[RESOLVED] [02/03] Renaming... (really confused)

I have a program that monitors a directory and if any new files come in, they get renamed and are moved to another file.

The way I move the files are that I set the full filename of the item like this

VB Code:

fullFilename = e.FullPath

The new renamed filename is set to a variable like this:

VB Code:

newFilename = branchName & "_" & finalDate & "_" & sPicNum
fullNewFilename = selectedPath & "\" & newFilename

Now, when the images are found in the folder, the first item goes and the path gets stored, but once it renames that one file and finishes the job, the next one doesn't work. It is still keeping the path of the old filename in e.FullPath when it is set to fullFilename. Because this is still set in e.FullPath, it screws up my entire program after the first image is renamed. Anyone know what I can do to clear this up? Thanks.

I'm assuming that this is all happening in an event handler for a FileSystemWatcher but it would be nice if I didn't have to assume. How about you show us the entire method?

I didn't want to because it was pretty long...I took half of the code out of the renaming process. Everything after is just writing to a database.

Here is the code:

VB Code:

Private Sub fsWatcher_Created(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.IO.FileSystemEventArgs) Handles fsWatcher.Created
        'If a new file is created in the folder that is being monitored,
        'Then this code will execute
 
        'Write activity to log
        txtActivity.Text = txtActivity.Text & DateAndTime.Now & " File Created: " & e.FullPath & vbNewLine
        writeToLogFile(DateAndTime.Now & " File Created: " & e.FullPath)
        txtActivity.Update()
 
        'Determine long and truncated filenames
        fullFilename = e.FullPath
        shortFilename = Mid$(fullFilename, InStrRev(fullFilename, "\") + 1)
        truncatedFilename = Split(shortFilename, "_")
 
        If shortFilename.Substring(Len(shortFilename) - 3) = "jpg" Or shortFilename.Substring(Len(shortFilename) - 3) = "JPG" Or shortFilename.Substring(Len(shortFilename) - 4) = "JPEG" Or shortFilename.Substring(Len(shortFilename) - 4) = "jpeg" Then
            Application.DoEvents()
            StatusBar.Panels(0).Text = "File found! Starting Renaming Process..."
        ElseIf shortFilename.Substring(Len(shortFilename) - 3) = "CSV" Or shortFilename.Substring(Len(shortFilename) - 3) = "csv" Then
            txtActivity.Text = txtActivity.Text & "*** Log File Found.  Moving to log directory... ***" & vbNewLine
            writeToLogFile("*** Error: Invalid file detected.  Moved to Exception Directory. ***")
            IO.File.Move(fullFilename, csvFilePath & "\" & shortFilename)
            Exit Sub
        Else
            txtActivity.Text = txtActivity.Text & "*** Error: Invalid file detected.  Moved to Exception Directory. ***" & vbNewLine
            writeToLogFile("*** Error: Invalid file detected.  Moved to Exception Directory. ***")
            IO.File.Move(fullFilename, selectedExceptionPath & "\" & shortFilename)
            Exit Sub
        End If
 
        'Split filename into different parts
        sOrder = truncatedFilename(0)
        sBranch = truncatedFilename(1)
        sDateTime = truncatedFilename(2)
        sPicNum = truncatedFilename(3)
        nDate = sDateTime.Substring(0, 6)
        nTime = sDateTime.Substring(6, 6)
        tmpDate = nDate.Insert(2, "-")
        finalDate = tmpDate.Insert(5, "-")
 
        'Determine from the branch number the state or city abbreviation
        Select Case sBranch
            Case "01"
                branchName = "Corp"
            Case "02"
                branchName = "PA"
            Case "03"
                branchName = "GA"
            Case "04"
                branchName = "MA"
            Case "05"
                branchName = "CO"
            Case "06"
                branchName = "MO"
            Case "07"
                branchName = "SF"
            Case "08"
                branchName = "TX"
            Case "09"
                branchName = "LA"
            Case "10"
                branchName = "FL"
        End Select
 
        'Store new filename into variable
        newFilename = branchName & "_" & finalDate & "_" & sPicNum
 
        'Log current activity
        txtActivity.Text = txtActivity.Text & DateAndTime.Now & " Begin File Renaming: " & e.FullPath & vbNewLine
        writeToLogFile(DateAndTime.Now & " Begin File Renaming: " & e.FullPath)
        txtActivity.Update()
 
        Dim fullNewFilename As String
 
        'Determine full new filename (i.e. C:\input\fl_5-22-06_03.jpg)
        fullNewFilename = selectedPath & "\" & newFilename
 
        'Lets the files finish writing before being accessed by the scanning program
        Pause(100)
 
        'Rename files
        If IO.File.Exists(fullNewFilename) = True Then
            txtActivity.Text = txtActivity.Text & "*** Error: File exists in Monitoring Directory! File " & fullFilename & " has not been renamed. *** " & vbNewLine
            writeToLogFile("*** Error: File exists in Monitoring Directory! File " & fullFilename & " has not been renamed. *** ")
            txtActivity.Update()
        Else
            If IO.File.Exists(fullNewFilename) = True Then
                txtActivity.Text = txtActivity.Text & "*** Error writing file " & fullNewFilename & ".  File already exists! ***" & vbNewLine
                writeToLogFile("*** Error writing file " & fullNewFilename & ".  File already exists! ***")
                txtActivity.Update()
            Else
                MsgBox("Full Filename: " & fullFilename & vbNewLine & "Full New Filename: " & fullNewFilename)
                IO.File.Move(fullFilename, fullNewFilename)
            End If
        End If
 
        'Database Code here
End Sub

You should learn to use the IO.Path class. Methods like GetFileName, GetFileNameWithoutExtension and GetExtension make your code cleaner and self-documenting. Also, Pause(100) is a very inaccurate way of doing what you want there I would think. There's no guarantee that you've waited long enough. You should pause and then check the file's attributes to see if the OffLine attribute is set. If so then it has not finished being written and you should pause again. You should keep pausing and checking in a loop until the OffLine attribute is not set.

Now, what exactly is the original issue? I'm not really sure what you're asking.

Ah, I didn't know about the offline tag. The pause was just there to allow the program to wait for a split second and catch up. I didn't think it was that clean.

Also, I'm still getting used to .net. There are so many new good tools that i'm getting used to.

The original question was, everytime this code executes it will work for the first file, but after it executes the old filename still gets stored in the variable. The e.FullPath function doesn't catch up and I don't know why. I added a Pause(100) to the end of the function and it worked, but I know this isn't a clean way of doing such a thing.

I still don't really understand what you mean. FileSystemEventArgs.FullPath is a property, not a method, and it is ReadOnly. It's value shouldn't change over the course of the method.

It doesn't change over the method. Each time it's executed meaning if it detects 2 files that are created, it will parse through one time using the directory of the first file it found. One that has completed, it will execute again and it is supposed to use the directory of the second file. For some reason, it won't use the second directory and only use the directory of the first file.

Anyone know?

I found out it was the Application.DoEvents(). It kept jumping up and rereading and looping each file through e.FullPath. I took out the Application.DoEvents() line and it all worked :thumb: