Notepad++ File Status Auto-Detection not working

[Кира Радионова]

Hello everyone, I’m from Ukraine. Sorry for my English.

Notepad++ stopped monitoring file changes.

Settings > Preferences… > MISC.
File Status Auto-Detection
[v] Enable

It used to work, it stopped after it was updated. The settings are enabled.
Notepad++ v7.5.4 (32-bit) for Windows XP LOL ;)

Please help, how can I fix it?

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

such problems are always difficult to solve from remote.
What you can do is make some basic tests first like
create a file and write something into it, save it as e.g. c:\temp\file.txt.
Open cmd.exe and do something like dir > c:\temp\file.txt
Go back to npp and see if content has changed, make sure you click onto notepad++
in order to get the focus.

If this does work, how are the files changed if it doesn’t work?

Cheers
Claudia

[Кира Радионова]

I finished as you wrote. Auto-Detection does not work.
The Notepad++ received the focus, but there is no message about the changed file.

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

could you describe in detail what you have done?
Maybe you found a bug and if it can be reproduced it should
be easy to find out what caused the issue.

Cheers
Claudia

[Кира Радионова]

Here, look, please

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT8DyXEGYtI

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

ok - this is working for me.
I would suggest that you try the following

1. disable File Satus Auto-Detection
2. restart npp and check if it is still disabled, if yes reenable it.
3. retest

if this does not work try the next

1. stop npp
2. depending on your configuration, rename the %APPDATA%\notepad++ directory
3. restart npp
   A new directory with the default configuration files should have been created under %APPDATA%
4. restest.

Cheers
Claudia

[Кира Радионова]

Did as you wrote.
1 way did not help, does not work.
2 way, I did differently. I downloaded the Portable version 7.5.4 of the Notepad++. It’s the same in it. File Satus Auto-Detection does not work.
Maybe it’s all because I have Windows XP?

[Кира Радионова]

That’s what I found.
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues/3981
Someone has the same problem.
Most likely the bug is observed in the new version of Notepad on Windows XP.
Very sorry if this is so. Can fix it?

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

Let me see if I can reproduce this by reconfiguring wine to use windows xp api layer.

Cheers
Claudia

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

No, seems to work for me

But the evidence that two users using windows xp having the same issue can’t be ignored.

Cheers
Claudia

[Кира Радионова]

Thank you :)

[Кира Радионова]

I found the third user with a problem. Here too someone wrote.
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/14902/v7-5-2-and-v7-5-3-file-status-auto-detection-don-t-work

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

Curious, despite the autodetection function there is another function with similar functionality.
It is under View->menu and is called Monitoring (tail -f). (the eye icon on toolbar)
If you activate this and do some changes do you see the updates?

Cheers
Claudia

[Кира Радионова]

So, nothing happens.
In addition, after activating Monitoring (tail -f), it’s impossible to print anything in Notepad ++. The text does not print, as if the readonly mode is turned on.

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

The text does not print, as if the readonly mode is turned on.
That is correct and expected behavior. The function is the only one who can updated
the file content once it gets triggered that file content has changed,

So it looks like there is a general issue with file modified notification mechanism.

Ok, I have another old laptop and I will install windows xp and do retesting.
Will take some time.

Cheers
Claudia

[Кира Радионова]

Well, Thank You very much for your help! :)

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

ok - can confirm reported behavior.
Last working version seems to be 7.5.1.
I checked changes from 7.5.1 to 7.5.2 but couldn’t find any hint about the offending source part.
This leads to the assumption, that switch to VS2015/VS2017 might be the root cause.
As far as I know XP compatibility must be set explicitly in VS2015/VS2017 projects
and it looks like it isn’t. At least I don’t find any hint it is set.

Sorry, but that’s as far as I can go - without VS debugger I can only assume this is it.

Cheers
Claudia

[chcg]

See https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/blob/master/PowerEditor/visual.net/notepadPlus.vcxproj

<PlatformToolset>v140_xp</PlatformToolset> is used, so build should still be compatible with Win XP SP3.

[Claudia Frank]

@chcg

thank you for clarification - I was searching for v120_xp but in retrospect it makes sense
that it is called v140_xp if using a new toolset.

Any idea what might cause this behavior?

Cheers
Claudia

[guy038]

Hi, @claudia-frank, @chcg and All,

I just confirm the bug : the File Status Auto-Detection mechanism does not work, since the v7.5.2 version, on my Win XP SP3 platform ?!

Cheers,

guy038