File created date

@RPA Guy Unfortunately this has been a long-standing problem; why the native File package does not include these most basic Actions is beyond me. I have been submitting tickets for some time to get it added, but so far crickets.

Just out of curiosity, are you looking specifically for the (creation/modified/etc.) date? Or are you trying to do something like capture the most recent file? There are different paths you can follow depending on the desired outcome, but they’re both kind of ugly:

Finding the Date Itself:

• I would suggest downloading the Bot Store templates into your Control Room:
  • https://docs.automationanywhere.com/bundle/enterprise-v2019/page/automation-anywhere-templates.html
• One of these templates is called Get File and Folder Information. It uses an included FileFolderInfo.dll file (again, why not just make it native?) to obtain things like file size, created/modified date, etc.
• The good thing is you can copy the template and modify to your needs, rather than starting from scratch.

Finding a recently created or modified File:

• If you’re trying to do something like find the most recently created file, you can do something like this without installing anything extra:
• Loop through files in a folder:

• 

  Set an If condition, checking for the file Created or Modified date. Beating the dead horse, the action is obviously obtaining the file info in the background; it just doesn’t expose it for our use.

• Unfortunately, you have to give it a time frame. The one benefit is, if you are creating/modifying the file in your bot, you can use the “Relative to runtime” to narrow the timeframe down:

• 

  Then perform whichever actions you would like on the file.

As I said, neither option is perfect, but hope that helps anyone who wanders by on this topic.