Async wait for file to be created

Question

What would be the cleanest way to await for a file to be created by an external application?

    async Task doSomethingWithFile(string filepath)         


        

Answer 1

This is a more feature-rich version of Servy's solution. It permits watching for specific file-system states and events, to cover different scenarios. It is also cancellable by both a timeout and a CancellationToken.

[Flags]
public enum WatchFileType
{
    Created = 1,
    Deleted = 2,
    Changed = 4,
    Renamed = 8,
    Exists = 16,
    ExistsNotEmpty = 32,
    NotExists = 64,
}

public static Task WatchFile(string filePath,
    WatchFileType watchTypes,
    int timeout = Timeout.Infinite,
    CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
{
    var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource();
    var fileName = Path.GetFileName(filePath);
    var folderPath = Path.GetDirectoryName(filePath);
    var fsw = new FileSystemWatcher(folderPath);
    fsw.Filter = fileName;

    if (watchTypes.HasFlag(WatchFileType.Created)) fsw.Created += Handler;
    if (watchTypes.HasFlag(WatchFileType.Deleted)) fsw.Deleted += Handler;
    if (watchTypes.HasFlag(WatchFileType.Changed)) fsw.Changed += Handler;
    if (watchTypes.HasFlag(WatchFileType.Renamed)) fsw.Renamed += Handler;

    void Handler(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
    {
        WatchFileType result;
        switch (e.ChangeType)
        {
            case WatcherChangeTypes.Created: result = WatchFileType.Created; break;
            case WatcherChangeTypes.Deleted: result = WatchFileType.Deleted; break;
            case WatcherChangeTypes.Changed: result = WatchFileType.Changed; break;
            case WatcherChangeTypes.Renamed: result = WatchFileType.Renamed; break;
            default: throw new NotImplementedException(e.ChangeType.ToString());
        }
        fsw.Dispose();
        tcs.TrySetResult(result);
    }

    fsw.Error += (object sender, ErrorEventArgs e) =>
    {
        fsw.Dispose();
        tcs.TrySetException(e.GetException());
    };

    CancellationTokenRegistration cancellationTokenReg = default;

    fsw.Disposed += (object sender, EventArgs e) =>
    {
        cancellationTokenReg.Dispose();
    };

    fsw.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

    var fileInfo = new FileInfo(filePath);
    if (watchTypes.HasFlag(WatchFileType.Exists) && fileInfo.Exists)
    {
        fsw.Dispose();
        tcs.TrySetResult(WatchFileType.Exists);
    }
    if (watchTypes.HasFlag(WatchFileType.ExistsNotEmpty)
        && fileInfo.Exists && fileInfo.Length > 0)
    {
        fsw.Dispose();
        tcs.TrySetResult(WatchFileType.ExistsNotEmpty);
    }
    if (watchTypes.HasFlag(WatchFileType.NotExists) && !fileInfo.Exists)
    {
        fsw.Dispose();
        tcs.TrySetResult(WatchFileType.NotExists);
    }

    if (cancellationToken.CanBeCanceled)
    {
        cancellationTokenReg = cancellationToken.Register(() =>
        {
            fsw.Dispose();
            tcs.TrySetCanceled(cancellationToken);
        });
    }

    if (tcs.Task.IsCompleted || timeout == Timeout.Infinite)
    {
        return tcs.Task;
    }

    // Handle timeout
    var cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
    var delayTask = Task.Delay(timeout, cts.Token);
    return Task.WhenAny(tcs.Task, delayTask).ContinueWith(_ =>
    {
        cts.Cancel();
        if (tcs.Task.IsCompleted) return tcs.Task;
        fsw.Dispose();
        return Task.FromCanceled(cts.Token);
    }, TaskContinuationOptions.ExecuteSynchronously).Unwrap();
}

Usage example:

var result = await WatchFile(@"..\..\_Test.txt",
    WatchFileType.Exists | WatchFileType.Created, 5000);

In this example the result will normally be either WatchFileType.Exists or WatchFileType.Created. In the exceptional case where the file does not exist and is not created for 5000 milliseconds, a TaskCanceledException will be thrown.

Scenarios
• WatchFileType.Exists | WatchFileType.Created: for a file that is created in one go.
• WatchFileType.ExistsNotEmpty | WatchFileType.Changed: for a file that is first created empty and then filled with data.
• WatchFileType.NotExists | WatchFileType.Deleted: for a file that is about to be deleted.