Delphi ActiveX

Get an FTP Listing Entry's Creation Time

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ftp2.GetCreateTimeStr method, which returns the creation time of a cached directory-listing entry as an RFC 822 date-time string. The only argument is a zero-based index.

Background: Creation time is the least commonly reported of the timestamps — many servers and filesystems track only modification and access times — so expect it to be absent on some servers. When present it is genuinely useful because, unlike the modified time, it does not change when a file is edited. The RFC 822 format includes a timezone offset, making the moment unambiguous.

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var
success: Integer;
ftp: TChilkatFtp2;
n: Integer;
i: Integer;
name: WideString;
createTime: WideString;

begin
success := 0;

//  Demonstrates the Ftp2.GetCreateTimeStr method, which returns the creation time of a cached
//  directory-listing entry as an RFC 822 date-time string.  The only argument is a zero-based
//  index.

ftp := TChilkatFtp2.Create(Self);

ftp.Hostname := 'ftp.example.com';
ftp.Username := 'myFtpLogin';

//  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
//  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
ftp.Password := 'myPassword';

success := ftp.Connect();
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

success := ftp.ChangeRemoteDir('public_html');
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  GetDirCount retrieves the directory listing on the first call and returns the number of
//  entries.  A negative return indicates failure.
n := ftp.GetDirCount();
if (n < 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

for i := 0 to n - 1 do
  begin
    name := ftp.GetFilename(i);

    //  The value is an RFC 822 string such as "Fri, 21 Nov 1997 09:55:06 -0600".  Not all servers
    //  report a creation time.
    createTime := ftp.GetCreateTimeStr(i);
    Memo1.Lines.Add(name + '  created ' + createTime);
  end;

success := ftp.Disconnect();
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;