Module java.base
Package java.nio.file

Interface Watchable

All Known Subinterfaces:
Path
public interface Watchable
An object that may be registered with a watch service so that it can be watched for changes and events.

This interface defines the register method to register the object with a WatchService returning a WatchKey to represent the registration. An object may be registered with more than one watch service. Registration with a watch service is cancelled by invoking the key's cancel method.

Since:
1.7
See Also:
Path.register(java.nio.file.WatchService, java.nio.file.WatchEvent.Kind<?>[], java.nio.file.WatchEvent.Modifier...)

  • Method Details

    • register

      WatchKey register​(WatchService watcher, WatchEvent.Kind<?>[] events, WatchEvent.Modifier... modifiers) throws IOException
      Registers an object with a watch service.

      If the file system object identified by this object is currently registered with the watch service then the watch key, representing that registration, is returned after changing the event set or modifiers to those specified by the events and modifiers parameters. Changing the event set does not cause pending events for the object to be discarded. Objects are automatically registered for the OVERFLOW event. This event is not required to be present in the array of events.

      Otherwise the file system object has not yet been registered with the given watch service, so it is registered and the resulting new key is returned.

      Implementations of this interface should specify the events they support.

      Parameters:
      watcher - the watch service to which this object is to be registered
      events - the events for which this object should be registered
      modifiers - the modifiers, if any, that modify how the object is registered
      Returns:
      a key representing the registration of this object with the given watch service
      Throws:
      UnsupportedOperationException - if unsupported events or modifiers are specified
      IllegalArgumentException - if an invalid of combination of events are modifiers are specified
      ClosedWatchServiceException - if the watch service is closed
      IOException - if an I/O error occurs
      SecurityException - if a security manager is installed and it denies an unspecified permission required to monitor this object. Implementations of this interface should specify the permission checks.

    • register

      WatchKey register​(WatchService watcher, WatchEvent.Kind<?>... events) throws IOException
      Registers an object with a watch service.

      An invocation of this method behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation 

           watchable.register(watcher, events, new WatchEvent.Modifier[0]);

      Parameters:
      watcher - the watch service to which this object is to be registered
      events - the events for which this object should be registered
      Returns:
      a key representing the registration of this object with the given watch service
      Throws:
      UnsupportedOperationException - if unsupported events are specified
      IllegalArgumentException - if an invalid of combination of events are specified
      ClosedWatchServiceException - if the watch service is closed
      IOException - if an I/O error occurs
      SecurityException - if a security manager is installed and it denies an unspecified permission required to monitor this object. Implementations of this interface should specify the permission checks.