[SOLVED] When does a file "exist" ...

[water]

Hi AutoIt Gurus,

I have the following problem:

An external program creates a PDF-file (~900KB) in a directory. My script checks for this file and when it exists it moves the file do another directory with a different name. Now I have a reproducible situation where I get an error from FileMove. When I wait a few seconds after I detect the file the script runs fine.

I think FileExists tells me "file found" even when the file is still being written by the other application. Therefore the error when moving the file.

What is the best way to tell that the file has been closed by the other application?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Edited July 18, 2009 by water

[GEOSoft]

  On 7/17/2009 at 1:43 PM, 'water said:

Hi AutoIt Gurus,

I have the following problem:

An external program creates a PDF-file (~900KB) in a directory. My script checks for this file and when it exists it moves the file do another directory with a different name. Now I have a reproducible situation where I get an error from FileMove. When I wait a few seconds after I detect the file the script runs fine.

I think FileExists tells me "file found" even when the file is still being written by the other application. Therefore the error when moving the file.

What is the best way to tell that the file has been closed by the other application?

Thanks for your help in advance!

You can't move a file that is in use (open) by another program. If you know the size of the file then you wight want to check with FileGetSize() instead of FileExists(). Or if the external program closes after creating the file then use ProcessExists() to see if it's moveable yet or not. There are several methods of checking for what you need.

[water]

Thanks for your reply!

Unfortunately I don't know the size of the file. It was just an example and the size varies.

The external program is running on another machine (a server that converts print files to pdf) so I can't check the process.

I was thinking of some code to check wether someone else has the file open for reading or writing.

Edited July 17, 2009 by water

[Prab]

Not 100% sure, but try FileOpen("Name", 1). I believe it will fail if the file is still being written to.

[Jos]

You could check for the modification date/time that its at least xx seconds old so you can safely assume the writing is done ?

[water]

Thanks a lot for your replies!

I'll try the FileOpen approach.