RE: readdir ifs command

["Hatzenbeler, Tim" <thatzenbeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you....  I'll go with change time....

Tim

> -----Original Message-----
> From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [SMTP:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Scott Klement
> Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 11:55 AM
> To:   RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
> Subject:      Re: readdir ifs command
> 
> > However, I now need to process each file in its arrival sequence, 
> > I was wondering, if anybody knows the precedence in which the readdir 
> > command process each file...
> 
> I don't think there is any guaranteed order. It's whatever order the 
> directory entries happen to be in the directory object... I'm not sure 
> that the order is completely predictable.
> 
> > If not, I will need to read the directory once, to grab the filenames, 
> > and the timestamp... and then re-read the files using that order...
> 
> I'd load the filenames & timestamps into an array, sort by the timestamp, 
> then use that array to determine which filenames you process. That seems 
> like it would be pretty safe.
> 
> 
> > But then the question comes, what variable holds the best timestamp 
> > value...for a stream file...
> 
> Depends on your requirements.  Personally, I'd go with the "change time" 
> (the date/time the file was last changed) as my indication of whether the 
> file needs to be processed.  But, I don't know if that fits in with your 
> requirements or not.  You can get the "change time" field using the stat()
> 
> API.
> 
> If you really want to go in the order in which they're created, the 
> Qp0lGetAttr() API can be used to retrieve the create date/time.  This API 
> is much more difficult to use than stat(), so I'd avoid it unless there's 
> a really good reason to use the create date instead of the "change date".
> 
> For the projects that I've done, the "change date" made more sense, 
> anyway.
> 
> Another tip:  You can unlink() a file while you've got it open (with the 
> open() API).  If you do that, you can still use the file, even though it's
> 
> gone from the directory.  The actual data portion of the file will remain 
> usable until you close the file, at which point it'll be deleted.
> 
> This is useful when you want to process one file and make it completely 
> unavailable to other processes on the system, so that they won't also try 
> to process it.
> 
> Good luck
> 
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