NIO WatchService and file modifications

Question

Hi everyone,
I am just testing a little bit the new I/O API and facing a fancy issue :
I created a WatchService that prints informations when a file is modified ( StandardWatchEventKinds.ENTRY_MODIFY ).
When I modify the file using NotePad (I work on Windows), all is OK, I have one trace of the modification. But if I modify the file using another "more powerful" text editor like NotePad++ or Eclipse IDE, my WatchService handles two modification events... This can be pretty much annoying as my application behavior depends on this modification and I don't want it to stress because of multiple "useless" events.
Does anybody know why this happens? Is it due to the OS or the software used to modify the file?
Thanks for your answers.

Answer 1

878488 wrote:
But the point of my question was : Is this normal that the WatchService detects multiple modification events when saving files with some editors?I presume this is something new with Java 7, since the only docs I can find appear to be drafts, so the simple answer is: I don't know, because I haven't tried it yet.
I'd also suggest that playing with "bleeding edge" stuff to support a methodology that you already concede is clunky may not be the best way to proceed. Have you voiced your concerns to your management?
Winston
Edited by: YoungWinston on Aug 10, 2011 11:11 AM
PS: I believe that there are already some quite well-established packages around for monitoring file updates but, as I said, I'd only use it as a last resort. On top of everything else, it's likely to be slow.