File and Folder Watcher

File and Folder Watcher continuously monitors one or more folders for new files. When new files arrive, File and Folder Watcher then triggers a custom action, such as running a second program with the new files. This can be used to: Process incoming FTP files Automatically distil PDF files Data mine incoming files with TextPipe Pro, also from DataMystic Process email attachments when they are saved to disk Load new files into a database Quickly and easily trigger business processes when files are created and much more.

Files are only processed when they have finished being written to disk - so huge video files will not be processed prematurely.

Incoming files can be processed individually, or grouped together.

File Watcher can process only those files that match a filespec (e.g. '*.txt;*.html') and ignore all other files that might arrive at the same time. It can also watch multiple folders at the same time (subfolders are handled with a checkbox).

File Watcher can also prevent triggering new actions while an old action is still running.

File Watcher can be configured to watch for new files, updates and deletes, or any combination of the these.

See the extensive help file for many more examples.

How to use File Watcher

Usage:
filewatcher.exe "/f=settings.fwx" [/g]

Where options is one or more of:
/f=.. Load a settings file
/g Begin watching immediately

Running File Watcher as a Service

File Watcher does not run as a service., but you can force it to by following these instructions.

Sending an Email with File Watcher

To send an email from File Watcher, you need to use a command-line email program. We STRONGLY recommend you do NOT search for a free download of sendmail.exe - these are 99% guaranteed to contain a virus. Instead, please download from our partner at Absolute Tools, http://www.abspdf.com/products_toolsendmailcmd.html

Running File Watcher on Reboot

To run File Watcher on reboot, just copy the FileWatcher shortcut to the Programs\Start Up folder, and customize the start-up parameters.

Upload Files via FTP as they change

This is one of FileWatcher's key uses here at DataMystic. You can find all these files in this zip file

As we change web files, FileWatcher detects them, bundles them into a file list every 5 minutes and uploads them.

We us

Settings:Folders to Watch Tab

Folder to watch: c:\bp\public_html\crystal  - the root of our website

Watch subfolders: Yes

File types: *.* - we can also use TextPipe later to strip out file types we don't want like _vti_cnf files.

Second to wait: 300 ie 5 minutes, so we FTP a group of files every 5 minutes

Actions: New and Updated Files

Settings:Actions Tab

  Command- C:\Program Files\DataMystic\FileWatcher\ftp_upload.bat - this is included in the FileWatcher distribution

  Parameters - "%filelist%" - this causes a file list to be created

  Disable if already running - Yes

We use TextPipe (Lite, Standard or Pro) to massage the filename into a form suitable for Windows' FTP client (prepare_ftp.fll).

The batch file ftp_upload.bat oversees the whole process.

ftp_upload.bat:

@echo off
"C:\Program files\DataMystic\TextPipe\textpipe.exe" /minimized "/f=C:\Program files\DataMystic\filewatcher\prepare_ftp.fll" "%1" /g /q
ftp -i -n "-s:%1"