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Directory.GetCreationTime Method

.NET Framework 1.1

Other Versions

Gets the creation date and time of a directory.

[Visual Basic]
Public Shared Function GetCreationTime( _
   ByVal path As String _
) As DateTime
[C#]
public static DateTime GetCreationTime(
 string path
);
[C++]
public: static DateTime GetCreationTime(
 String* path
);
[JScript]
public static function GetCreationTime(
   path : String
) : DateTime;

Parameters

path: The path of the directory.

Return Value

A DateTime structure set to the creation date and time for the specified directory. This value is expressed in local time.

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
IOException	The specified path was not found.
UnauthorizedAccessException	The caller does not have the required permission.
ArgumentException	path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters as defined by InvalidPathChars.
ArgumentNullException	path is a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
PathTooLongException	The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length. For example, on Windows-based platforms, paths must be less than 248 characters, and file names must be less than 260 characters.

Remarks

This method is equivalent to File.GetCreationTime.

The path parameter is permitted to specify relative or absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as relative to the current working directory. To obtain the current working directory, see GetCurrentDirectory.

The path parameter is not case-sensitive.

For an example of using this method, see the Example section below. The following table lists examples of other typical or related I/O tasks.

To do this...	See the example in this topic...
Create a text file.	Writing Text to a File
Write to a text file.	Writing Text to a File
See the files in a directory.	Name
See the subdirectories of a directory.	GetDirectories GetDirectories
See all the files in all subdirectories of a directory.	GetFileSystemInfos
Find the size of a directory.	Directory
Determine if a file exists.	Exists
Determine if a directory exists.	Exists
Sort files in a directory by size.	GetFileSystemInfos

Example

[Visual Basic, C#, C++] The following example gets the creation time of the specified directory.

[Visual Basic] 
Imports System
Imports System.IO

Public Class Test
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Try
            ' Get the creation time of a well-known directory.
            Dim dt As DateTime = Directory.GetCreationTime(Environment.CurrentDirectory)

            ' Give feedback to the user.
            If DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 364 Then
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is over a year old.")
            ElseIf DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 30 Then
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is over a month old.")
            ElseIf DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays <= 1 Then
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is less than a day old.")
            Else
                Console.WriteLine("This directory was created on {0}", dt)
            End If

        Catch e As Exception
            Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString())
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class

[C#] 
using System;
using System.IO;

class Test 
{
    public static void Main() 
    {
        try 
        {
            // Get the creation time of a well-known directory.
            DateTime dt = Directory.GetCreationTime(Environment.CurrentDirectory);

            // Give feedback to the user.
            if (DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 364) 
            {
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is over a year old.");
            } 
            else if (DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 30) 
            {
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is over a month old.");
            } 
            else if (DateTime.Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays <= 1) 
            {
                Console.WriteLine("This directory is less than a day old.");
            } 
            else 
            {
                Console.WriteLine("This directory was created on {0}", dt);
            }
        } 
        catch (Exception e) 
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString());
        }
    }
}

[C++] 
#using <mscorlib.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;

int main() {
    try {
        // Get the creation time of a well-known directory.
        DateTime dt = Directory::GetCreationTime(Environment::CurrentDirectory);

        // Give feedback to the user.
        if (DateTime::Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 364) {
            Console::WriteLine(S"This directory is over a year old.");
        } else if (DateTime::Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays > 30) {
            Console::WriteLine(S"This directory is over a month old.");
        } else if (DateTime::Now.Subtract(dt).TotalDays <= 1) {
            Console::WriteLine(S"This directory is less than a day old.");
        } else {
            Console::WriteLine(S"This directory was created on {0}", __box(dt));
        }
    } catch (Exception* e) {
        Console::WriteLine(S"The process failed: {0}", e);
    }
}

[JScript] No example is available for JScript. To view a Visual Basic, C#, or C++ example, click the Language Filter button in the upper-left corner of the page.

Requirements

Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family, .NET Compact Framework, Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) Standard

.NET Framework Security:

FileIOPermission for reading the specified file or directory. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess.Read