FileSystemWatcher.NotifyFilter Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.IO

Assemblies:

netstandard.dll, System.IO.FileSystem.Watcher.dll

Source:

FileSystemWatcher.cs

Gets or sets the type of changes to watch for.

C#

public System.IO.NotifyFilters NotifyFilter { get; set; }

Property Value

NotifyFilters

One of the NotifyFilters values. The default is the bitwise OR combination of LastWrite, FileName, and DirectoryName.

Exceptions

ArgumentException

The value is not a valid bitwise OR combination of the NotifyFilters values.

InvalidEnumArgumentException

The value that is being set is not valid.

Examples

The following example creates a FileSystemWatcher to watch the directory specified at run time. The component is set to watch for changes in LastWrite and LastAccess time, the creation, deletion, or renaming of text files in the directory. If a file is changed, created, or deleted, the path to the file prints to the console. When a file is renamed, the old and new paths print to the console.

C#

using System;
using System.IO;

namespace MyNamespace
{
    class MyClassCS
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            using var watcher = new FileSystemWatcher(@"C:\path\to\folder");

            watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.Attributes
                                 | NotifyFilters.CreationTime
                                 | NotifyFilters.DirectoryName
                                 | NotifyFilters.FileName
                                 | NotifyFilters.LastAccess
                                 | NotifyFilters.LastWrite
                                 | NotifyFilters.Security
                                 | NotifyFilters.Size;

            watcher.Changed += OnChanged;
            watcher.Created += OnCreated;
            watcher.Deleted += OnDeleted;
            watcher.Renamed += OnRenamed;
            watcher.Error += OnError;

            watcher.Filter = "*.txt";
            watcher.IncludeSubdirectories = true;
            watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

            Console.WriteLine("Press enter to exit.");
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        private static void OnChanged(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.ChangeType != WatcherChangeTypes.Changed)
            {
                return;
            }
            Console.WriteLine($"Changed: {e.FullPath}");
        }

        private static void OnCreated(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
        {
            string value = $"Created: {e.FullPath}";
            Console.WriteLine(value);
        }

        private static void OnDeleted(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e) =>
            Console.WriteLine($"Deleted: {e.FullPath}");

        private static void OnRenamed(object sender, RenamedEventArgs e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"Renamed:");
            Console.WriteLine($"    Old: {e.OldFullPath}");
            Console.WriteLine($"    New: {e.FullPath}");
        }

        private static void OnError(object sender, ErrorEventArgs e) =>
            PrintException(e.GetException());

        private static void PrintException(Exception? ex)
        {
            if (ex != null)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Message: {ex.Message}");
                Console.WriteLine("Stacktrace:");
                Console.WriteLine(ex.StackTrace);
                Console.WriteLine();
                PrintException(ex.InnerException);
            }
        }
    }
}

Remarks

You can combine the members of the NotifyFilters enumeration to watch for more than one type of change at a time. For example, you can watch for changes in size of a file, and for changes in the LastWrite time. This raises an event anytime there is a change in file or folder size, or a change in the LastWrite time of the file or folder.

This is one way to filter out unwanted notifications. For more information on filtering out unwanted notifications, see the Filter, IncludeSubdirectories, and InternalBufferSize properties.

Applies to

See also

• NotifyFilters
• Filter
• IncludeSubdirectories
• InternalBufferSize