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File Access Information?

Started by the_face029, 2008.04.09, 18:26:34

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the_face029

I've been doing some digging into OS/2 Warp 4, and I'm wondering if there is any way to know which files have been accessed on a drive (especially floppy)?  If so, where is the file or folder located in the directory.  This file or folder would be stored on the hard drive itself.

I've searched thoroughly but have been unable to find any information.  Any help is appreciated. Thanks. 

Saijin_Naib

I'm going to go ahead and say no, but I am sure someone else with more knowledge can and will correct me. If I understand correctly, the "file access" flag is something that is both monitored by the host OS and then implemented in the filesystem, or atleast thats how windows handles it. Its actually a driver flag you turn on/off in the NTFS filesystem, and I assume it would be something similar for OS/2.

Pete

Hi the_face029

If you use the WPS to open a folder in Details View you can see a column called Last Access Date which displays when the file was last accessed.

I think that data is stored with the files EAs (Extended Attributes) - but I could be wrong.

Regards

Pete

warpcafe

Hi all,

I agree with Pete - my first guess would be EA too. I don't know however how these can be displayed from "outside" the WPS... like in a VIO window. Can someone with a running eCS or OS/2 check if there is an option along with the "dir" command that shows all attributes (timestamps)? I'm at work using Windoze and Linux...

...and how about rexx(utils) ? Isn't there something alike?

Cheers,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

jep

Hello,

See: http://www.os2world.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,63/topic,938.0/

WarpCafé: Do try VPC and/or VNC, I do use both here at work :-)

//Jan-Erik

warpcafe

Hi jep,

...actually I already thought about that but was afraid that our IT department would kill me for installing VMs of OS's they don't "understand"... :-) Will check and give it a try.

Cheers,
Thomas

"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

warpcafe

Quote from: jep on 2008.04.10, 16:09:59
See: http://www.os2world.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,63/topic,938.0/
Hi jep, sorry, I edited the above threads "title" to correct the typo ("wrie" -> "write") but didn't include a comment... so take this as comment. :) I hope you don't mind... but since I'm a moderator... ;)

Interesting BTW - now we just need to know what the_face029 needs it for to provide him a boxpacked ready-to-run "program" for his needs...?

Greetz
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

saborion2

#7
An interesting topic; "the_face029"  ;)

Quote from: the_face029 on 2008.04.09, 18:26:34
I've been doing some digging into OS/2 Warp 4, and I'm wondering if there is any way to know which files have been accessed on a drive (especially floppy)?  If so, where is the file or folder located in the directory.  This file or folder would be stored on the hard drive itself.

I've searched thoroughly but have been unable to find any information.  Any help is appreciated. Thanks. 

Just curious to know if the "digging into OS/2 Warp 4" was limited to the "OS/2 Warp 4" Client; and, whether the interest extends to the 'OS/2 Warp Server for eBusiness" as well; also, if this interest includes Spread Sheet files as well "have been accessed on a drive"!  8)

BTW, while we are on this topic; and, if I may... does anyone know what has become of the "MESA Spread Sheet Application for OS/2" as I have just gleaned the below information from the attached link:

QuoteIn 1994, Athena Design introduced Mesa for OS/2. This second-generation product was called the best OS/2 spreadsheet by InfoWorld. Mesa for OS/2 included the same advanced object technology and real-time data feeds as Mesa for NextStep. Mesa for OS/2 and its advanced objects are used by Sabre Decision Technologies for an advanced decision support system.

Re:
QuoteGrant access specific spreadsheet parts and functions to specific users. No worries about confidentiality or spreadsheet corruption!

http://www.athena.com/about/about.html

inter alia:

Thanks.

the_face029

I thought I had made this post earlier, but I guess I didn't post.  I'm only looking a log or folder on the system where there would be information on recently opened files.  Just like Windows has the "Recent" folder...except a little more extensive if possible.  This would include files that may have been accessed on removeable media. 

I'm not sure if there is such a thing...even in a Windows environment.  Once again thanks.

RobertM

Quote from: the_face029 on 2008.04.10, 18:36:49
I thought I had made this post earlier, but I guess I didn't post.  I'm only looking a log or folder on the system where there would be information on recently opened files.  Just like Windows has the "Recent" folder...except a little more extensive if possible.  This would include files that may have been accessed on removeable media. 

I'm not sure if there is such a thing...even in a Windows environment.  Once again thanks.

Not as such... but there should be a way to determine when an object became live and then filter out unwanted object types (perhaps printer objects? etc? or perhaps everything but folders... or everything but folders and data files?), sort by date and time, and thus create such a list.

IIRC, the WPS does not "drop"/"close" references to objects that have been opened via it (until the next WPS/system restart)... and IIARC (and this is the part that is sketchy in my memory), it maintains a reference to when the object became "live" - and if it does not, that should be easy to determine since when an object becomes "live" under OS/2, it changes the "last accessed" Time/Datestamp to the time it was opened (or last accessed).

Thus, something relatively simple should be able to be written in any language that has access to the WPS - including REXX - and can either obtain all the info from the WPS, or the list of "alive" objects from it, and then query their "last accessed" information... OR...

...a REXX script should be able to query the info from the WPS (the list), then create shadow objects in a special folder class - and that folder class could then be sorted by the "last accessed" field <--- I have not tried this one, and there is one potential stumbling block - if creating the shadow changes the "last accessed" field, then everything would show "last accessed" at the time the folder containing the shadows was created. (thus, this one is a MAYBE).


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the_face029

Thanks for you help on this.  I have another related question:

Is there a file or folder in which I can find information on what devices are or were installed on an OS/2 system?  I know there's the Hardware Manager, but I don't have access to the OS/2 GUI.  If someone can provide me with a directory to a file or folder that would be greatly appreciated.

warpcafe

Hmm... not sure if I get you right, let me suggest this:
If you are looking for a "text-mode" version of the hardware manager, there's the PCI sniffer available at
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/misc/pci104vka.zip
...that does not display however devices which were installed. Regarding this, I don't even know how that would be available to see in other OS's either - unless an erratic deinstall has left some files...  ;)

Also, as the name implies, the PCI sniffer does not detect ISA devices AFAIK.

Regards,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

John

Hi,

Not sure if this command is still valid in eCS but try using the RMVIEW.EXE command in a VIO window or full screen to display the allocation of hardware resources on your computer. Use "rmview.exe /?" to display help text with list of other switches used.

Hope this helps.

John.

The Blue Warper

Quote from: the_face029 on 2008.04.10, 18:36:49
I'm only looking a log or folder on the system where there would be information on recently opened files.  Just like Windows has the "Recent" folder...except a little more extensive if possible.  This would include files that may have been accessed on removeable media. 
I'm not sure if there is such a thing...even in a Windows environment.

Hi, the_face029!

You may want to try this utility by Jan Stozek:
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/wps/crsh-010.zip

Quoting from fileid.diz:
Make Shadows (v.0.1) of
Documents Recently Used
Creates shadows of recently
used documents

Hope I didn't misunderstand what you were looking for.

Criguada

Hi all,
the "last access date" is implemented at the file system level, at least on HPFS (and I believe JFS too). I think OS/2 can use the EAs to store the information on file systems that don't support it, but I'mnot sure.

Blue Warper: your suggestion is great, but - if I understand correctly - the_face029 does not have access to the WPS, so he will not be able to create or see the shadows.

OTOH it is possible to get a file search program that will let you search basing on file dates. I have such a program, but I don't remember where I got it. It is called simply "F". You best bet is to look on hobbes.

Or you may look at the source of CRSH-010 (it's rexx) and modify it to list files instead of creating shadows.

Hope this helps...
Bye
Cris