How to detect changes happening in the workspace?

[YathindraNikshipth]

I want to monitor changes in the open workspace, such as file creation, deletion, saving, and renaming. Is there an existing service that provides these events?

[msujew]

Hey @YathindraNikshipth,

you can use the FileService service to register the appropriate events. Note that there are two different kinds of workspace changes; Those who are happening on the file system (from the outside) and those initiated by the user. Here's an example on how to hook into both:

theia/packages/collaboration/src/browser/collaboration-instance.ts

Lines 472 to 517 in bcf96a3

	protected registerFileSystemChanges(): void {
	// Event listener for disk based events
	this.fileService.onDidFilesChange(event => {
	const changes: types.FileChange[] = [];
	for (const change of event.changes) {
	const path = this.utils.getProtocolPath(change.resource);
	if (path) {
	let type: types.FileChangeEventType | undefined;
	if (change.type === FileChangeType.ADDED) {
	type = types.FileChangeEventType.Create;
	} else if (change.type === FileChangeType.DELETED) {
	type = types.FileChangeEventType.Delete;
	}
	// Updates to files on disk are not sent
	if (type !== undefined) {
	changes.push({
	path,
	type
	});
	}
	}
	}
	if (changes.length) {
	this.options.connection.fs.change({ changes });
	}
	});
	// Event listener for user based events
	this.fileService.onDidRunOperation(operation => {
	const path = this.utils.getProtocolPath(operation.resource);
	if (!path) {
	return;
	}
	let type = types.FileChangeEventType.Update;
	if (operation.isOperation(FileOperation.CREATE) || operation.isOperation(FileOperation.COPY)) {
	type = types.FileChangeEventType.Create;
	} else if (operation.isOperation(FileOperation.DELETE)) {
	type = types.FileChangeEventType.Delete;
	}
	this.options.connection.fs.change({
	changes: [{
	path,
	type
	}]
	});
	});
	}

[YathindraNikshipth]

@msujew It's helpful, Thank you

[YathindraNikshipth]

hey @msujew I would like to clarify whether the onDidRunOperation event only triggers for file-related changes. Additionally, could you let me know how to fetch changes related to folders? Thank you for your help.

[msujew]

onDidRunOperation triggers for all file system operations triggered from the UI of the application. As far as I know, both events also trigger for folder changes, not only files.

[YathindraNikshipth]

Hi @msujew, I was looking into the FileWatcherService to specifically monitor changes in certain folders, but I'm unsure how to configure it for that purpose. Could you please provide some guidance?
Thank you!