Windows API Guide: Glossary

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Type BY_HANDLE_FILE_INFORMATION   dwFileAttributes As Long   ftCreationTime As FILETIME   ftLastAccessTime As FILETIME   ftLastWriteTime As FILETIME   dwVolumeSerialNumber As Long   nFileSizeHigh As Long   nFileSizeLow As Long   nNumberOfLinks As Long   nFileIndexHigh As Long   nFileIndexLow As Long End Type

BY_HANDLE_FILE_INFORMATION-type variables hold various pieces of information about a file. This information includes the file's attributes; its creation, last-access, and last-modified times and dates; the serial number of the disk the file is on; the file's size; the number of links to the file in the file system; and the unique file identifier value. Notice how the file size and file index, both being 64-bit values, are split into high-order and low-order halves of 32 bits each. To get the value they represent, you can append the hexadecimal or binary values of the two halves together. You can also use the formula actualvalue = high_order * 2^32 + low_order to calculate it.

dwFileAttributes

One or more of the following flags which specify the file's various attributes:

FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE = &H20

An archive file (which most files are).

FILE_ATTRIBUTE_COMPRESSED = &H800

A file residing in a compressed drive or directory.

FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY = &H10

A directory instead of a file.

FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN = &H2

A hidden file, not normally visible to the user.

FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL = &H80

An attribute-less file (cannot be combined with other attributes).

FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY = &H1

A read-only file.

FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM = &H4

A system file, used exclusively by the operating system.

ftCreationTime

The time and date of when the file was created.

ftLastAccessTime

The time and date of when the file was last accessed.

ftLastWriteTime

The time and date of when the file was last modified or written to.

dwVolumeSerialNumber

The serial number of the disk which the file is stored on.

nFileSizeHigh

The high-order half of the file's size.

nFileSizeLow

The low-order half of the file's size.

nNumberOfLinks

The number of links to the file in the file system. In NTFS (Win NT File System), this can be greater than one. In the FAT or FAT32 system (Win 32s, Win 95/98), this will always be 1.

nFileIndexHigh

The high-order half of a unique 64-bit identifier of the file.

nFileIndexLow

The low-order half of a unique 64-bit identifier of the file.

Used by: GetFileInformationByHandle

Go back to the alphabetical Structure listing.
Go back to the Reference section index.

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