FileSystemWatcher Event Does Not Fire In Windows Service

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

Hi,

I have Windows Service Which Has A following Tasks To Perform.

[1] Continuously Monitor A Directory And Upon Arrival Of Any New Files Move The File To Some Other Directory.

For The Above Task I Am Using FileSystemWatcher Component.However The Component Works Fine With No Issues When It Is Console Application Or Windows Form,However It Does Not Work When I Convert It To Windows Service.Not Sure What Is The Cause I Do Have All The Local Admin Rights To Run The Windows Service Locally. Here The Code Snippet Which I Am Trying To Execute Through Service.

C#

protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            thrMain = new Thread(StartWatching);
            thrMain.Start();
        }

        public void StartWatching()
        {
             Logger Logger = new Logger();
            try
            {

                while (true)
                {

                    if (!Directory.Exists(sourceDir))
                        Directory.CreateDirectory(sourceDir);
                    if (!Directory.Exists(processDir))
                        Directory.CreateDirectory(processDir);

                    //Watching the source folder
                    using (FileSystemWatcher fsw = new FileSystemWatcher(sourceDir))
                    {

                        //Call fsw_Created when a created event occurs

                        fsw.Created += new FileSystemEventHandler(fsw_Created);
                        fsw.IncludeSubdirectories = true;
                        fsw.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastAccess | NotifyFilters.LastWrite
                                           | NotifyFilters.FileName | NotifyFilters.DirectoryName;
                        fsw.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

                    }

                    Thread.Sleep(5000);
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Logger.Error("Onstart", "Exception in Onstart method. Error : " + ex.ToString());
            }

Not Sure If Filewatcher Has Issues With Specific Events Like Changed/Created Etc...

Posted 25-Jun-13 19:49pm

Sarvesh Nayak

Add a Solution

2 solutions

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Mahesh Bailwal · Answer 1 · 2013-06-25T20:33:00

Problem is that you are creating new instance of FileSystemWatcher inside loop every time and just after creation as soon as using block ends the instance of Filesystem Watcher get disposed and your thread go to sleep for 5 seconds.

Please create FileSystemWatcher instance outside of while loop and test.

Below is updated code, you can try

public static  void StartWatching()
        {
            Logger Logger = new Logger();
            try
            {
                FileSystemWatcher fsw = new FileSystemWatcher(sourceDir);

                    if (!Directory.Exists(sourceDir))
                        Directory.CreateDirectory(sourceDir);
                    if (!Directory.Exists(processDir))
                        Directory.CreateDirectory(processDir);
                        //Call fsw_Created when a created event occurs

                        fsw.Created += new FileSystemEventHandler(fsw_Created);
                        fsw.IncludeSubdirectories = true;
                        fsw.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastAccess | NotifyFilters.LastWrite
                                           | NotifyFilters.FileName | NotifyFilters.DirectoryName;
                        fsw.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
                        ManualResetEvent mResetEvent = new ManualResetEvent(false);
                        mResetEvent.WaitOne();
                    
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
               Logger.Error("Onstart", "Exception in Onstart method. Error : " + ex.ToString());
            }
        }

Tammam Koujan · Answer 2 · 2013-08-10T22:06:00

Solution 2

you can use my tool
Smart Watcher[^]
just develop a plugin to move files

Posted 10-Aug-13 22:06pm

Tammam Koujan

Comments

Member 9711577 4-Apr-14 16:00pm

FileSystemWatcher file changed event DOES NOT fire when .Net's File.Copy(s,d) service is used to overwrite files. Using a file-stream directly wrapped in using-statement DOES cause the event to fire. It appears Close/flush the is submitting file change event to NTFS.