// -------------------- method for getting the life - time of this instance -------------------
const KRV_Time *KRV_Object::getLifeTime(void) const{
 // declare local variables
 SYSTEMTIME tmCrt,tmCurr,tmDiff;
 FILETIME ftmCrt,ftmCurr,ftmDiff;
 LARGE_INTEGER liCrt,liCurr,liDiff;

 // get the creation- and the current time
 tmCrt = this->tmCrt;
 GetLocalTime(&tmCurr);

 // covert both SYSTEMTIME - structs into FILETIME - structs
 SystemTimeToFileTime(&tmCrt,&ftmCrt);
 SystemTimeToFileTime(&tmCurr,&ftmCurr);

 // copy both filetime - structs into LARGER_INTEGER - structs
 CopyMemory(&liCurr,&ftmCurr,sizeof(FILETIME));
 CopyMemory(&liCrt,&ftmCrt,sizeof(FILETIME));

 // subtract the creationtime from the currentime
 liDiff.QuadPart = liCurr.QuadPart - liCrt.QuadPart;

 // inverse all operations with the result
 CopyMemory(&ftmDiff,&liDiff,sizeof(LARGE_INTEGER));
 FileTimeToSystemTime(&ftmDiff,&tmDiff);

 // return a pointer to the SYSTEMTIME struct holding the calculated life - time
 return &(this->tmLife = tmDiff);
}
// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------