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Table 14.4 The File object’s methods.
Method | Description
--- | ---
Copy dest [, overwrite] | Copies the file to dest. An existing file is overwritten only if overwrite is True (the default).
Move dest | Moves the file to dest.
Delete [force] | Deletes the files. Read-only files are deleted only if force is True. The default is False.
OpenAsTextStream | Opens the file and returns a TextStream object. See Chapter 13 for details.
Table 14.5 The File object’s properties.
Property | Description
--- | ---
Attributes | Returns a value summarizing the file’s attributes, as explained in detail later.
DateCreated | Date and time the file was created.
DateLastAccessed | Date and time the file was last accessed.
DateLastModified | Date and time the file was last modified.
Drive | Drive letter of the drive where the file resides.
Name | Sets or returns the name of the file.
ParentFolder | Returns a Folder object representing the file’s parent folder.
Path | The path of the file, including drive letter.
ShortName | The short file name used by programs that require the old 8.3 style naming convention.
ShortPath | The short path used by programs that require the old 8.3 style naming convention.
Size | The size, in bytes, of the file.
Type | Returns information about the type of the file (explained in more detail later).
Table 14.6 Values of the Attribute property.
Attribute | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
Normal | 0 | Normal file. No attributes are set.
ReadOnly | 1 | Read-only file. Read/write.
Hidden | 2 | Hidden file. Read/write.
System | 4 | System file. Read/write.
Volume | 8 | Disk drive volume label. Read-only.
Directory | 16 | Folder or directory. Read-only.
Archive | 32 | File has changed since last backup. Read/write.
Alias | 64 | Link or shortcut. Read-only.
Compressed | 128 | Compressed file. Read-only.
You use Visual Basic’s logical operators to convert between individual file attributes and the value of the Attributes property. Use And to determine if a specific attribute is set. If f is a File object, then we can write the following code to determine if the file’s Archive attribute is set:
    If f.Attributes And 32 Then
            ‘ Archive attribute is set.
    Else
    ‘ Archive attribute is not set.
    End If
Likewise, the following code checks to see if the file’s ReadOnly attribute is set and, if it is, clears it:
    If f.Attributes And 1 Then
            f.Attributes = f.Attributes - 1
    End If
To perform the reverse—setting the ReadOnly attribute if it is not already set—we would write the following:
    If Not f.Attributes And 1 Then
            f.Attributes = f.Attributes + 1
    End If
### The File-Related Controls Most of what you will do with files in Visual Basic will use the Basic statements, functions, and objects presented so far. Other types of file access—such as loading a picture into a Picture Box control—are handled more or less automatically by the associated control. Three Visual Basic controls, however, have been designed specifically to work with files: FileListBox, DirListBox, and DriveListBox. These controls are the topic of this section. The file-related controls are designed to help you navigate your system’s disk drives. Think of how things are arranged on the disk. Each disk, or drive, is identified by a letter followed by a colon. On each drive are one or more folders, or subdirectories, arranged in a hierarchical structure. In each folder are one or more files, each with its own name. A folder can also contain other folders, or it can be empty. Thus, locating any file is a three-tiered process: drive, folder, file name. One control is designed to deal with each of these three levels.
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