Does anyone have a FileSystemWatcher-like class in C++/WinAPI?

c++ winapi filesystemwatcher
Alex Jenter picture Alex Jenter · Jan 21, 2010 · Viewed 14.8k times · Source

I need a .Net's FileSystemWatcher analog in raw C++/WinAPI. I almost started to code one myself using FindFirstChangeNotification/FindNextChangeNotification, but then it occurred to me that I am probably not the first one who needs this and maybe someone will be willing to share.

Ideally what I need is a class which can be used as follows:

FileWatcher fw;
fw.startWatching("C:\MYDIR", "filename.dat", 
     FileWatcher::SIZE | FileWatcher::LAST_WRITE,
     &myChangeHandler);
...
fw.stopWatching();

Or if it would use somehting like boost::signal it would be even better. But please, no dependencies other than the Standard Library, boost and raw WinAPI. Thanks!

Answer

Dynite picture Dynite · Jan 21, 2010

What about the ReadDirectoryChangesW function?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365465(VS.85).aspx

It stores notifications in a buffer so you don't miss any changes (unless the buffer overflows)

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