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05.09.2008 at 09:16AM PDT, ID: 23389965

	[x] Attachment Details

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9.1

fileInfo object Delete exception

Zone: Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

Tags: VB.NET 2005

Hello experts;

I am using the DirectoryInfo and FileInfo classes to cycle through a specific directory and process a series of files. The code I am using works great, until I need to delete the files. At this point, my application thows an exception:

"the process cannot access the file, it is being used by another process"

If you have any suggestions on how I might fix this issue, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time

         
           
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             Dim oDirectory As New DirectoryInfo("\\speedview\d$\MainframeExtracts\PBPSalesHistory")
        Dim oFiles() As FileInfo = oDirectory.GetFiles()
 
        For Each f As FileInfo In oFiles
            Dim tfpFile As New Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser(f.FullName)
            tfpFile.TextFieldType = FileIO.FieldType.Delimited
            tfpFile.SetDelimiters(",")
            tfpFile.HasFieldsEnclosedInQuotes = True
            tfpFile.TrimWhiteSpace = True
            Dim Splitter As String()
            Splitter = tfpFile.ReadFields
            recordCount = 0
            While Not tfpFile.EndOfData
		' process file
                Splitter = tfpFile.ReadFields
            End While
 
            tfpFile.Close()
            tfpFile.Dispose()
            f.Delete()   <-- the process cannot access the file, it is being used by another process
     Next

           
         

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Question Stats

Zone: Programming

Question Asked By: gwosgood

Solution Provided By: PaulHews

Participating Experts: 2

Solution Grade: A

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05.09.2008 at 09:56AM PDT, ID: 21534687

Rank: Sage

PaulHews:

Just as a thought, you might call GC.Collect and WaitForPendingFinalizers... Remember garbage disposal doesn't always occur when you call Dispose.

                       
             tfpFile.Close()
GC.Collect()
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
tfpFile.Dispose()
f.Delete()

Open in New Window

05.09.2008 at 10:08AM PDT, ID: 21534774

gwosgood:

Paul,

Thanks for your suggestion, unfortunately that did not resolve my issue.

Any other ideas?

05.09.2008 at 10:33AM PDT, ID: 21534968

Rank: Sage

PaulHews:

I think I messed up when copy/pasting the code... Call GC.Collect *after* Dispose... Sorry.

                       
             tfpFile.Close()
tfpFile.Dispose()
GC.Collect()
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
f.Delete()

Open in New Window

Accepted Solution

05.09.2008 at 10:39AM PDT, ID: 21535009

gwosgood:

Paul,

Switch up the statement order and it still didnt fix the problem.

05.09.2008 at 11:03AM PDT, ID: 21535177

gwosgood:

followup to Paul --

Paul, using your code, it seems like it will delete all files *except* the first file. For the first file, it still throws the exception. If I "'walk through" the error on the first file, the code will properly process the remaining files.

Any ideas on that?

05.09.2008 at 11:12AM PDT, ID: 21535233

Rank: Sage

PaulHews:

Check if the file can be deleted in explorer after your program is closed. May just be that the file has an open handle that never got closed during debugging.

05.09.2008 at 12:42PM PDT, ID: 21535878

Rank: Genius

Idle_Mind:

I think it may be more a matter of the OPERATING SYSTEM itself is not done "releasing" the file. It takes physical time for the OS to fully close the file and release all the locks.

Try waiting a second or two before attempting to delete the file.

...or you could even write a looping mechanism that automatically waits a couple seconds between tries:

Private Function DeleteFile(ByVal f As System.IO.FileInfo, Optional ByVal DelayInSeconds As Integer = 1, Optional ByVal MaxTries As Integer = 10) As Boolean
For i As Integer = 1 To MaxTries
Try
f.Delete()
Return True
Catch ex As Exception
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(DelayInSeconds).TotalMilliseconds)
End Try
Next
Return False
End Function

A possible incorporation of the code above:

For Each f As FileInfo In oFiles

' ... parsing code ...

If Not DeleteFile(f) Then
MessageBox.Show(f.Name, "File Deletion Failed")
End If
Next

Assisted Solution

20080236-EE-VQP-29 / EE_QW_2_20070628