Problem with Watch Service in Window 7

Question

This code works fine in Linux but not in Windows 7: to get file contents update I have to click on the output file. Where is the trick?
I am using Windows 7 prof, NetBeans IDE 8.0 RC1 (Build 201402242200) updated to version NetBeans 8.0 Patch 1.1, JDK 1.8
package watchfilethreadmod;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.RandomAccessFile;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import static java.nio.file.LinkOption.NOFOLLOW_LINKS;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import static java.nio.file.StandardWatchEventKinds.*;
import java.nio.file.WatchEvent;
import java.nio.file.WatchKey;
import java.nio.file.WatchService;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
public class WatchFileThreadMod {
static class WatchFile {
   String fileName;
   long lastFilePos;
   RandomAccessFile file;
   public WatchFile(String _fileName, RandomAccessFile _file) {
  fileName = _fileName;
  lastFilePos = 0;
  file = _file;
public static void shutDownListener(Thread thread) {
   Thread thr = thread;
   if (thr != null) {
  thr.interrupt();
private static class MyWatchQueueReader implements Runnable {
  * the watchService that is passed in from above
   private WatchService myWatcher;
   public ArrayList<WatchFile> threadFileToWatch;
   public String dirPath;
   public MyWatchQueueReader(String _dirPath, WatchService myWatcher, ArrayList<WatchFile> _threadFileToWatch) {
   this.myWatcher = myWatcher;
   this.threadFileToWatch = _threadFileToWatch;
   this.dirPath = _dirPath;
   private void openFile(WatchFile obj) {
   try {
   System.out.println("Open file "+obj.fileName);
  obj.file = new RandomAccessFile(dirPath + "/" + obj.fileName, "r");  
   } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
  obj.file = null;
   System.out.println("filename " + obj.fileName + " non trovato");
  obj.lastFilePos = 0;
   private void process(WatchEvent evt) {
   String thisLine;
   ArrayList<WatchFile> auxList = threadFileToWatch;
   for (WatchFile obj : auxList) {
   if (obj.fileName.equals(evt.context().toString())) {
   if (obj.file == null) {
  openFile(obj);
   try {
  obj.file.seek(obj.lastFilePos);
   } catch (IOException e) {
   System.err.println("Seek error: " + e);
   try {  
  thisLine = obj.file.readLine();
   if ((thisLine == null)&&(evt.kind() == ENTRY_MODIFY)) {
   System.out.printf("---> thisLine == null received %s event for file: %s\n",
  evt.kind(), evt.context());
  obj.file.close();
   System.out.println("Close file "+obj.fileName);
  openFile(obj);
  thisLine = obj.file.readLine();
   while (thisLine != null) { // while loop begins here 
   if (thisLine.length() > 0) {
   if (thisLine.substring(thisLine.length() - 1).equals("*")) {
  obj.lastFilePos = obj.file.getFilePointer();
   System.out.println(obj.fileName + ": " + thisLine);
  thisLine = obj.file.readLine();
   } // end while
   } // end try
   catch (IOException e) {
   System.err.println("Error: " + e);
  * In order to implement a file watcher, we loop forever ensuring
  * requesting to take the next item from the file watchers queue.
   @Override
   public void run() {
   try {
   // get the first event before looping
   WatchKey key = myWatcher.take();
   while (key != null) {
   // we have a polled event, now we traverse it and
   // receive all the states from it
   for (WatchEvent event : key.pollEvents()) {
   WatchEvent.Kind eventType = event.kind();
   if (eventType == OVERFLOW) {
   continue;
  process(event);
  key.reset();
  key = myWatcher.take();
   } catch (InterruptedException e) {
   ArrayList<WatchFile> auxList = threadFileToWatch;
   for (WatchFile obj : auxList) {
   if (obj.file != null) {
   try {
  obj.file.close();
   System.out.println("chiusura file " + obj.fileName);
   } catch (IOException ex) {
   System.out.println("errore in chiusura file");
   Logger.getLogger(WatchFileThreadMod.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
   //e.printStackTrace();
   System.out.println("Stopping thread");
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
   // get the directory we want to watch, using the Paths singleton class
   //Path toWatch = Paths.get(DIRECTORY_TO_WATCH);
   ArrayList<WatchFile> fileToWatch = new ArrayList<>();
   String filename;
   RandomAccessFile file;
  fileToWatch.add(new WatchFile("EURUSD.rlt", new RandomAccessFile(args[0] + "/EURUSD.rlt", "r")));
  filename = "EURCHF2.rlt";
   try {
  file = new RandomAccessFile(args[0] + "/" + filename, "r");
   } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
  file = null;
   System.out.println("filename " + filename + " non trovato");
  fileToWatch.add(new WatchFile(filename, file));
  fileToWatch = fileToWatch;
   Path toWatch = Paths.get(args[0]);
   if (toWatch == null) {
   throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Directory not found");
   // Sanity check - Check if path is a folder
   try {
   Boolean isFolder = (Boolean) Files.getAttribute(toWatch,
   "basic:isDirectory", NOFOLLOW_LINKS);
   if (!isFolder) {
   throw new IllegalArgumentException("Path: " + toWatch + " is not a folder");
   } catch (IOException ioe) {
   // Folder does not exists
  ioe.printStackTrace();
   // make a new watch service that we can register interest in
   // directories and files with.
   WatchService myWatcher = toWatch.getFileSystem().newWatchService();
   // start the file watcher thread below
   MyWatchQueueReader fileWatcher = new MyWatchQueueReader(args[0], myWatcher, fileToWatch);
   Thread processingThread = new Thread(fileWatcher, "FileWatcher");
  processingThread.start();
  toWatch.register(myWatcher, ENTRY_CREATE, ENTRY_MODIFY); 
I get no error, just I have to single left mouse click on file to get updates, while in Linux it all works perfectly.
This is the file path
http://s27.postimg.org/a4pm8t3xv/ZA610.png

Answer 1

Thank you - I followed your directions
and found that I had already tagged it to watch, but hadn't realized that it was tagging both the old and the new.  Big learning curve for me.