iwattrib crdate field - how's it determined?

Hi all -
I'm testing some metadata and file attributes in the Backing Store and have the following question:

How is the crdate value set and updated?

I can check the create date (crdate) on a file with iwattrib, then go make a simple update to the file, then go requery the crdate value and it seems to get updated along with the moddate. I'd think the crdate on a file would get set once and remain the same. Do I need to trace the history of the file back as far as I can to get the true crdate?

Wally Box
Nike, Inc.

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Adam Stoller

I think that in some cases (don't remember which off-hand) the process of updating a file involves removing it and re-creating it - and thus you get a new create date for that file. I think this had to do with the editing application used rather than an intrinsic TeamSite thing - but I'm not sure.

Can you isolate the situation in which it happens? Can you try a different file type / editing application and see if you get the same behavior?

--fish
(Interwoven Senior Technical Consultant)

Migrateduser

Hi Ghoti -
Thanks for looking at this.

I'm trying to satisfy some metadata requirements for the files in our intranet. One of these requirements is to track the creation date and last update date for files within the sites. My first thought was to use the inherent file properties kept in some combination of the filesystem and in the iwattrib info. This is why I'm pursuing this thread; to find out if I can determine the behavior of the creation date info of a file in the backing store.

I just did what I think is a simple test:
Within TeamSite, I created a file in a workarea named test_crdata.txt, edited a comment into the file with Notepad, and uploaded the updated file via Launchpad back into the workarea and then noted the Creation Date value returned from File / File Properties within TeamSite. 10:20:26 was the value.

I then made another update from within Notepad and uploaded it back into the workarea using Launchpad. This time I removed the local copy from my PC and closed Launchpad. Then I checked the Creation Date value in File / File Properties. 10:23:24 was now the value, so this process updated the Creation Date.

At this point, I submitted the file into the Staging area and created an edition. I was exploring the possibility that this action might change the outcome of a further edit.

I then went through the edit / upload process again and the Creation Date value was once again updated, this time to 10:28:43. The Creation Date value of the file published in the edition correctly stayed at 10:23.

From this test, it appears that any update to a file in a Workarea results in an update to the Creation Date value and that Creation Date gets more permanently 'set' when published.

This leads me to believe that capturing the Creation Date value in a metadata Extended Attribute may be a more reliable idea than trying to use the iwattrib value for crdate. Once set into an EA, the value could survive multiple updates to the file without changing the EA value.

As you say, this may have to do with the editing application, but using Notepad does produce the behavior described above. I also switched the application to FrontPage (via the Launchpad setup) and got the same results...

I'm working on TS 552 on Solaris and using the java LaunchPad version.

Edited by walib on 04/21/03 11:19 AM (server time).

Adam Stoller

Well, it appears I was half-right - a fair number of editing applications *do* exhibit this behavior, and there isn't too much Interwoven can do about them ... but according to bug # 27185 LaunchPad *is* a known culprit too.

Please contact Interwoven Support to have them add Nike as an interested customer and perhaps to adjust the priority of the bug.

In the meantime, our engineers suggest that using the extended attribute method is a very good alternative to relying on the built-in crdate attribute that TeamSite stores.

--fish
(Interwoven Senior Technical Consultant)

rohitspathak123

Hi walib

I was also facing the same problem when i used NOTEPAD to edit the file.

I tried editing an existing DCR & 'crdate' did not changed.

I tried editing a .doc file & 'crdate' did not changed

So it has to do something with your editing application ( as Fish mentioned )

~ rohit