I have a file which can be edited from several different places over an intranet, but needs to be kept up to date on one specific machine.
The way things work is like this.
We have a local intranet where changes to the file are made and viewed on the intranet copy of the live website. If everything looks good, the file may then be uploaded to the remote server, overwriting the previous version.
It isn’t ideal, I know, but thats the way it has to be.
What I would like to do is keep track of any changes to that remote version of the file so I can then reflect that change on my local machine.
The idea I’ve had so far is to use the Task Scheduler on the remote server to send an email to me whenever a change takes place. Changes aren’t foreseen to happen often, but when they do, I need to know about it.
My problem is, I’m not sure what events to look for in Task Manager. As it stands, the file could be changed by someone FTPing into the server and changing it or by someone remoting in and uploading that way. As I said, not ideal, but its what I have to work with.
To keep things specific, I’m looking to use Task Scheduler here, working off a trigger. From there, I’m a little lost.
As it turns out, I found a better/more useful/”good enough” solution, by creating a FileSystemWatcher and starting it when the application starts.
Thats where the “good enough” comes in, since it won’t catch any changes if the application is stopped for some reason. However, since I’m the only one likely to stop the application, things will be a bit more serious than a broken FileSystemWatcher if it comes to that.
Specifically, I created a class called “Utilities” and created the FileSystemWatcher in there.
Then in the Global.asax.cs Application_Start() method, I initialised the FileSystemWatcher and set it going.
If a change takes place, the event handler of the watcher is set to fire off an email to me, with the new file attached.
Simples.