FileSystemWatcher.EnableRaisingEvents Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.IO

Assembly:

System.IO.FileSystem.Watcher.dll

Source:

FileSystemWatcher.cs

Gets or sets a value indicating whether the component is enabled.

public:
 property bool EnableRaisingEvents { bool get(); void set(bool value); };

public bool EnableRaisingEvents { get; set; }

member this.EnableRaisingEvents : bool with get, set

Public Property EnableRaisingEvents As Boolean

Property Value

Boolean

true if the component is enabled; otherwise, false. The default is false. If you are using the component on a designer in Visual Studio 2005, the default is true.

Exceptions

ObjectDisposedException

The FileSystemWatcher object has been disposed.

PlatformNotSupportedException

The current operating system is not Microsoft Windows NT or later.

FileNotFoundException

The directory specified in Path could not be found.

ArgumentException

Path has not been set or is invalid.

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.

#include "pch.h"

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;

class MyClassCPP
{
public:

    int static Run()
    {
        FileSystemWatcher^ watcher = gcnew FileSystemWatcher("C:\\path\\to\\folder");

        watcher->NotifyFilter = static_cast<NotifyFilters>(NotifyFilters::Attributes
                                                         | NotifyFilters::CreationTime
                                                         | NotifyFilters::DirectoryName
                                                         | NotifyFilters::FileName
                                                         | NotifyFilters::LastAccess
                                                         | NotifyFilters::LastWrite
                                                         | NotifyFilters::Security
                                                         | NotifyFilters::Size);

        watcher->Changed += gcnew FileSystemEventHandler(MyClassCPP::OnChanged);
        watcher->Created += gcnew FileSystemEventHandler(MyClassCPP::OnCreated);
        watcher->Deleted += gcnew FileSystemEventHandler(MyClassCPP::OnDeleted);
        watcher->Renamed += gcnew RenamedEventHandler(MyClassCPP::OnRenamed);
        watcher->Error   += gcnew ErrorEventHandler(MyClassCPP::OnError);

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

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

        return 0;
    }

private:

    static void OnChanged(Object^ sender, FileSystemEventArgs^ e)
    {
        if (e->ChangeType != WatcherChangeTypes::Changed)
        {
            return;
        }
        Console::WriteLine("Changed: {0}", e->FullPath);
    }

    static void OnCreated(Object^ sender, FileSystemEventArgs^ e)
    {
        Console::WriteLine("Created: {0}", e->FullPath);
    }

    static void OnDeleted(Object^ sender, FileSystemEventArgs^ e)
    {
        Console::WriteLine("Deleted: {0}", e->FullPath);
    }

    static void OnRenamed(Object^ sender, RenamedEventArgs^ e)
    {
        Console::WriteLine("Renamed:");
        Console::WriteLine("    Old: {0}", e->OldFullPath);
        Console::WriteLine("    New: {0}", e->FullPath);
    }

    static void OnError(Object^ sender, ErrorEventArgs^ e)
    {
        PrintException(e->GetException());
    }

    static void PrintException(Exception^ ex)
    {
        if (ex != nullptr)
        {
            Console::WriteLine("Message: {0}", ex->Message);
            Console::WriteLine("Stacktrace:");
            Console::WriteLine(ex->StackTrace);
            Console::WriteLine();
            PrintException(ex->InnerException);
        }
    }
};


int main()
{
    MyClassCPP::Run();
}

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);
            }
        }
    }
}

Imports System.IO

Namespace MyNamespace

    Class MyClassVB

        Shared Sub Main()
            Using watcher = New FileSystemWatcher("C:\path\to\folder")
                watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.Attributes Or
                                       NotifyFilters.CreationTime Or
                                       NotifyFilters.DirectoryName Or
                                       NotifyFilters.FileName Or
                                       NotifyFilters.LastAccess Or
                                       NotifyFilters.LastWrite Or
                                       NotifyFilters.Security Or
                                       NotifyFilters.Size

                AddHandler watcher.Changed, AddressOf OnChanged
                AddHandler watcher.Created, AddressOf OnCreated
                AddHandler watcher.Deleted, AddressOf OnDeleted
                AddHandler watcher.Renamed, AddressOf OnRenamed
                AddHandler watcher.Error, AddressOf OnError

                watcher.Filter = "*.txt"
                watcher.IncludeSubdirectories = True
                watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = True

                Console.WriteLine("Press enter to exit.")
                Console.ReadLine()
            End Using
        End Sub

        Private Shared Sub OnChanged(sender As Object, e As FileSystemEventArgs)
            If e.ChangeType <> WatcherChangeTypes.Changed Then
                Return
            End If
            Console.WriteLine($"Changed: {e.FullPath}")
        End Sub

        Private Shared Sub OnCreated(sender As Object, e As FileSystemEventArgs)
            Dim value As String = $"Created: {e.FullPath}"
            Console.WriteLine(value)
        End Sub

        Private Shared Sub OnDeleted(sender As Object, e As FileSystemEventArgs)
            Console.WriteLine($"Deleted: {e.FullPath}")
        End Sub

        Private Shared Sub OnRenamed(sender As Object, e As RenamedEventArgs)
            Console.WriteLine($"Renamed:")
            Console.WriteLine($"    Old: {e.OldFullPath}")
            Console.WriteLine($"    New: {e.FullPath}")
        End Sub

        Private Shared Sub OnError(sender As Object, e As ErrorEventArgs)
            PrintException(e.GetException())
        End Sub

        Private Shared Sub PrintException(ex As Exception)
            If ex IsNot Nothing Then
                Console.WriteLine($"Message: {ex.Message}")
                Console.WriteLine("Stacktrace:")
                Console.WriteLine(ex.StackTrace)
                Console.WriteLine()
                PrintException(ex.InnerException)
            End If
        End Sub

    End Class

End Namespace

Remarks

The component will not raise events unless you set EnableRaisingEvents to true.

Note

The component will not watch the specified directory until the Path property has been set and EnableRaisingEvents is true.

The WaitForChanged method allows event handlers to be invoked to respond to file changes even if this property is set to false.