Error in docs about "file creation date"

[Wilhelm Sanke]

On Sat, 19 May 2007, "J. Landman Gay" <jacque at hyperactivesw.com> wrote:

> I think Rev just makes a call to the OS to get the info. If the detailed
> file info matches the Finder (or the info in Windows Explorer) then I
> think the behavior is correct. Rev doesn't actually read any of the
> files itself, it just gets whatever the OS returns.
> (snip)
>
> >> But then, it seems there is no reliable procedure to get at the 
> creation
> >> dates when you use "the detailed files" - meaning the docs are not 
> fully
> >> correct here.
>
>
> See if they match what the OS thinks they should be. If they do, then I
> think it's working. If you need to read the stored EXIF data instead,
> then you'd need to use Alex's utility or something similar.
>
> When I copy files to my Windows box, it too changes the creation date
> sometimes.
>
> -- Jacqueline Landman Gay | jacque at hyperactivesw.com HyperActive 
> Software | 


Am I right to assume that what he OS thinks can be seen when you open a 
folder in the "details" view (Windows XP), where the modification and 
creation dates (interestingly in this order) are displayed?

If this is the case then it is also safe to assume that the "detailed 
files" function of Rev never looks at these internal OS data, and only 
in rare cases comes up with matching data. Otherwise it is not 
comprehensible that creation dates are not retrieved from the OS (by the 
detailed files of Rev) when they in fact could easily be inspected in 
the folder/file information of the OS - and,  as I already pointed out, 
sometimes you get sort of "transfer" data through the detailed files 
that cannot be found among the OS information.

I have got one image folder here, where the OS clearly shows different 
modification and creation dates, but on using the "detailed files" of 
Rev only the modification dates are shown both with item 4 and item 5 of 
the detailed files.

Concerning MacOS the internal image file data can most probably be 
inspected using a Mac application like "iTunes". As I reported in my 
first post of May 19, image "M" ( the one I slightly modified by 
changing the contrast, but saved with the same name) shows the following 
data in iTunes:

> On my Mac:  The photo information in "iTunes" reads
>
> for image M: "created" ("aufgenommen" in German): March 4
>                    "digitalized": March 4
>                    "modified"  : March 4
>                    "imported" : May 19
>
> for image O: "created"    :March 4
>                    "digitalized": March 4
>                    "modified"  : March 4
>                    "imported" : May 19


Image "M" was indeed modified by me on May 19 in the way described 
above, but apparently this modification (by keeping the name and only 
changing the contrast) is not recognized as a "modification" by the Mac 
OS. But the detailed files display the "imported" date as modification 
(or "creation") in the case of image "M", but not in the case of the 
unmodified image "O", although the latter was also imported on May 19.

So much for the reliability of the "detailed files" and the 
correspondence with OS information.

The detailed-files function of Rev appears to be extremely "buggy", and 
the Rev team should take a close look both at the function itself and 
the corresponding information in the docs.

Regards,

Wilhelm Sanke
<http://www.sanke.org/MetaMedia>