i have been looking for a program like this forever but i just haven't found anything.
a program that automatically monitors user selected folders for changes:
- a new file
- a modified file
- a renamed file
- a change in file attributes
the user specifies an action to perform on any new/updated files. the most basic action would be a commandline such as:
prog.exe -x -y -z "%path%\%file%"
with the diversity of commandline progs and scripts, there is no real limit to what a user could do to the detected files. a user might:
- selectively backup files as they are created/modified
- run security software on new file arrivals
- automatically rename all files that enter a folder to have x prefix
- popup a notification window with sound when changes are made
- upload altered files to an ftp server
- automatically launch new files
- automatically import new files into a database
- etc.
it would be most helpful if network paths were supported.
such a program, would allow the user to create "rules". each rule would specify:
- what folder(s) to watch
- what changes to look for (new, modified, renamed, re-attributed)
- what action to take (commandline)
this general idea could be expanded in the future to have commonly used "actions" built in (such as "popup with sound" or "display log") without requiring a separate commandline/script. one "action" i would find useful is to put all updated files into an explorer results window (just like how files are added to search results). that way, it not only serves as a sort of log of what has changed, but i can also manage the files (delete, rename, move, edit, etc.).
in addition, rules could also include filters to selectively apply these actions only to certain types of files. this filter could be as simple as an extension filter or as complex as a regular expression. but, obviously, none of this is needed for a basic version.
to me, this concept is really useful and really expandable for a multitude of applications. i sure would get a lot of use out of it anyway.
