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C# - Creating A Service To Monitor A Directory

This document provides steps to create a C# Windows service that monitors a directory for file changes using the FileSystemWatcher class. It describes creating a class that inherits from FileSystemWatcher and overrides methods like OnCreated and OnChanged. The service is configured to log file events to a log file. The steps also cover installing and debugging the service to test that it properly detects file create, rename, modify and delete events.

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Miguel Ángel Macías Martínez
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230 views6 pages

C# - Creating A Service To Monitor A Directory

This document provides steps to create a C# Windows service that monitors a directory for file changes using the FileSystemWatcher class. It describes creating a class that inherits from FileSystemWatcher and overrides methods like OnCreated and OnChanged. The service is configured to log file events to a log file. The steps also cover installing and debugging the service to test that it properly detects file create, rename, modify and delete events.

Uploaded by

Miguel Ángel Macías Martínez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C# – Creating a Service to Monitor a

Directory
November 27, 2012, 2:12 pm by Rhyous

http://www.rhyous.com/2012/11/27/c-creating-a-service-to-monitor-a-directory/

Let’s say you wanted to watch a directory and perform an action each time a file is added,
deleted, changed, or renamed.

 Microsoft has a Visual C# Windows Service project template in Visual Studio.


 Microsoft also has a nice class already created to help with this: FileSystemWatcher

Example Project

Here is an example project you can download: DirectoryMonitoring.zip

Step 1 – Create a Visual C# Windows Service project in Visual Studio

1. Select File | New Project.


2. Select Templates | VIsual C# | Windows | Windows Service.
3. Provide a name: DirectoryMonitoring
4. Click OK.

Step 2 – Create an object that inherits from FileSystemWatcher

1. Right-click on Project and choose Add | Class.


2. Name it MyFileSystemWatcher.cs.

?
01using System;
using System.IO;
02

03
namespace DirectoryMonitoring
04
{
05
public class MyFileSystemWatcher : FileSystemWatcher
06
{
07 public MyFileSystemWatcher()
08 {
09 Init();

10 }

11
public MyFileSystemWatcher(String inDirectoryPath)
12
: base(inDirectoryPath)
13
{
14
Init();
15
}
16

17 public MyFileSystemWatcher(String inDirectoryPath, string


inFilter)
18
: base(inDirectoryPath, inFilter)
19
{
20
Init();
21
}
22

23
private void Init()
24 {
25 IncludeSubdirectories = true;

26 // Eliminate duplicates when timestamp doesn't change

27 NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.FileName | NotifyFilters.Size;


// The default also has NotifyFilters.LastWrite
28
EnableRaisingEvents = true;
29 Created += Watcher_Created;
30 Changed += Watcher_Changed;

31 Deleted += Watcher_Deleted;

32 Renamed += Watcher_Renamed;

33 }

34
public void Watcher_Created(object source, FileSystemEventArgs
35inArgs)

36 {
37 Log.WriteLine("File created or added: " + inArgs.FullPath);

38 }

39
public void Watcher_Changed(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs
40
inArgs)
41 {
42 Log.WriteLine("File changed: " + inArgs.FullPath);

43 }

44

45 public void Watcher_Deleted(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs


inArgs)
46
{
47 Log.WriteLine("File deleted: " + inArgs.FullPath);
48 }

49

50 public void Watcher_Renamed(object sender, RenamedEventArgs


inArgs)
51
{
52
Log.WriteLine("File renamed: " + inArgs.OldFullPath + ", New
53name: " + inArgs.FullPath);

54 }

}
55
}
56

57

Notice that each method is logging. We will implement this log next.

Step 3 – Add logging

1. Add the class from a previous post: A simple Log singleton in C#


2. Make sure to change the namespace to match.

Step 4 – Implement the Service

1. Right-click on the Service1.cs file and choose View Code.


2. Change both the Name and the ServiceName to DirectoryMonitoringService. You can
right-click on the file to rename. If that doesn’t rename the class, you can open the file,
right-click on the class name and choose Refactor | Rename.
3. Go to the code of the DirectoryMonitoringService.cs file (which was Service1.cs just a
couple steps ago) in Visual Studio.
4. Implement the constructor as follows:

?
01
using System.IO;
02using System.ServiceProcess;

03

04namespace DirectoryMonitoring

05{

06 public partial class DirectoryMonitoringService: ServiceBase

07 {

protected FileSystemWatcher Watcher;


08

09
// Directory must already exist unless you want to add your own
10code to create it.

11 string PathToFolder = @"C:\Directoy\To\Monitor";

12

13 public Service1()

14 {

Log.Instance.LogPath =
15
@"C:\ProgramData\DirectoryMonitoring";
16 Log.Instance.LogFileName = "DirectoryMonitoring";
17 Watcher = new MyFileSystemWatcher(PathToFolder);

18 }

19

20 protected override void OnStart(string[] args)

21 {

}
22

23
protected override void OnStop()
24
25 {

26 }

}
27
}
28

Step 5 – Create a Service Installer

1. Right-click on DirectoryMonitoringService.cs and choose View Designer.


2. Right-click anywhere in the designer window and choose Add Installer. This adds a
ProjectInstaller.cs file.
3. Right-click on ProjectInstaller.cs and choose View Designer.
4. In the designer, right-click on serviceProcessInstaller1 and choose Properties.
5. In the properties, set Account to LocalSystem.
6. Back in the designer, right-click on serviceInstaller1 and choose Properties.
7. Set StartType to Automatic.
8. Add a descriptions if you want.

Step 6 – Install the Service

1. Open the Developer Command Prompt by right-clicking and choosing Run as


Administrator.
2. In the command prompt, change to the bin\debug folder in your project directory.
3. Run this command to install the service:

installutil.exe DirectoryMonitoring.exe

4. Start the service with this command.

net start DirectoryMonitoringService

Step 7 – Debug the Service

1. Make sure the service is started and running.


2. In Visual Studio with the DirectoryMonitoring project open, click Debug | Attach to
Process.
3. Select the DirectoryMonitoring.exe file.
4. Put a break point at each event in the MyFileSystemWatcher object.
5. Test all four events:
1. Add a file.
2. Rename a file.
3. Open and save a file.
4. Delete a file.

You have now created a service to monitor a directory and you have seen how to debug it.

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