# class KDirWatch

###

Module | kio
Namespace |
Class | KDirWatch
Inherits | QObject

Class for watching directory and file changes.

Watch directories and files for changes. The watched directories or files don't have to exist yet.

When a watched directory is changed, i.e. when files therein are created or deleted, KDirWatch will emit the signal dirty().

When a watched, but previously not existing directory gets created, KDirWatch will emit the signal created().

When a watched directory gets deleted, KDirWatch will emit the signal deleted(). The directory is still watched for new creation.

When a watched file is changed, i.e. attributes changed or written to, KDirWatch will emit the signal dirty().

Scanning of particular directories or files can be stopped temporarily and restarted. The whole class can be stopped and restarted. Directories and files can be added/removed from the list in any state.

The implementation uses the FAM service when available; if FAM is not available, the INOTIFY functionality is used on LINUX. As a last resort, a regular polling for change of modification times is done; the polling interval is a global config option: DirWatch/PollInterval and DirWatch/NFSPollInterval for NFS mounted directories.

See also self() Author Sven Radej <sven@lisa.exp.univie.ac.at>

### enums

- Method { FAM, INotify, DNotify, Stat }
- WatchMode { WatchDirOnly, WatchFiles, WatchSubDirs }
  typesafe object: WatchModes

enum details

### methods

- KDirWatch (parent)

  returns ctor

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  parent | QObject | 0

  Constructor.

  Scanning begins immediately when a dir/file watch is added.

  parent - the parent of the QObject (or 0 for parent-less KDataTools)

- addDir (path, watchModes)

  returns Nothing

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |
  watchModes | KDirWatch.WatchModes | KDirWatch.WatchDirOnly

  Adds a directory to be watched.

  The directory does not have to exist. When watchModes is set to WatchDirOnly (the default), the signals dirty(), created(), deleted() can be emitted, all for the watched directory. When watchModes is set to WatchFiles, all files in the watched directory are watched for changes, too. Thus, the signals dirty(), created(), deleted() can be emitted. When watchModes is set to WatchSubDirs, all subdirs are watched using the same flags specified in watchModes .

  path - the path to watch

  watchModes - watch modes

  See also KDirWatch.WatchMode

- addFile (file)

  returns Nothing

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  file | QString |

  Adds a file to be watched.

  file - the file to watch

- contains (path)

  returns bool

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Check if a directory is being watched by this KDirWatch instance

  path - the directory to check Returns true if the directory is being watched

- created (path)

  returns Nothing
  SIGNAL ("created (const QString&)")

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Emitted when a file or directory is created.

  path - the path of the file or directory

- ctime (path)

  returns QDateTime

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Returns the time the directory/file was last changed.

  path - the file to check Returns the date of the last modification

- deleted (path)

  returns Nothing
  SIGNAL ("deleted (const QString&)")

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Emitted when a file or directory is deleted.

  The object is still watched for new creation.

  path - the path of the file or directory

- dirty (path)

  returns Nothing
  SIGNAL ("dirty (const QString&)")

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Emitted when a watched object is changed. For a directory this signal is emitted when files therein are created or deleted. For a file this signal is emitted when its size or attributes change.

  When you watch a directory, changes in the size or attributes of contained files may or may not trigger this signal to be emitted depending on which backend is used by KDirWatch.

  The new ctime is set before the signal is emitted.

  path - the path of the file or directory

- exists ( )

  returns bool
  static

  Returns true if there is an instance of KDirWatch. Returns true if there is an instance of KDirWatch.

  See also KDirWatch.self()

- internalMethod ( )

  returns KDirWatch.Method

  Returns the preferred internal method to watch for changes.

- isStopped ( )

  returns bool

  Is scanning stopped? After creation of a KDirWatch instance, this is false. Returns true when scanning stopped

- removeDir (path)

  returns Nothing

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Removes a directory from the list of scanned directories.

  If specified path is not in the list this does nothing.

  path - the path of the dir to be removed from the list

- removeFile (file)

  returns Nothing

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  file | QString |

  Removes a file from the list of watched files.

  If specified path is not in the list this does nothing.

  file - the file to be removed from the list

- restartDirScan (path)

  returns bool

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Restarts scanning for specified path.

  Resets ctime. It doesn't notify the change (by emitted a signal), since the ctime value is reset.

  Call it when you are finished with big operations on that path, and when you have refreshed that path.

  path - the path to restart scanning Returns true if the path is being watched, otherwise false

  See also stopDirScanning()

- self ( )

  returns KDirWatch
  static

  The KDirWatch instance usually globally used in an application. It is automatically deleted when the application exits.

  However, you can create an arbitrary number of KDirWatch instances aside from this one - for those you have to take care of memory management.

  This function returns an instance of KDirWatch. If there is none, it will be created.

  Returns a KDirWatch instance

- setCreated (path)

  returns Nothing

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Emits created().

  path - the path of the file or directory

- setDeleted (path)

  returns Nothing

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Emits deleted().

  path - the path of the file or directory

- setDirty (path)

  returns Nothing

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Emits dirty().

  path - the path of the file or directory

- startScan (notify, skippedToo)

  returns Nothing

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  notify | bool | 0
  skippedToo | bool | 0

  Starts scanning of all dirs in list.

  notify - If true, all changed directories (since stopScan() call) will be notified for refresh. If notify is false, all ctimes will be reset (except those who are stopped, but only if skippedToo is false) and changed dirs won't be notified. You can start scanning even if the list is empty. First call should be called with false or else all directories in list will be notified.

  skippedToo - if true, the skipped directoris (scanning of which was stopped with stopDirScan() ) will be reset and notified for change. Otherwise, stopped directories will continue to be unnotified.

- statistics ( )

  returns Nothing
  static

  Dump statistic information about all KDirWatch instances. This checks for consistency, too.

- stopDirScan (path)

  returns bool

  Argument | Type | Default
  --- | --- | ---
  path | QString |

  Stops scanning the specified path.

  The path is not deleted from the interal just, it is just skipped. Call this function when you perform an huge operation on this directory (copy/move big files or many files). When finished, call restartDirScan(path).

  path - the path to skip Returns true if the path is being watched, otherwise false

  See also restartDirScanning()

- stopScan ( )

  returns Nothing

  Stops scanning of all directories in internal list.

  The timer is stopped, but the list is not cleared.

### enums - detail

- Method { FAM, INotify, DNotify, Stat }

  | FAM | - | - |
  | INotify | - | - |
  | DNotify | - | - |
  | Stat | - | - |

- WatchMode { WatchDirOnly, WatchFiles, WatchSubDirs }

  Available watch modes for directory monitoring

  typesafe object: WatchModes

WatchDirOnly - 0 -
WatchFiles - 0x01 -
WatchSubDirs - 0x02 -