FileSystemWatcher Changed event is raised twice

Question

I have an application where I am looking for a text file and if there are any changes made to the file I am using the OnChanged eventhandler to handle the event

Answer 1

Any duplicated OnChanged events from the FileSystemWatcher can be detected and discarded by checking the File.GetLastWriteTime timestamp on the file in question. Like so:

DateTime lastRead = DateTime.MinValue;

void OnChanged(object source, FileSystemEventArgs a)
{
    DateTime lastWriteTime = File.GetLastWriteTime(uri);
    if (lastWriteTime != lastRead)
    {
        doStuff();
        lastRead = lastWriteTime;
    }
    // else discard the (duplicated) OnChanged event
}

Answer 2

Here is my solution which helped me to stop the event being raised twice:

watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.FileName | NotifyFilters.Size;

Here I have set the NotifyFilter property with only Filename and size.
watcher is my object of FileSystemWatcher. Hope this will help.

Answer 3

I had to combine several ideas from the posts above and add file locking check to get it working for me:

FileSystemWatcher fileSystemWatcher;

private void DirectoryWatcher_Start()
{
    FileSystemWatcher fileSystemWatcher = new FileSystemWatcher
    {
        Path = @"c:\mypath",
        NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastWrite,
        Filter = "*.*",
        EnableRaisingEvents = true
    };

    fileSystemWatcher.Changed += new FileSystemEventHandler(DirectoryWatcher_OnChanged);
}

private static void WaitUntilFileIsUnlocked(String fullPath, Action<String> callback, FileAccess fileAccess = FileAccess.Read, Int32 timeoutMS = 10000)
{
    Int32 waitMS = 250;
    Int32 currentMS = 0;
    FileInfo file = new FileInfo(fullPath);
    FileStream stream = null;
    do
    {
        try
        {
            stream = file.Open(FileMode.Open, fileAccess, FileShare.None);
            stream.Close();
            callback(fullPath);
            return;
        }
        catch (IOException)
        {
        }
        finally
        {
            if (stream != null)
                stream.Dispose();
        }
        Thread.Sleep(waitMS);
        currentMS += waitMS;
    } while (currentMS < timeoutMS);
}    

private static Dictionary<String, DateTime> DirectoryWatcher_fileLastWriteTimeCache = new Dictionary<String, DateTime>();

private void DirectoryWatcher_OnChanged(Object source, FileSystemEventArgs ev)
{
    try
    {
        lock (DirectoryWatcher_fileLastWriteTimeCache)
        {
            DateTime lastWriteTime = File.GetLastWriteTime(ev.FullPath);
            if (DirectoryWatcher_fileLastWriteTimeCache.ContainsKey(ev.FullPath))
            {
                if (DirectoryWatcher_fileLastWriteTimeCache[ev.FullPath].AddMilliseconds(500) >= lastWriteTime)
                    return;     // file was already handled
            }

            DirectoryWatcher_fileLastWriteTimeCache[ev.FullPath] = lastWriteTime;
        }

        Task.Run(() => WaitUntilFileIsUnlocked(ev.FullPath, fullPath =>
        {
            // do the job with fullPath...
        }));

    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        // handle exception
    }
}

Answer 4

I approached the double create issue like this, which ignores the first event:

Private WithEvents fsw As New System.IO.FileSystemWatcher
Private complete As New List(Of String)

Private Sub fsw_Created(ByVal sender As Object, _
    ByVal e As System.IO.FileSystemEventArgs) Handles fsw.Created

    If Not complete.Contains(e.FullPath) Then
        complete.Add(e.FullPath)

    Else
        complete.Remove(e.FullPath)
        Dim th As New Threading.Thread(AddressOf hprocess)
        th.Start(e)

    End If

End Sub

Answer 5

I spent some significant amount of time using the FileSystemWatcher, and some of the approaches here will not work. I really liked the disabling events approach, but unfortunately, it doesn't work if there is >1 file being dropped, second file will be missed most if not all times. So I use the following approach:

private void EventCallback(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
    var fileName = e.FullPath;

    if (!File.Exists(fileName))
    {
        // We've dealt with the file, this is just supressing further events.
        return;
    }

    // File exists, so move it to a working directory. 
    File.Move(fileName, [working directory]);

    // Kick-off whatever processing is required.
}

Answer 6

You could try to open it for write, and if successful then you could assume the other application is done with the file.

private void OnChanged(object source, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        using (var fs = File.OpenWrite(e.FullPath))
        {
        }
        //do your stuff
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        //no write access, other app not done
    }
}

Just opening it for write appears not to raise the changed event. So it should be safe.