PowerBuilder

Set a Remote File's Last-Access Time

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.SetLastAccessTimeStr method, which sets a remote file's last-access 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.

Background: Setting the access time explicitly is mainly for faithful restores and mirrors, where you want the copy's metadata to match the original exactly. Note that many servers update the access time on their own whenever a file is read (unless mounted noatime), so a value you set can be overwritten by ordinary access — making this the least durable of the timestamps to control.

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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.SetLastAccessTimeStr method, which sets a remote file's last-access 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.SetLastAccessTimeStr("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 "Last-access time set."

loo_Sftp.Disconnect()


destroy loo_Sftp