BorlandTalk.com Borland discussion newsgroups   Archives   FAQ   Search   Memberlist   Usergroups   Register   Profile   Log in to check your private messages   Log in  How to effectively modify the last access time of a file          BorlandTalk.com Forum Index -> C++ Builder (Native API) View previous topic :: View next topic   Author Message JF Jolin Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:10 am    Post subject: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file Here is the scenario: hFile = CreateFile( lpszFileName, GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL ); SetFileTime( hFile, &fTimeCreate, &fTimeLastAccess, &fTimeLastWrite ); CloseHandle( hFile ); Whatever time is specified in fTimeLastAccess, that will be overwritten when CloseHandle instruction will be executed. __ JF Jolin Back to top Koen Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:06 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file JF Jolin wrote: Quote: hFile = CreateFile( lpszFileName, GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL ); SetFileTime( hFile, &fTimeCreate, &fTimeLastAccess, &fTimeLastWrite ); CloseHandle( hFile ); When I use your code, I the last access time is adjusted correctly. Are you sure you don't open the file elsewhere? Back to top Mark Jacobs Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:25 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file "Koen" <koen (AT) ha (DOT) com> wrote in message news:Xns990966E8E657Fkoenhacom (AT) 207 (DOT) 105.83.66... Quote: JF Jolin wrote: hFile = CreateFile( lpszFileName, GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL ); SetFileTime( hFile, &fTimeCreate, &fTimeLastAccess, &fTimeLastWrite ); CloseHandle( hFile ); When I use your code, I the last access time is adjusted correctly. Are you sure you don't open the file elsewhere? No, he means that the CloseHandle call sets the last access time to when the CloseHandle happened! I don't see a way round this! Certainly, the other 2 work fine (last modified and last created), but last access includes the access required to set the last access date and time - a bit of a Catch 22 situation! -- Mark Jacobs DK Computing http://www.dkcomputing.co.uk Back to top Bob Gonder Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:08 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file "Mark Jacobs" <http://www.jacobsm.com/mjmsg.htm?BorlandNG> wrote: Quote: No, he means that the CloseHandle call sets the last access time to when the CloseHandle happened! I don't see a way round this! Certainly, the other 2 work fine (last modified and last created), but last access includes the access required to set the last access date and time - a bit of a Catch 22 situation! Change the system time before closing ? Back to top Ed Mulroy Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:13 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file You are probably correct in this but there is one other thing he might try. I've been doing since the DOS days - do a flush on the file immediately prior to the time set and close. For Win32 it goes something like this: FlushFileBuffers(hFile); SetFileTime(--arg list---); CloseHandle(hFile); .. Ed Quote: Mark Jacobs wrote in message news:4614eacb (AT) newsgroups (DOT) borland.com... When I use your code, I the last access time is adjusted correctly. Are you sure you don't open the file elsewhere? No, he means that the CloseHandle call sets the last access time to when the CloseHandle happened! I don't see a way round this! Certainly, the other 2 work fine (last modified and last created), but last access includes the access required to set the last access date and time - a bit of a Catch 22 situation! Back to top Ed Mulroy Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:18 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file I just tried it with a flush under XP Pro SP2 and it still had the current time for last access. You are right, it's a catch-22. .. Ed Quote: Mark Jacobs wrote in message news:4614eacb (AT) newsgroups (DOT) borland.com... No, he means that the CloseHandle call sets the last access time to when the CloseHandle happened! I don't see a way round this! Certainly, the other 2 work fine (last modified and last created), but last access includes the access required to set the last access date and time - a bit of a Catch 22 situation! Back to top JF Jolin Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:19 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file Hi Mark I'm using BCB 5.5.1 Some programs can modify that date. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724933.aspx For example with Microsoft it is possible to set this parameter to -1 like SetFileTime( hFile, &fTimeCreate, &fTimeLastAccess, &fTimeLastWrite ); memset(&fTimeLastWrite, 0xFF, sizeof(FILETIME) ); SetFileTime( hFile, &fTimeCreate, &fTimeLastAccess, &fTimeLastWrite ); CloseHandle( hFile ); So the CloseHandle instruction doesn't alter that time. Another alternative is to modify directly the file system. But I don't know how ? __ JF Jolin Back to top Ed Mulroy Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:21 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file Good catch - one more of Microsoft's API "secret codes". .. Ed Quote: JF Jolin wrote in message news:op.tqbd12qajr09w3@localhost... Hi Mark I'm using BCB 5.5.1 Some programs can modify that date. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724933.aspx For example with Microsoft it is possible to set this parameter to -1 like SetFileTime( hFile, &fTimeCreate, &fTimeLastAccess, &fTimeLastWrite ); memset(&fTimeLastWrite, 0xFF, sizeof(FILETIME) ); SetFileTime( hFile, &fTimeCreate, &fTimeLastAccess, &fTimeLastWrite ); CloseHandle( hFile ); So the CloseHandle instruction doesn't alter that time. Another alternative is to modify directly the file system. But I don't know how ? Back to top Koen Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:27 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file Mark Jacobs wrote: Quote: No, he means that the CloseHandle call sets the last access time to when the CloseHandle happened! I don't see a way round this! Certainly, the other 2 work fine (last modified and last created), but last access includes the access required to set the last access date and time - a bit of a Catch 22 situation! No it doesn't. I have tested this before posting. I adjusted the last access time, closed the handle, and then looked into the properties of the file using MS Windows Explorer. The accesstime was adjusted correctly. Note however that when you do this, the accesstime is adjusted again to now. Back to top JF Jolin Guest Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:10 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file Koen <koen (AT) ha (DOT) com> wrote: Quote: No it doesn't. I have tested this before posting. I adjusted the last access time, closed the handle, and then looked into the properties of the file using MS Windows Explorer. The accesstime was adjusted correctly. Note however that when you do this, the accesstime is adjusted again to now. I'm using BCB 5.5.1 With that version: TimeCreate and TimeLastWrite are adjusted. TimeLastAccess is not. __ JF Jolin Back to top Koen Guest Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:10 am    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file JF Jolin wrote: Quote: TimeCreate and TimeLastWrite are adjusted. TimeLastAccess is not. I only adjusted the last access time, and set the TimeCreate and TimeLastWrite parameters to 0. If you change these timestamps, it doesn't sound weird to me that the last access time is changed again to the current date. Koen Back to top JF Jolin Guest Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:10 am    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file Hi Koen Can you show me your code to ajust the parameter *lpLastAccessTime of the instruction ::SetFileTime to a date in the future or in the past but not today ? May be I'll understand ... Best regards __ JF Jolin Back to top Darko Miletic Guest Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:15 am    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file JF Jolin wrote: Quote: Here is the scenario: hFile = CreateFile( lpszFileName, GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL ); SetFileTime( hFile, &fTimeCreate, &fTimeLastAccess, &fTimeLastWrite ); CloseHandle( hFile ); Whatever time is specified in fTimeLastAccess, that will be overwritten when CloseHandle instruction will be executed. MSDN that states : "lpLastAccessTime [in] A pointer to a FILETIME structure that contains the new date and time the file was last accessed. The last access time includes the last time the file was written to, read from, or (in the case of executable files) run. This parameter can be NULL if the application does not need to set this information." And now the crucial line: "To preserve the existing last access time for a file even after accessing a file, call SetFileTime with this parameter set to -1 before closing the file handle." Here is the working sample: #include <windows.h> #include <string> #include <iostream> #include <ctime> //Important kb about converting time //http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167296 void UnixTimeToFileTime(std::time_t t, LPFILETIME pft) { LONGLONG ll = Int32x32To64(t, 10000000) + 116444736000000000i64; pft->dwLowDateTime = (DWORD)ll; pft->dwHighDateTime = ll >> 32; } void changeFileTime(const std::string &fname) { HANDLE hFile = CreateFile( fname.c_str(), GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL ); if (hFile != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE){ FILETIME ft = {0UL}, ftminus = {-1L,-1L}; std::tm tmp = {0,0,14,7,3,2007 - 1900,0,0,0}; std::time_t timeValue = std::mktime(&tmp); UnixTimeToFileTime(timeValue,&ft); BOOL ret = SetFileTime(hFile,NULL,&ft,NULL); ret = ret && SetFileTime(hFile, NULL, &ftminus, NULL); if (ret == FALSE) { std::cout << "could not change last access field." << std::endl; } CloseHandle(hFile); } } int main () { changeFileTime("<some existing file here>"); return 0; } Back to top JF Jolin Guest Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:18 pm    Post subject: Re: How to effectively modify the last access time of a file Hi Darko I knew about the -1 parameter but made a wrong manipulation which leads me to false results. Thanks also for UNIX time notice conversion. Good day __ JF Jolin 07 Apr 2007 20:15:30 -0400, Darko Miletic <kiklop (AT) fibertel (DOT) com.ar> wrote: Quote: "To preserve the existing last access time for a file even after accessing a file, call SetFileTime with this parameter set to -1 before closing the file handle." 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