File Watcher

Windows service to notify for changes in a folder

This project consists of a console application which uses TopShelf to deploy a windows service. The project is used to watch for changes in a folder and notify those changes with a toast notification.

Installing / Getting started

Follow the next steps to install the windows service:

• Open a command line in the root of the project and type the following command

FileExplorer.exe install

You will see a bunch of logging info in the console.

2017-08-14 22:52:51.6685|INFO|Starting Hangfire Server
2017-08-14 22:52:51.6730|INFO|Using job storage: 'Hangfire.MemoryStorage.MemoryStorage'
2017-08-14 22:52:51.6730|INFO|Using the following options for Hangfire Server:
2017-08-14 22:52:51.6730|INFO|    Worker count: 1
2017-08-14 22:52:51.6730|INFO|    Listening queues: 'default'
2017-08-14 22:52:51.6730|INFO|    Shutdown timeout: 00:00:15
2017-08-14 22:52:51.6730|INFO|    Schedule polling interval: 00:00:15
2017-08-14 22:52:51.6915|DEBUG|Background process 'BackgroundProcessingServer' started.
2017-08-14 22:52:51.8385|DEBUG|Background process 'ServerHeartbeat' started.
2017-08-14 22:52:51.8385|DEBUG|Background process 'ServerWatchdog' started.
2017-08-14 22:52:51.8385|DEBUG|Background process 'Composite C1 Records Expiration Manager' started.
2017-08-14 22:52:51.8385|DEBUG|Background process 'Counter Table Aggregator' started.
2017-08-14 22:52:51.8385|DEBUG|Background process 'Worker #f821cf10' started.
2017-08-14 22:52:51.8430|DEBUG|Background process 'DelayedJobScheduler' started.
2017-08-14 22:52:51.8430|DEBUG|Background process 'RecurringJobScheduler' started.
Configuration Result:
[Success] Name FileWatcher
[Success] Description Program to watch file changes in a folder
[Success] ServiceName FileWatcher
Topshelf v4.0.0.0, .NET Framework v4.0.30319.42000

Running a transacted installation.

Beginning the Install phase of the installation.
Installing FileWatcher service
Installing service FileWatcher...
Service FileWatcher has been successfully installed.

The Install phase completed successfully, and the Commit phase is beginning.

The Commit phase completed successfully.

The transacted install has completed.

It will be successfully installed if you see the last lines of the previous example

The process for uninstalling the service is to open a command line in the root folder of the project and type the following:

FileWatcher.exe uninstall

And you will see a bunch of logs like this:

2017-08-14 22:56:23.2861|INFO|Starting Hangfire Server
2017-08-14 22:56:23.2861|INFO|Using job storage: 'Hangfire.MemoryStorage.MemoryStorage'
2017-08-14 22:56:23.2861|INFO|Using the following options for Hangfire Server:
2017-08-14 22:56:23.2861|INFO|    Worker count: 1
2017-08-14 22:56:23.2861|INFO|    Listening queues: 'default'
2017-08-14 22:56:23.2861|INFO|    Shutdown timeout: 00:00:15
2017-08-14 22:56:23.2861|INFO|    Schedule polling interval: 00:00:15
2017-08-14 22:56:23.3106|DEBUG|Background process 'BackgroundProcessingServer' started.
2017-08-14 22:56:23.4201|DEBUG|Background process 'ServerHeartbeat' started.
2017-08-14 22:56:23.4201|DEBUG|Background process 'ServerWatchdog' started.
2017-08-14 22:56:23.4201|DEBUG|Background process 'Composite C1 Records Expiration Manager' started.
2017-08-14 22:56:23.4221|DEBUG|Background process 'Counter Table Aggregator' started.
2017-08-14 22:56:23.4221|DEBUG|Background process 'Worker #5f402056' started.
2017-08-14 22:56:23.4221|DEBUG|Background process 'DelayedJobScheduler' started.
2017-08-14 22:56:23.4221|DEBUG|Background process 'RecurringJobScheduler' started.
Configuration Result:
[Success] Name FileWatcher
[Success] Description Program to watch file changes in a folder
[Success] ServiceName FileWatcher
Topshelf v4.0.0.0, .NET Framework v4.0.30319.42000


The uninstall is beginning.
Uninstalling FileWatcher service
Service FileWatcher is being removed from the system...
Service FileWatcher was successfully removed from the system.

The uninstall has completed.

Developing

In order to start developing follow the next steps:

Clone the project

git clone https://github.com/gus-sosa/FileWatcher.git

And the open the FileWatcher.sln with Visual Studio and from there you will be able to compile and execute the project

Features

• Show toast notifications when it detects changes in folders

Configuration

Adding folders to watch

• Open folders.config in the root folder
• Add one line per path's folder to watch
• Restart service

Upgrade service

You can change the behaivor of the service and/or upgrade it through the parameters in FileWatcher.exe.config. The parameters to change are underneath the section FileWatcher.Settings.

The following table explain the meaning of each parameter:

Parameter	Description
Description	It defines the description to show in the Services list of windows
DisplayName	Name to show in the Services list of Windows
ServiceName	It is the name of the process
NameFoldersConfigFile	It is the name of the file where the path's folders are located. By default: folders.config
ApplicationToastId	Toast Id (Name) to show on the toast notification
LogsFolderDir	Full path of the folder where the logs are going to be located
MinutesIntervalToCleanLogs	Defines the interval time when the task for cleaning logs is going to be executed

Contributing

You will be welcome to contribute in this project with recomendations, design or programming.

This is just for training and anything you can teach me it is good for me.

Licensing

The code in this project is licensed under MIT license.