When are Files Updated in an EA?

Q:

I have a query regarding File IO plugin . the data that it writes on a text file, I dont see it updating on real time while the EA is running . When I stop the ea and then check the text file I get all the data until then.

Is it suppose to be like this or is there a problem at my end?

A:

It depends on the Application you use to view the text file.

The EA builder, during the fnFileWrite function, opens the file, writes the data, and then closes the file. It does this on each tick.

Many applications, like Notepad and Excel, have trouble viewing a file that has been “opened” programatically.

Each time you open the file, if the Application allows you to open the file, you should see the latest data from the last time the file was closed.

On our Windows7 test PC, when we open the folder where the text file is written, we see updates to the file in “preview” section of  Windows Explorer (to the right).  The preview section shows updates as the file is updated.