Notification when a file changes?

Question

Is there some mechanism by which I can be notified (in C#) when a file is modified on the disc?

Answer 1

Use the FileSystemWatcher. You can filter for modification events only.

Answer 2

That would be System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.

Answer 3

You can use the FileSystemWatcher class.

public void CreateFileWatcher(string path)
{
    // Create a new FileSystemWatcher and set its properties.
    FileSystemWatcher watcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
    watcher.Path = path;
    /* Watch for changes in LastAccess and LastWrite times, and 
       the renaming of files or directories. */
    watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastAccess | NotifyFilters.LastWrite 
       | NotifyFilters.FileName | NotifyFilters.DirectoryName;
    // Only watch text files.
    watcher.Filter = "*.txt";

    // Add event handlers.
    watcher.Changed += new FileSystemEventHandler(OnChanged);
    watcher.Created += new FileSystemEventHandler(OnChanged);
    watcher.Deleted += new FileSystemEventHandler(OnChanged);
    watcher.Renamed += new RenamedEventHandler(OnRenamed);

    // Begin watching.
    watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
}

// Define the event handlers.
private static void OnChanged(object source, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
    // Specify what is done when a file is changed, created, or deleted.
   Console.WriteLine("File: " +  e.FullPath + " " + e.ChangeType);
}

private static void OnRenamed(object source, RenamedEventArgs e)
{
    // Specify what is done when a file is renamed.
    Console.WriteLine("File: {0} renamed to {1}", e.OldFullPath, e.FullPath);
}

Answer 4

See this answer for more information on the FileSystemWatcher class and the events it raises.

Answer 5

You're sure to run into problems with FileSystemWatcher. See my blog post here for some code that addresses these problems: http://precisionsoftware.blogspot.com/2009/05/filesystemwatcher-done-right.html