List of files from a directory ordered by date

Question

How can I get a list of files from directory ordered by date in NAV? I can't use the File virtual table because there is no key for the date. I've tried with DotNet but implementing the IComparer interface is far too complicated for me.

Any ideas?

Cheers

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 24 '15 at 08:21

As a low-tech solution (i.e. not requiring any external components), how about creating a temporary File record variable in which you buffer the file records, populating the Path field with a sortable string representation of the file's Date and Time fields combined into a DateTime? [Please ignore that PAGE.RUN - that was there just for debugging purposes.]

On my machine, the first call to ShowFileOrder displays this:

The second call shows this:

And this is what the files look like in Windows Explorer:

I hope this helps! :)

hi @uncommonsense, this is what I've done as well. Thanks! – azatoth Dec 25 '15 at 23:40 — azatoth, Dec 25 '15 at 23:40

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

And what is exactly wrong with the key of File table? As far as I can see both Date and Time are sortable. Tested in Nav 2015.

Anyway, if you really want to do it with .net here is example. Base table is File. Page property SourceTableTemporary = Yes. After you get all file info to arrey you can use it and sort it the way you like. Or you can fill thetemporary file table with values from array and use setcurrentkey LOL

di  DotNet  System.IO.DirectoryInfo.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'   
fi  DotNet  System.IO.FileSystemInfo.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'  
arr DotNet  System.Array.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'  
i   Integer     

di := di.DirectoryInfo('c:\Temp\Tmp');
//arr.CreateInstance(GETDOTNETTYPE(fi),1); //not needed
arr := di.GetFileSystemInfos();
for i := 0 to arr.Length-1 do
 begin
  fi := arr.GetValue(i);
  Name := fi.Name;
  evaluate(Date, format(fi.LastWriteTime,8,1));
  insert;
 end;

Or you could even sort file list with .Net

di  DotNet  System.IO.DirectoryInfo.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'   
fi  DotNet  System.IO.FileSystemInfo.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'  
arr DotNet  System.Array.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'  
arrKey  DotNet  System.Array.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'  
i   Integer     
TYPE    DotNet  System.Type.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'   
MethodInfo  DotNet  System.Reflection.MethodInfo.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'  
Parameters  DotNet  System.Array.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'  
Object  DotNet  System.Object.'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'

di := di.DirectoryInfo('c:\Temp\Tmp');
arr := di.GetFileSystemInfos();
fi := arr.GetValue(0);
arrKey := arrKey.CreateInstance(GETDOTNETTYPE(fi.LastWriteTime), arr.Length);
FOR i := 0 TO arr.Length-1 DO
 BEGIN
  fi := arr.GetValue(i);
  arrKey.SetValue(fi.LastWriteTime, i);
 END;

TYPE := GETDOTNETTYPE(arr);
MethodInfo := TYPE.GetMethods().GetValue(80);
Parameters := Parameters.CreateInstance(GETDOTNETTYPE(Object),2);
Parameters.SetValue(arrKey,0);
Parameters.SetValue(arr,1);
MethodInfo.Invoke(TYPE, Parameters);

FOR i := 0 TO arr.Length-1 DO
 BEGIN
  fi := arr.GetValue(i);
  MESSAGE(FORMAT(fi.LastWriteTime()));
 END;

The question was (also) tagged with "NAV2013"; in that version, SETCURRENTKEY() still required an existing table key. :-) — Jan Hoek, Dec 25 '15 at 10:00
Hi @MakSim, thanks for the answers but, you've said it's sortable by any fields : yes it is in the RTC but not in the code. I will give your second answer a try. Thanks — azatoth, Dec 25 '15 at 23:42
@MakSim How can I do this without dotnet? Nav 2009 SP1 does not support dotnet interop and the file table does not work with shared folders /UNC paths in 2009 SP1 (confirmed bug) — Ello, Jul 05 '17 at 10:40
@MarkSim nevermind, I used Windows Scripting Host automation for this task — Ello, Jul 05 '17 at 12:29

List of files from a directory ordered by date

2 Answers2