File Read/Write Locks - excel

Question

I have an application where I open a log file for writing. At some point in time (while the application is running), I opened the file with Excel 2003, which said the file should be opened as read-only. That's OK with me.
But then my application threw this exception:
System.IO.IOException: The process cannot access the file because another process has locked a portion of the file.
I don't understand how Excel could lock the file (to which my app has write access), and cause my application to fail to write to it!
Why did this happen?
(Note: I didn't observe this behavior with Excel 2007.)

Answer 1

Here is a logger which will take care of sync locks. (You can modify it to fit to your requirements)
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
namespace Owf.Logger
{
public class Logger
{
private static object syncContoller = string.Empty;
private static Logger _logger;
public static Logger Default
{
get
{
if (_logger == null)
_logger = new Logger();
return _logger;
}
}
private Dictionary<Guid, DateTime> _starts = new Dictionary<Guid, DateTime>();
private string _fileName = "Log.txt";
public string FileName
{
get { return _fileName; }
set { _fileName = value; }
}
public Guid LogStart(string mesaage)
{
lock (syncContoller)
{
Guid id = Guid.NewGuid();
_starts.Add(id, DateTime.Now);
LogMessage(string.Format("0.00\tStart: {0}", mesaage));
return id;
}
}
public void LogEnd(Guid id, string mesaage)
{
lock (syncContoller)
{
if (_starts.ContainsKey(id))
{
TimeSpan time = (TimeSpan)(DateTime.Now - _starts[id]);
LogMessage(string.Format("{1}\tEnd: {0}", mesaage, time.TotalMilliseconds.ToString()));
}
else
throw new ApplicationException("Logger.LogEnd: Key doesn't exisits.");
}
}
public void LogMessage(string message)
{
lock (syncContoller)
{
string filePath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);
if (!filePath.EndsWith("\\"))
filePath += "\\owf";
else
filePath += "owf";
if (!Directory.Exists(filePath))
Directory.CreateDirectory(filePath);
filePath += "\\Log.txt";
lock (syncContoller)
{
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(filePath, true))
{
sw.WriteLine(DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.sss") + "\t" + message);
}
}
}
}
}
}

Answer 2

How do you write the log? Have your own open/close or use some thirty party product?
I thing that the log is opened and locked only when it writes something. Once the data writing is finished, the code closes the file and, of course, releases the lock

Answer 3

This seems like a .NET issue. (Well; a Bug if you ask me).
Basically I have replicated the problem by using the following multi-threaded code:
Dim FS As System.IO.FileStream
Dim BR As System.IO.BinaryReader
Dim FileBuffer(-1) As Byte
If System.IO.File.Exists(FileName) Then
Try
FS = New System.IO.FileStream(FileName, System.IO.FileMode.Open, IO.FileAccess.Read, IO.FileShare.Read)
BR = New System.IO.BinaryReader(FS)
Do While FS.Position < FS.Length
FileBuffer = BR.ReadBytes(&H10000)
If FileBuffer.Length > 0 Then
... do something with the file here...
End If
Loop
BR.Close()
FS.Close()
Catch
ErrorMessage = "Error(" & Err.Number & ") while reading file:" & Err.Description
End Try
Basically, the bug is that trying to READ the file with all different share-modes (READ, WRITE, READ_WRITE) have absolutely no effect on the file locking, no matter what you try; you would always end up in the same result: The is LOCKED and not available for any other user.
Microsoft won't even admit to this problem.
The solution is to use the internal Kernel32 CreateFile APIs to get the proper access done as this would ensure that the OS LISTENs to your request when requesting to read files with a share-locked or locked access.

Answer 4

I believe I'm having the same type of locking issue, reproduced as follows:
User 1 opens Excel2007 file from network (read-write) (WindowsServer, version unkn).
User 2 opens same Excel file (opens as ReadOnly, of course).
User 1 successfully saves file many times
At some point, User 1 is UNABLE to save the file due to message saying "file is locked".
Close down User 2's ReadOnly version...lock is released, and User 1 can now save again.
How could opening the file in ReadOnly mode put a lock on that file?
So, it seems to be either an Excel2007 issue, or a server issue.