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@shirou
Created November 2, 2010 02:24
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Detect file change using FileObserver on Android
private class PathFileObserver extends FileObserver{
static final String TAG="FILEOBSERVER";
/**
* should be end with File.separator
*/
String rootPath;
static final int mask = (FileObserver.CREATE |
FileObserver.DELETE |
FileObserver.DELETE_SELF |
FileObserver.MODIFY |
FileObserver.MOVED_FROM |
FileObserver.MOVED_TO |
FileObserver.MOVE_SELF);
public PathFileObserver(String root){
super(root, mask);
if (! root.endsWith(File.separator)){
root += File.separator;
}
rootPath = root;
}
public void onEvent(int event, String path) {
switch(event){
case FileObserver.CREATE:
Log.d(TAG, "CREATE:" + rootPath + path);
break;
case FileObserver.DELETE:
Log.d(TAG, "DELETE:" + rootPath + path);
break;
case FileObserver.DELETE_SELF:
Log.d(TAG, "DELETE_SELF:" + rootPath + path);
break;
case FileObserver.MODIFY:
Log.d(TAG, "MODIFY:" + rootPath + path);
break;
case FileObserver.MOVED_FROM:
Log.d(TAG, "MOVED_FROM:" + rootPath + path);
break;
case FileObserver.MOVED_TO:
Log.d(TAG, "MOVED_TO:" + path);
break;
case FileObserver.MOVE_SELF:
Log.d(TAG, "MOVE_SELF:" + path);
break;
default:
// just ignore
break;
}
}
public void close(){
super.finalize();
}
}
@twlkyao
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twlkyao commented Jan 10, 2014

This can only monitor the top directory, the FileObserver class is not recursive.

@Doctoror
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Change to switch(event & FileObserver.ALL_EVENTS).

@KVMystery
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Instead of using Log.d to log an event,I would like to write all events to a file. Please help.

@hendrawd
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This has issue on Marshmallow and forward https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/37065227
But the developer team said it has fixed and will be available in a future build, although it's not clear when

@thanhbinh84
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thanhbinh84 commented Aug 12, 2018

The event in onEvent() doesn't returns exact the number as doc, you need to wrap as below

public void onEvent(int event, String path) {

        if ((FileObserver.CREATE & event)!=0) {
            PUtils.log("CREATE: " + rootPath + path);
        } else if ((FileObserver.MODIFY & event)!=0) {
            PUtils.log("MODIFY: " + rootPath + path);
        } else if ((FileObserver.DELETE & event)!=0) {
            PUtils.log("DELETE: " + rootPath + path);
        } else if ((FileObserver.DELETE_SELF & event)!=0) {
            PUtils.log("DELETE_SELF: " + rootPath + path);
        } else if ((FileObserver.MOVED_FROM & event)!=0) {
            PUtils.log("MOVED_FROM: " + rootPath + path);
        } else if ((FileObserver.MOVED_TO & event)!=0) {
            PUtils.log("MOVED_TO: " + rootPath + path);
        } else if ((FileObserver.MOVE_SELF & event)!=0) {
            PUtils.log("MOVE_SELF: " + rootPath + path);
        } else {
            PUtils.log("Unhandled event " + event + rootPath + path);
        }

@sagar-itpc
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Getting this error in logcat
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: No direct method (Ljava/io/File;I)V in class Landroid/os/FileObserver; or its super classes (declaration of 'android.os.FileObserver' appears in /system/framework/framework.jar)
Can anyone help

@hannesa2
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Getting this error in logcat
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: No direct method (Ljava/io/File;I)V in class Landroid/os/FileObserver; or its super classes (declaration of 'android.os.FileObserver' appears in /system/framework/framework.jar)
Can anyone help

I run into the same. Did you solved it ?

@TheBestDenis
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TheBestDenis commented Apr 22, 2020

Getting this error in logcat
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: No direct method (Ljava/io/File;I)V in class Landroid/os/FileObserver; or its super classes (declaration of 'android.os.FileObserver' appears in /system/framework/framework.jar)
Can anyone help

I run into the same. Did you solved it ?

I saw that message (or something like that) when i was trying to use constructor FileObserver(File). Use of deprecated FileObserver(String) solved my problem. Don't know why...
And for a while look at FixedFileObserver. It's in russian, but code is "in" java. Original FileObserver has bugs.

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