How do I get the timestamp of a specific file over multiple files within the same folder? - vba

Question

I'm trying to write a simple script that looks into a folder, finds the specified file, then spits out the timestamp on a cell. That is the easy part which I already have, (using a string & object).
The part where I'm having issues is having this repeat over 400 specific files within a folder of +1,000 files. All the files are labeled differently, but some may have similarities (AB.xls, AC.xls, AD.xls ; A1.xls, A2.xls, etc). I could go the long way and just rinse and repeat just changing the string name to each specific file, but that would take too long to write.
Is there a short cut to loop this or would I need to add a variable line for the file name to change each time?
Here is a snippet:
Sub Timecheck()
Dim oFS As Object
Dim strFilename As String
strFilename = "Where the file is located"
Set oFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Sheets("tab").Activate
ActiveSheet.Cells(3, 3).Value = oFS.GetFile(strFilename).Datelastmodified
Set oFS = Nothing
End Sub

Answer 1

If the names of the files are on another sheet you need to create another function that will iterate through that range of cells.
Once you have that function in place have it call this function:
Sub Timecheck(byval aCell as object,byval X as integer,Y as integer)
Dim oFS As Object
Dim strFilename As String
strFilename = aCell.Text
Set oFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Sheets("tab").Activate
ActiveSheet.Cells(X,Y).Value = oFS.GetFile(strFilename).Datelastmodified
Set oFS = Nothing
End Sub
where X and Y are the coordinates of the cell you want to put the data in. You call it by passing in the cell in the range that you have grabbed from the other sheet.
Alternately if you do not want to have to traverse a range then put each file name in a single cell on the new sheet and delimit it with a character that won't show up in the name. Then take that and break it into the file names.
Good luck.
EDIT:
If you wanted to iterate through the items in a delimited list inside a cell, then once you have the cell text in an object:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6x627e5f(v=vs.80).aspx
with an input of 'filename1.xls^filename2.xls^filename3.xls'
call once you have the cell object that contains the file list
DoStuff(cellObejct, "^")
Public Sub DoStuff( byval aCell as object, byval specialChar as string)
Dim ListOfNames as Variant
Dim intIndex, xCell, yCell as integer
ListOfNames = Split(aCell.Text,specialChar)
xCell = 1
yCell = 1
For intIndex = LBound(ListOfNames) To UBound(ListOfNames)
TimeCheck(ListOfNames(intIndex),xCell,yCell)
yCell = yCell + 1
Next intIndex
End Sub
Sub Timecheck(byval fName as string,byval X as integer,Y as integer)
Dim oFS As Object
Set oFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Sheets("tab").Activate
ActiveSheet.Cells(X,Y).Value = oFS.GetFile(fName).Datelastmodified
Set oFS = Nothing
End Sub

Answer 2

To loop thought a folder:
Sub timecheck()
Dim FSO As Object
Dim FLD As Object
Dim fil As Object
Dim i As Long
Dim strFolder As String
i = 1
strFolder = "C:\Your Folder Name"
'Create the filesystem object
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'Get a reference to the folder you want to search
Set FLD = FSO.GetFolder(strFolder)
'loop through the folder and get the file names
For Each fil In FLD.Files
Sheets("Sheet1").Cells(i, 1) = fil.Name ' Filename in column A
Sheets("Sheet1").Cells(i, 2) = fil.datelastmodified ' Date in column B
i = i + 1
Next
End Sub