I'm not asking for a change in the way the
operating system works, or in the way that
file attributes work.
When I CHANGE a file and SAVE it, or SAVE it
even without changing it, I would EXPECT the
modified attribute to change. AHP even
warns you about exiting without saving a
changed file. That's fine.
I DON'T expect an unchanged source
file's 'modified' attribute to change just
by using AHP to open it and download it to
the CM15A.
As my post said, AHP (at least the current
version) is able to open and download a read-
only timer file to the interface, despite
the popup. This is easy to verify by
actually trying it (as I did before I
posted).
To answer the question you posed, my reason
to mark a data file read only is to prevent
inadvertent changes. It takes one variable
out of the loop of the debugging process
that doesn't need to be introduced.
Ever use a compiler that changed the dates
of your source files? Do you think that
creates fewer problems?
There may very well be a valid reason why
AHP tries to re-write an unchanged file to
disk when loading it (even though it doesn't
have to). I'm not trying to second guess
the design; just trying to point out a
consequence that may be unexpected.