Java 7 WatchService - Ignoring multiple occurrences of the same event

Question

The javadoc for StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_MODIFY says:

Directory entry modified. When a directory is registered for this event the

Answer 1

If you use RxJava you can use the operator throttleLast. In the example below only the last event in 1000 milliseconds is emitted for each file in the watched directory.

public class FileUtils {
    private static final long EVENT_DELAY = 1000L;

    public static Observable<FileWatchEvent> watch(Path directory, String glob) {
        return Observable.<FileWatchEvent>create(subscriber -> {
            final PathMatcher matcher = directory.getFileSystem().getPathMatcher("glob:" + glob);

            WatchService watcher = FileSystems.getDefault().newWatchService();
            subscriber.setCancellable(watcher::close);

            try {
                directory.register(watcher,
                        ENTRY_CREATE,
                        ENTRY_DELETE,
                        ENTRY_MODIFY);
            } catch (IOException e) {
                subscriber.onError(e);
                return;
            }

            while (!subscriber.isDisposed()) {
                WatchKey key;
                try {
                    key = watcher.take();
                } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                    if (subscriber.isDisposed())
                        subscriber.onComplete();
                    else
                        subscriber.onError(e);
                    return;
                }

                for (WatchEvent<?> event : key.pollEvents()) {
                    WatchEvent.Kind<?> kind = event.kind();

                    if (kind != OVERFLOW) {
                        WatchEvent<Path> ev = (WatchEvent<Path>) event;
                        Path child = directory.resolve(ev.context());

                        if (matcher.matches(child.getFileName()))
                            subscriber.onNext(new FileWatchEvent(kindToType(kind), child));
                    }
                }

                if (!key.reset()) {
                    subscriber.onError(new IOException("Invalid key"));
                    return;
                }
            }
        }).groupBy(FileWatchEvent::getPath).flatMap(o -> o.throttleLast(EVENT_DELAY, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS));
    }

    private static FileWatchEvent.Type kindToType(WatchEvent.Kind kind) {
        if (StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_CREATE.equals(kind))
            return FileWatchEvent.Type.ADDED;
        else if (StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_MODIFY.equals(kind))
            return FileWatchEvent.Type.MODIFIED;
        else if (StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_DELETE.equals(kind))
            return FileWatchEvent.Type.DELETED;
        throw new RuntimeException("Invalid kind: " + kind);
    }

    public static class FileWatchEvent {
        public enum Type {
            ADDED, DELETED, MODIFIED
        }

        private Type type;
        private Path path;

        public FileWatchEvent(Type type, Path path) {
            this.type = type;
            this.path = path;
        }

        public Type getType() {
            return type;
        }

        public Path getPath() {
            return path;
        }

        @Override
        public boolean equals(Object o) {
            if (this == o) return true;
            if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;

            FileWatchEvent that = (FileWatchEvent) o;

            if (type != that.type) return false;
            return path != null ? path.equals(that.path) : that.path == null;
        }

        @Override
        public int hashCode() {
            int result = type != null ? type.hashCode() : 0;
            result = 31 * result + (path != null ? path.hashCode() : 0);
            return result;
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

I had similar problem. I know this is late but it might help someone. I just needed to eliminate duplicate ENTRY_MODIFY. Whenever ENTRY_MODIFY is triggered, count() returns either 2 or 1. If it is 1, then there will be another event with count() 1. So just put a global counter which keeps the count of return values and carry out the operations only when the counter becomes 2. Something like this can do:

WatchEvent event; 
int count = 0;

if(event.count() == 2)
     count = 2;

if(event.count() == 1)
     count++;

if(count == 2){
     //your operations here
     count = 0;
}

Answer 3

    /**
 * 
 * 
 * in windows os, multiple event will be fired for a file create action
 * this method will combine the event on same file
 * 
 * for example:
 * 
 * pathA -> createEvent -> createEvent
 * pathA -> createEvent + modifyEvent, .... -> modifyEvent
 * pathA -> createEvent + modifyEvent, ...., deleteEvent -> deleteEvent
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 在windows环境下创建一个文件会产生1个创建事件+多个修改事件, 这个方法用于合并重复事件
 * 合并优先级为 删除 > 更新 > 创建
 * 
 *
 * @param events
 * @return
 */
private List<WatchEvent<?>> filterEvent(List<WatchEvent<?>> events) {


    // sorted by event create > modify > delete
    Comparator<WatchEvent<?>> eventComparator = (eventA, eventB) -> {
        HashMap<WatchEvent.Kind, Integer> map = new HashMap<>();
        map.put(StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_CREATE, 0);
        map.put(StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_MODIFY, 1);
        map.put(StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_DELETE, 2);
        return map.get(eventA.kind()) - map.get(eventB.kind());

    };
    events.sort(eventComparator);

    HashMap<String, WatchEvent<?>> hashMap = new HashMap<>();
    for (WatchEvent<?> event : events) {
        // if this is multiple event on same path
        // the create event will added first
        // then override by modify event
        // then override by delete event
        hashMap.put(event.context().toString(), event);
    }


    return new ArrayList<>(hashMap.values());


}

Answer 4

Untested, but perhaps this will work:

AtomicBoolean modifyEventFired = new AtomicBoolean();
modifyEventFired.set(false);

while(true) {
    watchKey = watchService.take(); // blocks

    for (WatchEvent<?> event : watchKey.pollEvents()) {
        WatchEvent<Path> watchEvent = (WatchEvent<Path>) event;
        WatchEvent.Kind<Path> kind = watchEvent.kind();

        System.out.println(watchEvent.context() + ", count: "+ watchEvent.count() + ", event: "+ watchEvent.kind());
        // prints (loop on the while twice)
        // servers.cfg, count: 1, event: ENTRY_MODIFY
        // servers.cfg, count: 1, event: ENTRY_MODIFY

        switch(kind.name()) {
            case "ENTRY_MODIFY":
                if(!modifyEventFired.get()){
                   handleModify(watchEvent.context()); // reload configuration class
                   modifyEventFired.set(true);                           
                }
                break;
            case "ENTRY_DELETE":
                handleDelete(watchEvent.context()); // do something else
                break;              
        }
    }   
    modifyEventFired.set(false);
    watchKey.reset();       
}

Answer 5

I compiled Oracle's WatchDir.java and @nilesh's suggestion into an Observable class that will notify it's observers once when the watched file is changed.

I tried to make it as readable and short as possible, but still landed with more than 100 lines. Improvements welcome, of course.

Usage:

FileChangeNotifier fileReloader = new FileChangeNotifier(File file);
fileReloader.addObserver((Observable obj, Object arg) -> {
    System.out.println("File changed for the " + arg + " time.");
});

See my solution on GitHub: FileChangeNotifier.java.

Answer 6

Are you sure there is problem with jdk7? It gives correct result for me (jdk7u15, windows)

Code

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.*;

public class WatchTest {

    public void watchMyFiles() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
        Path path = Paths.get("c:/temp");
        WatchService watchService = path.getFileSystem().newWatchService();
        path.register(watchService, StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_MODIFY);

        while (true) {
            WatchKey watchKey = watchService.take(); // blocks

            for (WatchEvent<?> event : watchKey.pollEvents()) {
                WatchEvent<Path> watchEvent = (WatchEvent<Path>) event;
                WatchEvent.Kind<Path> kind = watchEvent.kind();

                System.out.println(watchEvent.context() + ", count: " +
                        watchEvent.count() + ", event: " + watchEvent.kind());
                // prints (loop on the while twice)
                // servers.cfg, count: 1, event: ENTRY_MODIFY
                // servers.cfg, count: 1, event: ENTRY_MODIFY

                switch (kind.name()) {
                    case "ENTRY_MODIFY":
                        handleModify(watchEvent.context()); // reload configuration class
                        break;
                    case "ENTRY_DELETE":
                        handleDelete(watchEvent.context()); // do something else
                        break;
                    default:
                        System.out.println("Event not expected " + event.kind().name());
                }
            }

            watchKey.reset();
        }
    }

    private void handleDelete(Path context) {
        System.out.println("handleDelete  " + context.getFileName());
    }

    private void handleModify(Path context) {
        System.out.println("handleModify " + context.getFileName());
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
        new WatchTest().watchMyFiles();
    }
}

Output is like below- when file is copied over or edited using notepad.

config.xml, count: 1, event: ENTRY_MODIFY
handleModify config.xml

Vi uses many additional files, and seems to update file attribute multiple times. notepad++ does exactly two times.