Sorting files on creation date

[denni11998833]

Hey,

I was wondering if someone could help me out here! I am trying to sort a list of files and remove the last x ones if it exceeds a constant variable (maxbuffersize). Below you can see what I did: I tried to sort the vector based on the predicate sortOnDate(). It compiles but when I try to run the application it crashes: Debug Assertion Failed! Expression: invalid operator< ....

Can anyone explain why it crashes? Thanks in advance! dennis

const int MAXBUFFERSIZE=100;

bool sortOnDate(const std::string& a, const std::string& b){
	
	HANDLE hFileA, hFileB; 
	WIN32_FIND_DATAA FileInformation;
	
	hFileA = ::FindFirstFileA(a.c_str(), &FileInformation);
	hFileB = ::FindFirstFileA(b.c_str(), &FileInformation);

	FILETIME ftA, ftB; 
	GetFileTime(hFileA, &ftA, NULL, NULL); 
	GetFileTime(hFileB, &ftB, NULL, NULL);
	
	return CompareFileTime(&ftA, &ftB);
}
//________________________________________________________________
void UpdateImageBuffer(std::vector &inFiles){
	
	//sort them by creation date
	std::sort(allFiles.begin(), allFiles.end(), sortOnDate);
	
	//delete the oldest files that exceed the max buffer size
	for(unsigned int i=0; i<(allFiles.size()-MAXBUFFERSIZE); i++)
		allFiles.pop_back();
}

[Ancient Dragon]

OMG that has to be an extremely sloooooow program. A more efficient way would be to keep the times in the vectorl so that they can easily be referenced, maybe something like this:

struct files
{
     std::string filename;
     FILETIME  tm;
};

vector<files> list;

line 18: are you sure that is how its coded in your program? std::vector &inFiles doesn't make any sense.

[denni11998833]

Thanks for your reply! Ok, ok, ok I have to agree with you that it wasn't exactly a high-speed application :D, but ey I'm just starting ;)

Anyway, below you can find my adjustments. Results:

1. No error
2. No sorting
3. No deleting when delete is called

Do you know if I get the right parameters from GetFileTime() to get the date that the file was created on? Suggestions?

struct Files{
	std::string filename;
	FILETIME tm;
};

bool sortOnDate(const Files& fA, const Files& fB){
	
	FILETIME ftA, ftB;
	ftA = fA.tm;
	ftB = fB.tm;
	return CompareFileTime(&ftA, &ftB)<0;
}

//________________________________________________________________
void UpdateImageBuffer(Halcon::HTuple &inFiles, int iNumFiles){

	std::vector<Files> allFiles;
	Files f;
	HANDLE hFile;
	FILETIME ft; 

	//put all the files on a vector
	for(int i = 0; i<iNumFiles-1; i++){

		f.filename = (std::string)inFiles[i];
		hFile = CreateFile((LPCWSTR)f.filename.c_str(), GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, FILE_SHARE_READ, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, NULL);
		
		GetFileTime(hFile, &ft, NULL, NULL); 
		f.tm = ft; 

		allFiles.push_back(f);

		CloseHandle(hFile);
	}	
		
	//sort them by creation date
	std::sort(allFiles.begin(), allFiles.end(), sortOnDate);
	
	//delete the oldest files that exceed the max buffer size
	for(int i=0; i<iNumFiles-1; i++)
		if(i>MAXBUFFERSIZE)
			DeleteFile((LPCWSTR)allFiles[i].filename.c_str());

	
}

[denni11998833]

Found the solution!!

Remove the LPCWSTR cast and call the CreateFileA and DeleteFileA functions. This results in the correct sorting procedure and the correct deletion of the oldest files.

Thanks!