HP OpenVMS Systems

Ask the Wizard Questions

File System: Access header of opened file

The Question is:

On a VAX, I've got a database file that is always open and
locked.  I need to get the creation date of the db file
from a Fortran program, but the only methods I've seen of
doing this involve actually $open -ing the file, which does
not seem possible.  It's obviously possible to get the
information, as dump/header, directory, and
f$file_attributes() can get the information without any
problem.  How can I get the creation date/time?

The Answer is:

    You would need to access the file header directly from the INDEXF.SYS
    file or if you know it is open, find the FCB in memory.  This is not
    supported by any VMS callable utilities or libraries.  You will need
    to write the code yourself...