How to delete a local system file or folder from a local service?

Question

hi,

I have a local service which is running on my system. I want to delete some files or folders from my system(may be file is present in D:) through that service. Is it possible? anybody, please give me a piece of code?

 

---

Regards, Anandakumar.R

Answer 1

Hi AnandKumar,

check below sample

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc148994.aspx

Regards,

Vanya

Answer 2

First we will understand how to monitor a folder for changes using FileSystemWatcher class, which is provided by .NET library. Then we will convert this program to a Windows Service to run in the background. We will also discuss about how to install service, start and stop it.

Make use of FileSystemWatcher Class -

• Import System.IO namespace
• Create an object of FileSytemWatcher class
• Set property of FileSystemWatcher object like Path and IncludeSubDirectories.
• Associated events like Created, Deleted etc. with event handlers using AddHandler statement in VB.NET or use += operator in case of C#.
• Enable monitoring by setting EnableRaisingEvents to true to start firing events when changes take place in the given path.

The following program shows how to display a message when a file is created or deleted from d:\ folder.

• Create a new Console Application using Visual Studio.NET 2005
• Create a class with the name FileSytemMonitor and place the following code in it.

Imports System.IO
Public Class FileSystemMonitor
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Dim fsw As New FileSystemWatcher()  ' create an object of FileSystemWatcher
        ' set properties of FileSystemWatcher object
        fsw.Path = "d:\"
        fsw.IncludeSubdirectories = True
        ' add event handlers 
        AddHandler fsw.Created, New FileSystemEventHandler(AddressOf File_Created)
        AddHandler fsw.Deleted, New FileSystemEventHandler(AddressOf File_Deleted)
        
        fsw.EnableRaisingEvents = True  ' enable monitoring
        
        Console.WriteLine("Started Monitoring d:\ folder. Press enter key to stop.")
        Console.ReadLine()
    End Sub
    ' event handler to handle created event 
    Public Shared Sub File_Created(ByVal obj As Object, ByVal e As FileSystemEventArgs)
        Console.WriteLine(e.FullPath & " - Created")
    End Sub
    ' event handler to handle deleted event 
    Public Shared Sub File_Deleted(ByVal obj As Object, ByVal e As FileSystemEventArgs)
        Console.WriteLine(e.FullPath & " - Deleted")
    End Sub
End Class

• Change start up object of the project to FileSystemMonitor class.
• Run the project using F5.
• Make some changes to d:\ folder and see what messages are displayed in your console.
• Press Enter key to stop monitoring

Creating a Windows Service To Monitor File System –

Now let us build a Windows Service to monitor file system. A Windows Service is program that runs in the background and perform its operations without any user interaction. Our file monitoring application is a good candidate for Windows service.
A windows service can be installed, uninstalled using a utility - InstallUtil.Exe - provided by .NET.

Once a windows service is installed, it can be managed - stared, stopped etc. - using Services program provided by Windows.
Let us now take steps to create a windows service to monitor a folder provided by user at the time of configuring service. If user doesn't provide folder name then we use d:\ as the default folder. We write a line of text with date , time , filename and operation in a text file with the name FileSystem.Log that is placed in temp directory of Windows OS

• Start Visual Studio.NET 2005
• Select File->New Project
• Expand Visual Basic node and select Windows as Project type.
• Select Windows Service as the template.
• Enter FSMonitor as the project name and select the folder where you want to place the project.
• You get Service1.vb[Design].
• Click on link click here to switch to code view to get into code view - service1.vb.
• Modify the code as follows

Imports System.IO
Public Class Service1
    Dim fsw As FileSystemWatcher
    Dim fw As StreamWriter
    Protected Overrides Sub OnStart(ByVal args() As String)
        fw = New StreamWriter(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("temp") & "\filesystem.log")
        fsw = New FileSystemWatcher()
        If args.Length > 0 Then
            fsw.Path = args(0)
            fsw.IncludeSubdirectories = True
        Else  ' default settings
            fsw.Path = "d:\"
            fsw.IncludeSubdirectories = False
        End If
        AddHandler fsw.Created, New FileSystemEventHandler(AddressOf File_Created)
        AddHandler fsw.Deleted, New FileSystemEventHandler(AddressOf File_Deleted)
        fsw.EnableRaisingEvents = True
    End Sub
    Public Sub File_Created(ByVal obj As Object, ByVal e As FileSystemEventArgs)
        fw.WriteLine(Now.ToShortDateString & " " & Now.ToShortTimeString & " - " & e.FullPath & " - Created")
    End Sub
    Public Sub File_Deleted(ByVal obj As Object, ByVal e As FileSystemEventArgs)
        fw.WriteLine(Now.ToShortDateString & " " & Now.ToShortTimeString & " - " & e.FullPath & " - Deleted")
    End Sub
    Protected Overrides Sub OnStop()
        fw.Close()
    End Sub
End Class

1. Go to Designer, right click and select Add Installer option from popup menu.
2. Visual Studio creates two components - ServiceProcessInstaller1 and ServiceInstaller1
3. Select ServiceInstaller1 and change following properties
4.  ServiceName : FSMonitor
5.  DispalyName : File System Monitor
6.  StartType   : Manual (default)
7.  Select ServiceProcessInstaller1 and change following properties
8.  Account : LocalSystem
9.  Go to solution explorer and build the project to create .exe  (FSMonitor.exe) file for the project
10. Go to command prompt using Microsoft Visual Stdio.2005 -> Visual Studio Tools -> Visual Studio.NET 2005 Command Prompt
11. Go to the directory where FSMonitor.exe is present ( debug directory under bin directory)
12. Enter the following command to install service
13. Installutil  FSMonitor.exe

---

Thanks, AT

Answer 3

Is it an .asmx web service or windows service?

If it is .asmx web service, you can try what AT and vanya suggested. In addition to that make sure, to give the IIS_IUSRS group Modify permissions to the directory where you are deleting files.

---

Lingaraj Mishra