Xbase++

Get a Remote File's Creation Time

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.GetFileCreateTimeStr method, which returns a remote file's creation date and time. The arguments are the remote path (or handle), whether symbolic links are followed, and whether the first argument is a handle.

Background: Creation time is the least universally available of the three timestamps: many Unix filesystems historically tracked only modified and accessed times, so a server may return nothing or a placeholder. Where it is supported it is genuinely useful — it does not change when a file is edited, unlike the modified time — but code should tolerate its absence rather than depend on it.

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LOCAL nSuccess
LOCAL oSftp
LOCAL nPort
LOCAL cPassword
LOCAL nBFollowLinks
LOCAL nBIsHandle
LOCAL cCreateTime

nSuccess := 0

//  Demonstrates the SFtp.GetFileCreateTimeStr method, which returns a remote file's creation date
//  and time.  The 1st argument is the remote path (or handle), the 2nd selects whether symbolic
//  links are followed, and the 3rd indicates whether the 1st argument is a handle.

oSftp := CreateObject("Chilkat.SFtp")

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
nPort := 22
nSuccess := oSftp:Connect("sftp.example.com", nPort)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  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.
cPassword := "mySshPassword"

nSuccess := oSftp:AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin", cPassword)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

nSuccess := oSftp:InitializeSftp()
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  The 2nd argument (bFollowLinks) selects whether a symbolic link is followed to its target.
//  The 3rd argument (bIsHandle) is 0 here because the 1st argument is a path, not an
//  open handle.
nBFollowLinks := 1
nBIsHandle := 0

cCreateTime := oSftp:GetFileCreateTimeStr("subdir/report.pdf", nBFollowLinks, nBIsHandle)
IF (oSftp:LastMethodSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

? "Created: " + cCreateTime

//  Note: Not all servers and filesystems record a creation time.

oSftp:Disconnect()

oSftp:destroy()