Using FileSystemWatcher to alert if multiple files change simulatenously

Question

I am very new to powershell. The following code is created by BigTeddy and he gets the full credit (I also made some Changes using the While Loop)

I want to know how can I create an if/else statement such that if more than one file is changed/edited/created/deleted at the same time (say ten files have been edited simultaneously) a log file will be created saying these list files has been edited simultaneously at this particular time.

The following powershell script BigTeddy created basically spits out a log file (and on the output of the powershell ISE) of when a change/edit/creation/deletion has been made, the time it was changed and what file(s) was edited.

 param(
        [string]$folderToWatch = "C:\Users\gordon\Desktop\powershellStart"
      , [string]$filter        = "*.*"
      , [string]$logFile       = 'C:\Users\gordon\Desktop\powershellDest\filewatcher.log'
    )

    # In the following line, you can change 'IncludeSubdirectories to $true if required.
    $fsw = New-Object IO.FileSystemWatcher $folderToWatch, $filter -Property @{IncludeSubdirectories = $false;NotifyFilter = [IO.NotifyFilters]'FileName, LastWrite'}
    $timeStamp           #My changes
    $timeStampPrev = $timeStamp         #My changes
# This script block is used/called by all 3 events and:
# appends the event to a log file, as well as reporting the event back to the console
$scriptBlock = {

  # REPLACE THIS SECTION WITH YOUR PROCESSING CODE
  $logFile = $event.MessageData # message data is how we pass in an argument to the event script block
  $name = $Event.SourceEventArgs.Name
  $changeType = $Event.SourceEventArgs.ChangeType
  $timeStamp = $Event.TimeGenerated
  while($timeStampPrev -eq $timeStamp) {     #My changes
  Write-Host "$timeStamp|$changeType|'$name'" -fore green
  Out-File -FilePath $logFile -Append -InputObject "$timeStamp|$changeType|'$name'"
  # REPLACE THIS SECTION WITH YOUR PROCESSING CODE
}
}


# Here, all three events are registered.  You need only subscribe to events that you need:
Register-ObjectEvent $fsw Created -SourceIdentifier FileCreated -MessageData $logFile -Action $scriptBlock
Register-ObjectEvent $fsw Deleted -SourceIdentifier FileDeleted -MessageData $logFile -Action $scriptBlock
Register-ObjectEvent $fsw Changed -SourceIdentifier FileChanged -MessageData $logFile -Action $scriptBlock

# To stop the monitoring, run the following commands:
#  Unregister-Event FileDeleted  ;  Unregister-Event FileCreated  ;  Unregister-Event FileChanged


#This script uses the .NET FileSystemWatcher class to monitor file events in folder(s).
#The advantage of this method over using WMI eventing is that this can monitor sub-folders.
#The -Action parameter can contain any valid Powershell commands.
#The script can be set to a wildcard filter, and IncludeSubdirectories can be changed to $true.
#You need not subscribe to all three types of event.  All three are shown for example.

Spartan

When 10 files has been changed simultaneously you'll get 10 notifications. It's up to you how you'll proceed them. – Follower

Does files being edited within the same 1 minute, 10 seconds, 1 second, 100 milliseconds, 10 milliseconds, etc. count as "simultaneously"? – Dynode

within 1 second at most. thanks – Spartan

Answer 1

Have you considered a hash table with timestamps and action(create/modify/delete) as keys and file name as value. You iterate through the dictionary after a specific wait interval and you flush the entries in the dictionary to a log file.

Highflier