Programmatically monitoring windows #locks on a file as shown in compmgmt.msc

Question

We currently have a problem with too many users trying to access a single file through a legacy program that uses filelocks.

I am trying to work out if it is feasible to write a dotnet program that will run on the server and monitor this specific file (flat file database). Whenever a client tries to access this file and it is locked by another user - I want to send them a message telling them who is accessing the file so they can annoy that person rather than me.

When I open compmgmt.msc I can see the file, the filelock and the user locking it so I know this information is accessible. However I can't seem to find a dotnet class that can get this information (#locks, user that has locked it).

Does anybody know of a class that can help me here?

Answer 1

The underlying winapi function is NetFileEnum(). You'll have to pinvoke it.

Answer 2

You can probably access these informations through WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa394582%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

This could be a good starting point: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/netfxbcl/thread/19b88200-3dfd-4042-b16a-1f514dd5e1f9

Also, try to get the informations you are looking for before start coding using WMI Explorer: http://www.ks-soft.net/hostmon.eng/wmi/index.htm

This could also help: select * from cim_datafile where name='d:\file.txt'

Please note the use of double slash "\"