I'm currently writing an application that moves Notes documents between databases based on the amount of days that have elapsed from the creation/modified/last accessed dates. I would just like to get ideas on a simple and convenient way to create documents with specific dates, without having to change the time on the Domino server, so that I could test out my application.
The best way I found so far was to create a local replica and change the system clock to the date I want. Unfortunately there are problems associated with this method. It does not work on the modified date - I'm not sure how it is getting the modified date information when the location is set to Island (Disconnected) - and it also changes the modified and last accessed dates when the documents are replicated to the server replica.
Someone suggested trying to create a DXL of the document, modify the date time in the DXL file, then import it back into the database as a Notes document; but that does not work. It just takes on the date-time that it was created.
Can anyone offer any other suggestions?
You can set the created date for a document by setting the UNID (which is fundamentally a struct of timestamps, although the actual implementation has changed in recent versions). Accessed and modified times, though, would be unsettable from within the Notes/Domino environment, since the changes you make would be overwritten by the process of saving the changes. If you have a flair for adventure and a need to run with scissors, you could make the changes in the database file itself either programmatically from an external application, or manually with a hex editor. (Editing the binary will work -- folks have been using hex editors to clear the "hide design" flag safely for years. Keep in mind that signed docs will blow up badly, and that you need to ensure that local encryption is off for the database file.)