List most recent files in ASP Classic - sorting

Question

I am redesigning our department website and our IT department does not support the intranet development. The server runs ASP Classic and is able to run VB scripts and Javascript to an extent (somethings work others don't).
So here is my problem:
I modified a simple code that I got from http://www.brainjar.com/asp/dirlist/
to list all the PDF Files in a directory including sub directories but I am not sure how to sort it.
As of now it sorts it in alphabetical order per each folder it reads. I would like it to sort every file of every sub directory by the item.DateLastModified property I do not know if this possible.
I am thinking I would need to store the items in an array and then sort the array and print the data but I have no idea how to do that it has been 10 years since I took a programming course.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Current code I am using :
====>
<% sub ListFolderContents(path)
dim fs, folder, file, item, url
set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set folder = fs.GetFolder(path)
for each item in folder.SubFolders
ListFolderContents(item.Path)
next
'Display a list of files
for each item in folder.Files
url = MapURL(item.path)
if item.type = "PDF File" then
Response.Write("<dt>" & item.Name & "" _
& vbCrLf)
end if
next
Response.Write("</dt>" & vbCrLf)
end sub
function MapURL(path)
dim rootPath, url
'Convert a physical file path to a URL for hypertext links.
rootPath = Server.MapPath("/")
url = Right(path, Len(path) - Len(rootPath))
MapURL = Replace(url, "\", "/")
end function %>
The original is at http://www.brainjar.com/asp/dirlist/

Answer 1

Well, it's your lucky day! I happen to have old code that I wrote for personal use ~10 years ago, so with little tweaking it can fit your case almost perfectly. The key is using a disconnected recordset to hold all the data, then sort by date last modified. The crawling itself is similar to what you already have, by recursion. Note that no need to create new folder instance in each iteration - it's waste of resources, since you already have the folder object in the loop.
Anyway, here it is:
Const adVarChar = 200
Const adInteger = 3
Const adDate = 7
Dim objFSO, oFolder, objRS
Sub ExtractAllFiles(oFolder)
Dim oSubFolder, oFile
'recurse all sub folders
For Each oSubFolder In oFolder.SubFolders
Call ExtractAllFiles(oSubFolder)
Next
'loop through all the files found, add to the recordset
For Each oFile in oFolder.Files
objRS.AddNew
objRS.Fields("Name").Value = oFile.Name
objRS.Fields("Url").Value = MapURL(oFile.Path)
objRS.Fields("Type") = oFile.Type
objRS.Fields("DateLastModified").Value = oFile.DateLastModified
Next
End Sub
Sub ListFolderContents(sPath, sTypeToShow)
Set objFSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set oFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(sPath)
'create a disconnected recordset
Set objRS = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
'append proper fields
objRS.Fields.Append "Name", adVarChar, 255
objRS.Fields.Append "Url", adVarChar, 255
objRS.Fields.Append "Type", adVarChar, 255
objRS.Fields.Append "DateLastModified", adDate
objRS.Open
'extract all files in given path:
Call ExtractAllFiles(oFolder)
'sort and apply:
If Not(objRS.EOF) Then
objRS.Sort = "DateLastModified DESC"
objRS.MoveFirst
End If
'loop through all the records:
Do Until objRS.EOF
If (Len(sTypeToShow)=0) Or (LCase(sTypeToShow)=LCase(objRS("Type"))) Then
Response.Write("<dt>" & objRS("Name") & " (Type: " & objRS("Type") & ", Last modified: " & objRS("DateLastModified") & ")</dt>" _
& vbCrLf)
End If
objRS.MoveNext()
Loop
'clean up resources
Set oFolder = Nothing
Set objFSO = Nothing
objRS.Close
Set objRS = Nothing
End Sub
To use it in your code, have such line in the HTML body:
<% Call ListFolderContents(Server.MapPath("."), "PDF File") %>
You can of course use different path and change the display to show only what you need.