i created a windows service that move files around between the server's hard drive (where the service is installed) to the network drive mapped in the server. one of the problems I encountered while creating a solution was network problems.
how do i check if a network drive exists while setting a timeout in checking it? If it times out, I catch the exception and retry in X number of minutes and leave items in queue.
thanks!
Put the call in a seperate thread and close the thread after a certain timeout. The following link implements a timeout logic for a method:
http://kossovsky.net/index.php/2009/07/csharp-how-to-limit-method-execution-time/
EDIT
One of the comments on the topic above suggest a better implementation using .NET Async Pattern:
public static T SafeLimex<T>(Func<T> F, int Timeout, out bool Completed)
{
var iar = F.BeginInvoke(null, new object());
if (iar.AsyncWaitHandle.WaitOne(Timeout))
{
Completed = true;
return F.EndInvoke(iar);
}
F.EndInvoke(iar);
Completed = false;
return default(T);
}
As far as I recall, using the normal System.IO
methods do the trick. So in this case, you'd simply use:
if (Directory.Exists("Z:\\MyNetworkFolder"))
{
// Gogogo
}
else
{
Thread.Sleep(MyTimeout);
}
If the folder does not exist, pause for whatever timeout you choose. This should do the job perfectly.