Automatically open new files as they appear in a folder

Hi!

I am currently using the importdata function to import data from a specific file input that I have to change, everytime I have a new file.

I am wondering if there's a function that would automatically detect a new .csv file and import it in Matlab?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

[Jan]

Under Windows this canbe done by .NET using a System.IO.FileSystemWatcher. But in general a simple timer is easier:

% [UNTESTED CODE]
function Observer = ObserveFolder(Pattern, Fcn)

Observer = timer('BusyMode', 'queue', ...
    'ExecutionMode', 'fixedSpacing', ...
    'Period',   5, ...  % Number of seconds between checks
    'TimerFcn', @(H, E) CheckFolder(H, E, Pattern, Fcn), ...
    'UserData', [], ...
    'DeleteFcn', @(H, E) disp('Observer stopped.'));
start(Observer);
end

function CheckFolder(TimerH, EventData, Pattern, Fcn)

newList  = dir(Pattern);
FileList = fullfile({newList.folder}, {newList.name});
DateList = {newList.date};

oldKey   = TimerH.UserData;
if isempty(oldKey)
    newFile = FileList;
else
    key     = strcat(FileList, '?', DateList);
    newFile = FileList(~ismember(key, oldKey));
    oldKey  = key;
end

for iFile = 1:numel(newFile)
    Fcn(newFile{iFile});
end
end

Call this as:

Fcn = @(File) disp(File);   % A dummy function
Obs = ObserveFolder(fullfile(Folder, '*.csv'));

... let it work and stop if by:
delete(Obs)

[Emilie]

thank you so much, I'll try this out!!

[Jan]

I try it also. If it is working, maybe it is worth to publish it in the FileExchange.

Answer 2

[Yongjian Feng]

Implement a background thread that scans the folder?