get LastModified /VALUE > temp.txt"

_Delay .5

Open "temp.txt" For Input As #1

Do

    Line Input #1, temp$

    Print temp$

Loop Until EOF(1)

Close

You may get the results back in wide format, so you might want to strip spaces out, depending on your OS settings.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

I guess I'm going to have to become the old geezer who complains that everyone is ruining hard drives with temp files constantly.

[madscijr]

I guess I'm going to have to become the old geezer who complains that everyone is ruining hard drives with temp files constantly.

Ha! 

Well in this case I was looking to see if a file changed on disk, and only access it if it changed. 
I figured looking at the timestamp and size in bytes are a good way to tell. 
The problem with using this SHELL method that creates a file is, it requires at least 3 disk accesses: 

1. one to read the attributes
   
2. one to write them to a temp file, and 
   
3. one to read that file 
   
4. (and another if we want to delete the temp file)
   

Not too efficient. For a lot of cases that might not be a big deal, but for what I'm doing, it would slow things down a lot.

We have a thread somewhere to suggest new commands for QB64PE, right? Where can I suggest adding some built-in cross-platform commands to get a file's date / size / attributes (& maybe update them as well)?