PowerBuilder

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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integer li_rc
integer li_Success
oleobject loo_Sftp
integer li_Port
string ls_Password
integer li_BIsHandle
string ls_DateTimeStr

li_Success = 0

//  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.

loo_Sftp = create oleobject
li_rc = loo_Sftp.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.SFtp")
if li_rc < 0 then
    destroy loo_Sftp
    MessageBox("Error","Connecting to COM object failed")
    return
end if

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
li_Port = 22
li_Success = loo_Sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",li_Port)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Sftp.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Sftp
    return
end if

//  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.
ls_Password = "mySshPassword"

li_Success = loo_Sftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",ls_Password)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Sftp.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Sftp
    return
end if

li_Success = loo_Sftp.InitializeSftp()
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Sftp.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Sftp
    return
end if

//  The 1st argument is a path, so bIsHandle is 0.
li_BIsHandle = 0
ls_DateTimeStr = "Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:15:30 -0600"
li_Success = loo_Sftp.SetCreateTimeStr("subdir/report.pdf",li_BIsHandle,ls_DateTimeStr)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Sftp.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Sftp
    return
end if

Write-Debug "Creation time set."

loo_Sftp.Disconnect()


destroy loo_Sftp