Any Windows GUI components that can bind to display an open file's contents as updated?

Question

Is it possible to directly bind a Windows GUI component (like a RichTextBox) to display (read-only) the contents of a file that is being appended by another process? I.e., so if something new is written to the file the component would display that new content?

What's the most straightforward way of doing it in C++/C#/CLR? Given that this is not an uncommon task I'm wondering if there is something easier than setting up a FileSystemWatcher and then on callback doing all the plumbing and synchronizing between the file and the GUI component's buffer.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/721714/notification-when-a-file-changes — Alexander Balabin, Jul 02 '15 at 18:17
also http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3517460/is-there-anything-like-inotify-on-windows — ficuscr, Jul 02 '15 at 18:20
Yes, FileSystemWatcher is part of the kludge I had suggested, and hoped to avoid. I.e., I'm expecting and asking whether there are already components that can be bound to an open file so I don't have to run a Watcher and plumb the changes into the component. — feetwet, Jul 02 '15 at 18:21

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 02 '15 at 18:20

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Using System.IO.FileSystemWatcher you can get events telling you when the file is updated, then you re-read the file and update your control.

answered Jul 02 '15 at 18:20

Alexander Balabin

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That's the kludgy approach I described in my second paragraph. Unless there is a trivial way to sync a control to the last _n_ lines of a file. – feetwet Jul 02 '15 at 18:22
Fair enough, it was not very clear what you meant by filesystem monitor. – Alexander Balabin Jul 02 '15 at 18:26

Any Windows GUI components that can bind to display an open file's contents as updated?

1 Answers1