Find most recent JSON file in a server directory

Question

I can't really match an answer to this issue so I've decided to post this question hoping to find a solution.

I would like to use preferably JQuery / javascript or even PHP to find the most recent JSON files in a specified directory.

Why I would like to do this? Because when a user of my html5/javascript webapplication saves some array of objects to a JSON file, then besides the original work JSON file, there is a backup file that is created with a random name and which is the exact copy of the original JSON file.

If something happens to the original JSON file I would like the user to be able to open the most recent backup files from the backups directoy and select the right one to be recovered .

To open a JSON file I usually use this code:

$.getJSON('main/backups/random1345004.json', function(info){ ... });

Now the trouble is that in case of a backup I don't know the name of the JSON file that should be opened, because each file is unic and has a Math.random() generated name when it's created.

So I repeat the question: Is there a way to open from the backups directory the most recently created, randomly named, JSON files?

If not I might try to use .getTime() javascript method instead of Math.random() to control the names of the backup files created and then use a loop to search for a valid backup file name. That's a hunch, but I would not like to make anything stupid if there is a better solution, without loops.

Security is not a concern for me at this rate.

Thank you for any help provided!

Answer 1

If your server supports WebDav or FTP on your main\\backups folder then you could search for all files greater today and then select the more recent.

--- Addition ---

With PHP, take a look at sort files by date in PHP

Answer 2

You could replace your $.getJSON() call with a standard ajax request:

<script>
$.ajax({
    url      : "getMostRecentBackup.php",
    datatype : "json"
})
.done(function(data){
    console.log( data.toSource() );
})
.fail(function() {
    alert( "error" );
});
</script>

will read backup directory and return a JSON object containing the most recent backup file, please read this Topic: sort files by date in PHP 将读取备份目录并返回一个包含最新备份文件的JSON对象，请阅读此主题： PHP中按日期对文件排序