How to poll directory for files

Question

I want to poll a directory for files every 5 minutes. I do NOT want to use filesystemwatcher. I am fairly new to c# and I cant find any good examples

This is what I have so far. Do I just put this in a timer?

    string watchFolder = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["watchFolder"];
    DirectoryInfo directoryInfo = new DirectoryInfo(watchFolder);


    if (!Directory.Exists(watchFolder))
    {
        Console.WriteLine(
            "{0} directory does not exist. Please modify the config file accordingly.",
            watchFolder);
        Environment.Exit(3);
    }

    FileInfo[] lastUpdatedFiles = directoryInfo.GetFiles();

_Why_ don't you want to use FSW? That's like asking `How do I slice fruit? I do NOT want to use a knife`. — SLaks, Oct 21 '13 at 21:34
Im noticing signifigant file locks and I have found that it is missing files. — user2892443, Oct 21 '13 at 21:40
When you get the event from FileSystemWatcher, you can actually have several queued at once. I process the entire directory I'm watching so that I pick up all files that are present. As to file locks that is a timing issue that will need to be addressed regardless of how you do this. — SASS_Shooter, Oct 21 '13 at 21:54
So how would I need to change the timing if I were to keep using fsw? — user2892443, Oct 21 '13 at 22:00
FileSystemWatcher is trouble. Please, don't use it for no reason. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/239988/filesystemwatcher-vs-polling-to-watch-for-file-changes — programad, May 07 '14 at 18:03
@SLaks - The reason I'm on this page is that FSW gives completely different performance on different computers. I used it to monitor updates to log files - worked fine on two Windows 7 test machines, moved it across to another Windows 7 machine and the same code broke - no events were raised at all. A quick search of these forums, and others, shows that lots of people have had similar issues with FSW being unreliable. — Orphid, Jan 15 '15 at 16:22

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

1

Putting it in a timer is probably your best solution, but which timer class to use may depend on this: Are you doing a console app, Winforms, or WPF? For Winforms use Timer.

For wpf use DispatcherTimer: WPF Timer Like C# Timer

In response to your clarifying comment, for services see this answer: Best Timer for using in a Windows service

edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

Community

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answered Oct 21 '13 at 21:36

philologon

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It is part of a service that processes the file and moves it from one folder to another – user2892443 Oct 21 '13 at 21:39
Answering questions on SO helps me learn as much as asking them: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/246697/windows-service-and-timer Note that I found this by searching SO for [C#] timer service. – philologon Oct 21 '13 at 21:42

How to poll directory for files

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