Monitor and set an alert for Invalid file names - powershell

Question

I want to monitor the particular Folder where people are placing the excel sheets for some activities.
I want to make sure that people should take care of the below rules before placing the excel sheets.
The excel sheet should be in xls format (Excel 97-2003 Workboomk Format)
The excel file name should not contain any space
The length of the file name should not exceed 15 characters.
I want to set a email alert to me if the users placed a excel sheet without following the above 3 rules.
I need a VB or Powershell script or batch to monitor the folder. Kindly help me on this.

Answer 1

This sounds like two steps. Step 1, write a section of code that can be run to check files for the correct conditions. Step 2, email users the list of incorrectly named files. Step 1 is fairly simple.
Dim fso, scanFolder, files, n, fileList, fileArray
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set scanFolder = fso.GetFolder("C:\Your\Folder\Here")
Set files = scanFolder.Files
fileList = ""
for each n in files
if len(n.name) > 15 or right(n.name, 3) <> "xls" or InStr(n.name, " ") > 0 then
fileList = fileList & n.name & "|"
end if
next
fileList = left(fileList, len(fileList) - 1)
fileArray = split(fileList, "|")
This will grab a list of all inappropriately named files.
Step 2. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there is no way for an FSO to get the owner name out of file. Best you can do is email a distribution list with the list of files named in error. I hope this helps.
Edit: this is the email code I use in my scripts.
Dim objEmail, strFileList, x
strFileList = ""
for each x in fileArray
strFileList = strFileList & x & vbNewLine
next
Set objEmail = CreateObject("CDO.Message")
with objEmail
.From = "From#email.com"
.To = ""
.CC = ""
.Subject = "List of wrong files"
.Body = strFileList
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing") = 2
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver") = 'you will need to get the code for this from IT'
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport") = 25
.Configuration.Fields.Update
end with
objEmail.Send

Answer 2

I have wrapped the functionality of FileSystemWatcher into a module and provided a small sample of how that can be used for your requirements.
# Module FileSystemWatcher
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Register to receive filesystemwatcher events for a file or folder.
#>
function Register-FileSystemEvent
{
[CmdLetBinding(DefaultParameterSetName="File")]
param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=0,ParameterSetName="File")]
[string]$path,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=0,ParameterSetName="Folder")]
[string]$folder,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false,Position=1,ParameterSetName="Folder")]
[string]$filter="*.*",
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=2)]
[string]$event,
[scriptblock]$action={
# Action code here
$sourceidentifier = $Event.SourceIdentifier
$FileName = $Event.SourceEventArgs.FullPath
$EventType = $Event.SourceEventArgs.ChangeType
$EventTime = $Event.TimeGenerated
$message = ("File {0} {1} at {2:yyyyMMdd HH:mm:ss}" -f $FileName, $EventType, $EventTime)
Msg ([environment]::UserName) $message
},
$MessageData
)
if ($PSCMdLet.ParameterSetName -eq "File")
{
$folder = $path.Replace(([System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($path)), "")
$filter = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($path)
}
$watcher = New-Object System.IO.FileSystemWatcher -ArgumentList $folder, $filter
$uniqueId = ("{0:yyyyMMddHHmmss}" -f [DateTime]::Now)
$sourceIdentifier = ("File_{0}_{1}" -f $event, $uniqueId)
$job = Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $watcher -EventName $event -SourceIdentifier $sourceIdentifier -Action $action -MessageData $MessageData
$Script:ActiveWatchers += #{$sourceIdentifier = $job}
}
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Unregister a FileSystem event or All
.PARAMETER All
Unregisters all events
#>
function Unregister-FileSystemEvent
{
param
(
$id,
[switch]$All
)
if ($All.IsPresent)
{
foreach ($item in $Script:ActiveWatchers.Keys)
{
Unregister-Event $item
Remove-Job $item
}
$Script:ActiveWatchers = #{}
}
else
{
Unregister-Event $id
Remove-Job $id
$Script:ActiveWatchers.Remove($id)
}
}
function Init
{
if ($Script:ActiveWatchers.Count -gt 0){Unregister-FileSystemEvent -All}
$Script:ActiveWatchers = #{}
}
Init
Export-ModuleMember -Function Register-FileSystemEvent, Unregister-FileSystemEvent `
-Variable ActiveWatchers
The basic idea with this module is the ability to specify a scriptblock to be executed once the file event is fired. The -MessageData is used to attach more data to the event once it is fired. In below sample it is used to send the smtpserver and the credentials.
Below the sample code to make use of the fileSystemWatcher module and send an email with the results every time a file is created.
Please note that the arguments to Send-MailMessage might not be exactly what is necessary for your mail server, but is what i used to send the email using office365 server.
# Demo using FileSystemWatcher to validate created files
Import-Module .\FileSystemWatcher
$smtpserver = Read-Host -Prompt "Specify your smtp server"
$mailcred = Get-Credential -Message "Specify credentials for your smtp server"
$eventid = Register-FileSystemEvent -folder C:\users\Jower\OneDrive\Documents -event Created -MessageData #{SmtpServer = $smtpserver;Credentials = $mailcred} -action {
function ValidateFile($filename)
{
$messages = #()
if ([System.IO.Path]::GetExtension($filename) -ne ".xls")
{
$messages += ("{0}: Only excel version 97 files allowed here" -f $filename)
}
if ([System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($filename).Contains(" "))
{
$messages += ("{0}: Spaces are not allowed in filename" -f $filename)
}
if ($filename.Length -gt 15)
{
$messages += ("{0}: Filenames of more than 15 characters is not allowed" -f $filename)
}
return $messages
}
$smtpserver = $Event.MessageData.SmtpServer
$credentials = $Event.MessageData.Credentials
$messages = ValidateFile $Event.SourceEventArgs.Name
if ($messages.Count -gt 0)
{
Send-MailMessage -From "filealerts#domain.com" -To "recipient#domain.com" -Subject "File validation" -SmtpServer $smtpserver -Body ([string]::Join("`n", $messages)) -port 587 -UseSsl -Credential $credentials
}
}
# To disable events again.
# Unregister-FileSystemEvent -id $eventid
# Can also use
# Unregister-FileSystemEvent -All