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. I am using the NotifyFilters.LastWriteTime but still the event is getting fired twice. Here is the code.

public void Initialize()
{
   FileSystemWatcher _fileWatcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
  _fileWatcher.Path = "C:\\Folder";
  _fileWatcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastWrite;
  _fileWatcher.Filter = "Version.txt";
  _fileWatcher.Changed += new FileSystemEventHandler(OnChanged);
  _fileWatcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
}

private void OnChanged(object source, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
   .......
}

In my case the OnChanged is called twice, when I change the text file version.txt and save it.

Answer 1

FileReadTime = DateTime.Now;

private void File_Changed(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{            
    var lastWriteTime = File.GetLastWriteTime(e.FullPath);
    if (lastWriteTime.Subtract(FileReadTime).Ticks > 0)
    {
        // code
        FileReadTime = DateTime.Now;
    }
}

Answer 2

I am afraid that this is a well-known bug/feature of the FileSystemWatcher class. This is from the documentation of the class:

You may notice in certain situations that a single creation event generates multiple Created events that are handled by your component. For example, if you use a FileSystemWatcher component to monitor the creation of new files in a directory, and then test it by using Notepad to create a file, you may see two Created events generated even though only a single file was created. This is because Notepad performs multiple file system actions during the writing process. Notepad writes to the disk in batches that create the content of the file and then the file attributes. Other applications may perform in the same manner. Because FileSystemWatcher monitors the operating system activities, all events that these applications fire will be picked up.

Now this bit of text is about the Created event, but the same thing applies to other file events as well. In some applications you might be able to get around this by using the NotifyFilter property, but my experience is says that sometimes you have to do some manual duplicate filtering (hacks) as well.

A while ago I bookedmarked a page with a few FileSystemWatcher tips. You might want to check it out.

Answer 3

I have a very quick and simple workaround here, it does work for me, and no matter the event would be triggered once or twice or more times occasionally, check it out:

private int fireCount = 0;
private void inputFileWatcher_Changed(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
    {
       fireCount++;
       if (fireCount == 1)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Fired only once!!");
            dowork();
        }
        else
        {
            fireCount = 0;
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

I know this is an old issue, but had the same problem and none of the above solution really did the trick for the problem I was facing. I have created a dictionary which maps the file name with the LastWriteTime. So if the file is not in the dictionary will go ahead with the process other wise check to see when was the last modified time and if is different from what it is in the dictionary run the code.

    Dictionary<string, DateTime> dateTimeDictionary = new Dictionary<string, DateTime>(); 

        private void OnChanged(object source, FileSystemEventArgs e)
            {
                if (!dateTimeDictionary.ContainsKey(e.FullPath) || (dateTimeDictionary.ContainsKey(e.FullPath) && System.IO.File.GetLastWriteTime(e.FullPath) != dateTimeDictionary[e.FullPath]))
                {
                    dateTimeDictionary[e.FullPath] = System.IO.File.GetLastWriteTime(e.FullPath);

                    //your code here
                }
            }

Answer 5

Event if not asked, it is a shame there are no ready solution samples for F#. To fix this here is my recipe, just because I can and F# is a wonderful .NET language.

Duplicated events are filtered out using FSharp.Control.Reactive package, which is just a F# wrapper for reactive extensions. All that can be targeted to full framework or netstandard2.0:

let createWatcher path filter () =
    new FileSystemWatcher(
        Path = path,
        Filter = filter,
        EnableRaisingEvents = true,
        SynchronizingObject = null // not needed for console applications
    )

let createSources (fsWatcher: FileSystemWatcher) =
    // use here needed events only. 
    // convert `Error` and `Renamed` events to be merded
    [| fsWatcher.Changed :> IObservable<_>
       fsWatcher.Deleted :> IObservable<_>
       fsWatcher.Created :> IObservable<_>
       //fsWatcher.Renamed |> Observable.map renamedToNeeded
       //fsWatcher.Error   |> Observable.map errorToNeeded
    |] |> Observable.mergeArray

let handle (e: FileSystemEventArgs) =
    printfn "handle %A event '%s' '%s' " e.ChangeType e.Name e.FullPath 

let watch path filter throttleTime =
    // disposes watcher if observer subscription is disposed
    Observable.using (createWatcher path filter) createSources
    // filter out multiple equal events
    |> Observable.distinctUntilChanged
    // filter out multiple Changed
    |> Observable.throttle throttleTime
    |> Observable.subscribe handle

[<EntryPoint>]
let main _args =
    let path = @"C:\Temp\WatchDir"
    let filter = "*.zip"
    let throttleTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds 10.
    use _subscription = watch path filter throttleTime
    System.Console.ReadKey() |> ignore
    0 // return an integer exit code

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.