File access error with FileSystemWatcher when multiple files are added to a directory

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A typical problem of this approach is that the file is still being copied while the event is triggered. Obviously, you will get an exception because the file is locked during copying. An exception is especially likely on large files.

As a workaround you could first copy the file and then rename it and listen to the renaming event.

Or another option would be to have a while loop checking whether the file can be opened with write access. If it can you will know that copying has been completed. C# code could look like this (in a production system you might want to have a maximum number of retries or timeout instead of a while(true)):

/// <summary>
/// Waits until a file can be opened with write permission
/// </summary>
public static void WaitReady(string fileName)
{
    while (true)
    {
        try
        {
            using (Stream stream = System.IO.File.Open(fileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.ReadWrite))
            {
                if (stream != null)
                {
                    System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("Output file {0} ready.", fileName));
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        catch (FileNotFoundException ex)
        {
            System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("Output file {0} not yet ready ({1})", fileName, ex.Message));
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("Output file {0} not yet ready ({1})", fileName, ex.Message));
        }
        catch (UnauthorizedAccessException ex)
        {
            System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("Output file {0} not yet ready ({1})", fileName, ex.Message));
        }
        Thread.Sleep(500);
    }
}

Yet another approach would be to place a small trigger file in the folder after copying is completed. Your FileSystemWatcher would listen to the trigger file only.

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