Pascal (Lazarus/Delphi)

Set a Remote File's Creation Time

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.SetCreateTimeStr method, which sets a remote file's creation date and time. The arguments are the remote path (or handle), whether the first argument is a handle, and an RFC 822 formatted date/time string such as Fri, 21 Nov 1997 09:55:06 -0600.

Background: Setting timestamps matters when preserving a file's original chronology — migrating an archive, restoring a backup, or mirroring a directory so the copies look identical to the source. Whether creation time can actually be set depends on the server and filesystem; many do not support a settable creation time even when they can set the modified and accessed times. The RFC 822 format includes a timezone offset, so the moment is unambiguous.

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Pascal (Lazarus/Delphi)

program ChilkatDemo;

// Demonstrates using the Chilkat Pascal wrapper via the C bridge DLL.
// Builds as a console application under Lazarus (FPC) or Delphi.

{$IFDEF FPC}
  {$MODE DELPHI}
{$ENDIF}
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  {$IFDEF UNIX}
  cthreads,
  {$ENDIF}
  SysUtils,
  CkDllLoader,
  Chilkat.SFtp;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

procedure RunDemo;
var
  success: Boolean;
  sftp: TSFtp;
  port: Integer;
  password: string;
  bIsHandle: Boolean;
  dateTimeStr: string;

begin
  success := False;

  //  Demonstrates the SFtp.SetCreateTimeStr method, which sets a remote file's creation date and
  //  time.  The 1st argument is the remote path (or handle), the 2nd (bIsHandle) indicates which,
  //  and the 3rd is an RFC 822 formatted date/time string.

  sftp := TSFtp.Create;

  //  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
  port := 22;
  success := sftp.Connect('sftp.example.com',port);
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(sftp.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  //  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.
  password := 'mySshPassword';

  success := sftp.AuthenticatePw('mySshLogin',password);
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(sftp.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  success := sftp.InitializeSftp();
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(sftp.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  //  The 1st argument is a path, so bIsHandle is False.
  bIsHandle := False;
  dateTimeStr := 'Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:15:30 -0600';
  success := sftp.SetCreateTimeStr('subdir/report.pdf',bIsHandle,dateTimeStr);
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(sftp.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;
  WriteLn('Creation time set.');

  sftp.Disconnect();


  sftp.Free;

end;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

begin

  try
    RunDemo;
  except
    on E: Exception do
      WriteLn('Unhandled exception: ', E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;

  WriteLn;
  {$IFDEF MSWINDOWS}
  WriteLn('Press Enter to exit...');
  ReadLn;
  {$ENDIF}
end.