Usage

MailWatch can be used to watch any file or directory on any volume; as long as the file-system for that volume supports AmigaDOS notification (and most do, except for the very exotic ones). MailWatch can simultaneously watch as many files as you choose, acting in response to changes in those files.

Central to the operation of the program is this concept; the file (or files, or directory/directories) that MailWatch watches can be in one of three states:

The file either does not exist, or it does exist but has a filesize of 0.

The file exists, but is either

• already present when the program starts; or
• changed, but smaller than the previous filesize.

The file exists, has changed and is larger than the size that it was previously.

The ability to watch directories is new in MailWatch v4.1e, and it still has a few limitations (as far as I can determine, these are problems with the OS...)

• The 'size' of a directory is reported as the sum of the sizes of all the files in that directory.
• Renaming or deleting a watched directory 'locks' that notification; it will not respond to any changes in that directory unless the program (or that notification) is disabled/re-enabled.
• No notification message is received if a file inside the directory is deleted or changes in size; the only time MailWatch receives a notification message is when a new file is added to the directory.

I have added this feature to MailWatch by request; I am looking for ways of making this feature more useful and more robust.