Reactive File Updater

The Reactive File Updater is a tool that runs as a Windows service in the background updating the files that you tell it to monitor. As soon as a monitored file is changed, it scans through the file for matches and runs a replacement on those found.

Installation

Place ReactiveFileUpdater.exe in a folder of your choice and run it once (from a command prompt or Start Menu > Run) with parameters -install -start to install it as a Windows service and start it at the same time. It will be configured to start automatically at Windows startup. Create a settings file according to the Configuration section.

Uninstallation

Run ReactiveFileUpdater.exe (from a command prompt or Start Menu > Run) with parameters -stop -uninstall to stop it and uninstall it as a Windows service.

Logs

(to be documented)

Configuration

Place a settings.json file in C:\ProgramData\ReactiveFileUpdater with content according to the following format:

{
   "FileUpdates": [
      {
         "FilePath": "<TARGET-FILE>",
         "SearchPattern": "<REGEX-PATTERN>",
         "ReplacePattern": "<REGEX-REPLACEMENT>"
      }
   ],
   "PollFrequency": "<POLL-TIMESPAN>"
}

Field	Description
TARGET-FILE	The path to a file to monitor. Backslashes needs to be escaped, i.e. written as \\.
REGEX-PATTERN	A valid regular expression pattern used to find matches in the file. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/regular-expression-language-quick-reference for a reference.
REGEX-REPLACEMENT	A valid regular expression replacement. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/substitutions-in-regular-expressions for a reference.
POLL-TIMESPAN	The time between polls, formatted as a timespan [d.]hh:mm:ss[.fffffff].