Reading and Writing File Attributes

The OpenInsight dir() function returns the file size, the date of last update, and the time of last update, for a specified file. Sometimes it is necessary to find out other attributes of the file, such as whether it is read-only, whether the archive bit is set, or whether it is a directory. At other times, it might be necessary to set these bits. For example, you might want a file containing privileged information to be hidden.

The next topic will explain how to read the attributes of a file, using the Windows API function GetFileAttributes(). The topic after that will explain how to change the attributes of a file, using the Windows API function SetFileAttributes().