Document in Folder

Question

Hi All 
 Newbie to Appian. 
 Trying to find, by date & time, the latest (most recently uploaded) document in a folder; this is as far as I have got in an expression I am playing around with: 
 
 a!forEach( 
 items: folder(1234, "documentChildren"), 
 expression: document(fv!item, "dateCreated") 
 ) 
 Any good examples to help me finish this off, or can anyone suggest how to loop through each document and return the newest? 
 Example Algorithm in pseudo code I would like translated to Appianese. 
 MostRecentlyUploaded = initial &lsquo;zero date&rsquo; 
 For Each Documents Creation Date 
 If Documents Creation Date > MostRecentlyUploaded Then 
 MostRecentlyUploaded = Documents Creation Date 
 End if 
 End For 
 Return MostRecentlyUploaded /* The most recent date */ 
 Thanks 
 Daniel

Stefan Helzle · Accepted Answer

I am not sure whether a recursive approach is the best option for this. I wrote a blog post about how to implement more "complex" algorithms in Appian. 
 https://appian.rocks/2022/08/29/complex-algorithms-in-appian/

Harshit Bumb (Appyzie) · Answer

The document ID will always be incremental as Amaan mentioned and can be relied on. But here is an alternate approach with one of my favorite functions - displayValue() using the created date attribute 
 a!localVariables(
 local!documents: a!forEach(
 items: folder(5, "documentChildren"),
 expression: a!map(
 id: document(fv!item, "id"),
 dateCreated: document(fv!item, "dateCreated")
 )
 ),
 local!maxDate: max(local!documents.dateCreated),
 displayvalue(
 local!maxDate,
 local!documents.dateCreated,
 local!documents.id,
 {}
 )
)

daniels9627 · Answer

Thanks Amaan, this worked, nice little trick. One step forward :

EREN_YEAGER · Answer

Alternatively, you can adopt the method you outlined in the post using pseudo code. This approach enables you to obtain the maximum value of any type within an array with minimal adjustments. a!localVariables(
 local!data: a!forEach(
 items: folder(6025, "documentChildren"),
 expression: document(fv!item, "dateCreated")
 ),
 rule!DCT_getMax(
 array: local!data,
 currentMax: property(local!data, 1, null),
 currentIndex: 1,
 lengthOfArray: length(local!data)
 )
) code for DCT_getMax -> if(
 ri!currentIndex > ri!lengthOfArray,
 ri!currentMax,
 rule!DCT_getMax(
 array: ri!array,
 currentMax: if(
 ri!currentMax > ri!array[ri!currentIndex],
 ri!currentMax,
 ri!array[ri!currentIndex]
 ),
 currentIndex: ri!currentIndex + 1,
 lengthOfArray: ri!lengthOfArray
 )
) 
 
 result ->

EREN_YEAGER · Answer

daniels9627 Thanks for confirming what you were looking for & If you are willing please hit 'Verify answer'.

EREN_YEAGER · Answer

I don't know if this will work for you or not but as far as I've seen recent document will have greater document Id then previous ones, so here is the code for getting most recent uploaded document -> max(
 a!forEach(
 items: folder(6025, "documentChildren"),
 expression: document(fv!item, "id"),
 
 ),
 
)

Document in Folder

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