Develop Reference

moving file from one location to another without knowing file name

One of my executable process produces two files. I want to move one file that is produced to shared drive. I am writing an automatic process to move the file from one location to shared drive. The only issue is file name changes every time the executable is run so I don't have the exact filename with me. I only have the extension, .xls. I have only one .xls file in my directory.
I tried doing this
File.Copy(#"*.xls", #"\\serv44\Application\testing\name\test2\*.xls", true);
It threw an error saying Invalid name. After moving the file to shared drive. I want to delete the .xls file.
File.Delete("*.xls");
any help will be appreciated

You should get file name and then do whatever you want with that file. I.e. if you have only one xls file in the source directory:
var targetDirectory = #"\\serv44\Application\testing\name\test2\";
var sourceFile = Directory.EnumerateFiles(sourceDirectory, "*.xls").FirstOrDefault();
if (sourceFile != null)
{
var sourceFileName = Path.GetFileName(sourceFile);
var targetFileName = Path.Combine(targetDirectory, sourceFileName);
File.Copy(sourceFileName, targetFileName);
File.Delete(sourceFileName);
}
Note: instead of copy and delete you can use single Move operation.
If you want to move several files from your source directory, then instead of taking first one process all found files in a loop:
foreach(var sourceFile in Directory.EnumerateFiles(sourceDirectory, "*.xls"))
{
var sourceFileName = Path.GetFileName(sourceFile);
var targetFileName = Path.Combine(targetDirectory, sourceFileName);
File.Move(sourceFileName, targetFileName);
}

This should give you that file name:
var fileName = Directory.GetFiles(yourDirectory, "*.xls").ToList().FirstOrDefault();

How to execute a file within a subdirectory

So I have a small setup file that needs to install a few run-time files. The files are located within sub directories of the root of the drive. The drive letter will be different on every customers machine, so I was trying this and several other methods to no avail.
// File is being ran from D:\ "eg: D:\setup.exe"
// All my runtimes are in the Tools\Runtime direcorties
string path = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory();
string ext = "/q /norestart";
string location = "\\Tools\\Runtimes\\Net\\";
string step1 = "dotnetfx35.exe";
var process = Process.Start(path + location + step1 + ext);
process.WaitForExit();
As you pros and more experienced programmers know, for some reason... It doesn't work
I keep getting file not found.

Capture the directory path it uses to run the program

I have a C# application which assume it runs from bin directory
string current_directory = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(); //get current directory, this is the bin dir
string parent_dir = Directory.GetParent(current_directory).ToString();// this is parent of bin dir
string _Config1 = parent_dir + "\\config\\x.cfg";
string _Config2 = parent_dir + "\\config\\y.cfg";
string _Log = parent_dir + "\\log\\z.log";
The problem is for some reasons the user can not go to the bin directory and run the app (just type "application_name"). He has to run it using path (ie d:\blah\1\blah\2\blah\3\bin\application_name)
when he does this he gets
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Lo‌​cation)
so either I have to capture the path he uses to run the program and use it in my program or somehow make my application to be able to run using path.

You can use AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory.

Use the Application.StartupPath for WinForms.

You can use reflection:
var path = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName( System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().GetCodebase );

Cannot create a file when it already exists using File.Move

I was trying to move a file from my Resx to my PC, but I'm keep having problems.
So I import a folder named "bad" in the Resources and I use the File.Move method to move the folder "bad" into my PC.
But the program keeps crashing because it says: Cannot create a file when its already exists.
Here the code I use:
//txtpath is the root folder. I let the user choose the root folder and save it in txtpath.text
private void btnbadname_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string source = "Resources\bad";
string destination = txtpath.Text + #"\RADS\projects\lol_air_client\releases\0.0.1.74\deploy\assets\locale\App";
File.Move(source, destination);
MessageBox.Show("脏话ID已开启, 教程请点击下面的链接");
}

The destination Directory cannot exist. In your code you are creating the Directory if it doesn't exist and then trying to move your directory, the Move Method will create the directory for you. If the Directory already exists you will need to Delete it or Move it.
See:
Cannot create a file when that file already exists when using Directory.Move

Destination supposed to have the filename as well
string destination = txtpath.Text + #"\RADS\projects\lol_air_client\releases\0.0.1.74\deploy\assets\locale\App\yourfilename.ext";

You are using File.Move to move directory, why not using Directory.Move.
The MSDN documentation will only move files from a source to a destination, while Directory.Move will move the directory itself.
If I misunderstood you, and you want to move a file;
You can check if the file exists before or not using something like:
if(File.Exists(fileName))
File.Delete(fileName);
Edit:
If you want to iterate through the directory and make sure that the file doesn't exist before moving it, you can use something like:
//Set the location of your directories
string sourceDirectory = #"";
string destDirectory = #"";
//Check if the directory exists, and if not create it
if (!Directory.Exists(destDirectory))
Directory.CreateDirectory(destDirectory);
DirectoryInfo sourceDirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(sourceDirectory);
//Iterate through directory and check the existance of each file
foreach (FileInfo sourceFileInfo in sourceDirInfo.GetFiles())
{
string fileName = sourceFileInfo.Name;
string destFile = Path.Combine(destDirectory, fileName);
if (File.Exists(destFile))
File.Delete(destFile);
//Finally move the file
File.Move(sourceFileInfo.FullName, destFile);
}

When using MoveTo, provide the full path of where you are sending the file, including the file name, eg, pic123.jpg. If you use DirectoryInfo to get an array of files and want to move any of them, append the Name property of the file to the directory path where you are sending the file.
imgFile.MoveTo("C:\myPictures\ArchiveFolder\pic123.jpg")

Use relative Path in Microsoft Surface application?

I convert my wave file into a mp3 file by the following code:
internal bool convertToMp3()
{
string lameEXE = #"C:\Users\Roflcoptr\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Prototype_Concept_2\Prototype_Concept_2\lame\lame.exe";
string lameArgs = "-V2";
string wavFile = fileName;
string mp3File = fileName.Replace("wav", "mp3");
Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
process.StartInfo.FileName = lameEXE;
process.StartInfo.Arguments = string.Format("{0} {1} {2}", lameArgs, wavFile, mp3File);
process.Start();
process.WaitForExit();
int exitCode = process.ExitCode;
if (exitCode == 0)
{
return true;
}
else
{
return false;
}
}
This works, but now I'd like to not use the absolut path to the lame.exe but a relative path. I included a lame.exe in the folder /lame/ on the root of the project. How can I reference it?

If you have rights to distribute the file with your application, then one way of doing it would be to include the .exe file as an item in your C# project, with
Build Action = None
Copy to Output Directory = Copy if newer
You can then just use
string lameEXE = #"lame.exe"

Assuming your binary app is in Debug folder and the lame folder is in the main project directory:
string lameEXE = #"..\..\lame\lame.exe
Hovewer, folders structure will be probably different in your release version.

Directly using a path relative to the application directory is a bad idea since the working directory might not be identical to the application directory. This can lead to bugs and security holes. For example you might execute files in untrusted directories.
Some cases where the working directory isn't identical to the application directory:
The user opens a file from the explorer. Then the working directory is the directory where the file is in
Depending on the settings Common Dialogs(OpenFileDialog, SaveFileDialog) change the working directory.
So you should expand it relative to the project directory. Unfortunately I know of no clean library function which does that for you. In simple cases this can be done by concatenating the relative path to the application directory:
string appDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[0]) + "\\";
const string relativePath=#"..\..\lame.exe";//Whatever relative path you want
string absolutePath=appDir+relativePath;
...
process.StartInfo.FileName =absolutePath;
...