I'm writing an application that amongst other things will have to import some files. The user points to the main file with a picker which grants access to that file. However, there are additional files refrenced within the file. How do I gracefully access them?
To illustrate situation better:
manifest.xml
media (folder)
image1.jpg
image2.jpg
image3.jpg
User picks manifest.xml which mentions media files. I'd like to programmatically access them.
I realize I could declare broadFileSystemAccess capability, but from what I gather, it still wouldn't work in certain locations. For example if imported files were placed in C:. I would also have to explain myself when submitting application.
Embedding additional files is not possible because I have to work with over 20 years old standard which doesn't support it.
So it seems that the only way to do this without broadFileSystemAccess (which is not cure for everything) is to use FolderPicker and ask for folder containing file to be imported. From what I tested, it grants you access to picked folder and all its subfolders and files.
However, this solution is not perfect. FolderPicker is unable to display files in its dialog (just the folders) so you have to know where the file you want to import is beforehand. Then, after folder is picked, you have to test if it really contains file that can be imported and take into consideration, there might be more than one. It means, you'll have to create another dialog of your own which will ask user which file he wants to import. You might even want to do that with one file just to make sure the user knows what he's doing.
Related
I'm a little stuck, as for this moment i don't have any code only an idea.
I was thinking to make a program in asp.net to list files within a location.
The file will probably be releases for programs and mods for gaming and stuff.
But i have searched everywhere to get files in a location. I could use system.io.fileinfo to list files in a directory.
But how to I get a Directory not in the solution but somehwere on the hard drive or even external storage server? The location i prefer not to be hard coded but selected by the user? any toughts on how a user can select a 'location' ?
In a console application, you could be doing something like this :
Ask for the path from the user with a readline.
Check if the path is correct / exists. (if not you could create it or display an error, also it could be a path with a file, you need to check if the path is to a directory or to a file)
Do the display of the files inside of the directory as intended.
We need more precisions if you want a better answer.
If I were to follow this example file uploads would be stored in the wwwroot file. It is my understanding this file is where you should store static files that will be served to the user. Sure, I want my users to be able to download but is there a filesystem, specific to asp.net core/IIS/Windows Server 2012, that would be best? I'm expecting around 10,000 files max after several years.
I'm planning on creating a folder for the uploaded documents, I'm just unsure of where to place it.
Note: The answer provided here was not sufficient
To the best of my understanding, unless you take special precautions, files under wwwroot can be downloaded freely by users, bots, etc. with no authentication. If the files are not sensitive in nature, then there is nothing wrong with using wwwroot.
If you want to provide security at the controller level (e.g., a user can only view their own files), then it's probably better to put them elsewhere in the file system. The path is kind of arbitrary, but the security settings on the folder must be set in such a way that the dotnet process can access it. You can give Everyone full access, or be more restrictive if you see fit. This is done directly on the OS of the server, assuming that you have access to it.
For 2 reasons I would not do that.
1. Keep control and overview. I would create a subfolder and give it the needed rights to create and write uploaded files there.
2. You are then free to change authorization if your requirements ever should change.
I've been trying to learn how to handle saving normal .txt files in UWP, and have realized that it's quite locked down compared to WPF, especially in the sense of what folders you can access without requesting the user to select a location. I have searched for various ways this might be possible but found no working answer.
Question Description:
I basically would love to know if this is possible, and preferably a point in the direction where I can learn how exactly to do this.
Application settings page requires user to select folder where files are saved.
Application remembers this between launches (unsure if this is possible, but I can't require the user to select the folder on every launch)
Application saves files to the specified folder.
In my understanding, this should be possible, as the user is the one specifying the location via filepicker, but is it possible to have this work between launches so that the user wont be required to re-select the save folder?
I need to figure this out, as I would like my application to support selecting attached network drives, cloud storage folders, etc.
Any help is very much appreciated, and if there are any questions I will answer them to the best of my ability.
Fow this purpose there are two access lists designed: FutureAccessList and MostRecentlyUsedList. Once the user has picked up the folder with the picker, you add it to such list and receive a token, which you save for future purpose in LocalSettings:
ApplicationData.Current.LocalSettings.Values["MyFolder"] = StorageApplicationPermissions.FutureAccessList.Add(pickedFolder);
Then later, once you want to access that folder, you can do it like this:
StorageFolder folder = await StorageApplicationPermissions.FutureAccessList.GetFolderAsync(ApplicationData.Current.LocalSettings.Values["MyFolder"].ToString());
You can't save a StorageFolder or a path to it in settings, hence the UWP app needs permissions to access the folder. Using above access lists solves this problem.
I believe you want to save user settings and keep it somewhere so that next time when they launch the application, they can use the same settings.
Please check out this tutorial from Microsoft, which describes how to do exactly that.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397750(v=vs.110).aspx
I would like to know how Windows generate folder, where will be ClickOnce application installed.
In Startmenu is "shortcut" to file, what is putted in some "startrek" folder like:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\GT??4KXX.PRJ\EGV???1G.??C\prin..tion_7???5a2?????74b6_0000.0002_1dae????89111c35
What does those folder names mean?
For example:
If i will have for example some settings.txt file where i want that user can change some parameters of the application. Is there way how to know, WHERE it will be installed and WHERE the file is? (Where user will find this settings.txt file).
I know that i can create the file for example in C:\ and after start the application i will modify the file in "strong" path. But i dont really like too much files, folders, whatever in C:\ and i prefer to have settings files in same folder like the application. But with ClickOnce installations is it really hard - impossible - to find that file.
It seems like when the "startrek" is something like hash of the project.
So i would like to know what does the folder means and if its some hash of the project or what is that.
To find the folder that contains your executable, you can use the Assembly.Location property.
For example:
string exeFolder = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
However, if you want to store settings for your ClickOnce app, you shouldn't do it by writing a file to the .exe's folder.
Instead, you should use Microsoft's Application Settings support. Doing it any other way is going to be a lot of extra hassle, and Microsoft's support is very good. It does need half an hour to read through the documentation, but it's far and away the best thing to do, IMHO.
(I'm assuming that you only need the settings to be stored on the local PC for the same user to use later. If you want the settings to follow the user around (i.e. roaming settings), you can't use the Microsoft support.)
If you have more complex settings that you want to store in a file that you create directly, you should consider using the isolated storage that the answer from JRoughan mentions.
From inside the ClickOnce app you can find the default directory where files are stored using
ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.DataDirectory
Or you can use isolated storage and choose whether you want to save per application or per user.
I don't think it's possible to determine these folders from outside the app itself. If you need a known location you'll have to hard-code it.
Update
I also don't believe it's possible to infer what the install directory will be for an app. It would be unwise to use even if possible as updates to the app will not be in the same location.
If you have data that the user is modifying through your program, you will be happier if you don't leave it in the ClickOnce program directory. You can get completely messed up when there's an update. Check out this article about what to do with your data to keep it safe and be able to find it. It talks about putting it in LocalApplicationData, but if you want your user to be able to find it and edit it, just put it in MyDocuments/yourappname/settings or something like that.
I wouldn't use Isolated Storage; there are reported problems with that and ClickOnce.
I would like to create a c# application which will open when i open a folder automatically.
My c# application is intended to be like a password system, so that the contents in the folder can only viewed after logging in to my application. Everything is ready..........
but i am confused how to open my application directly while opening the folder with a c# script?
I have now created a application which will ask the user for name and password while opening the application and now i want to make it open through the folder to be locked , how to do it?
Ok, first of all if you want the folder to be secure you should encrypt it otherwise all the user has to do to gain access is kill the process.
What i would recommend you do instead is create a encrypted file. For example a zip file. Then all you have to do associate the file with the program and to unpack it with the password. Then when the user is done delete it and overwrite the temporary folder. It's really important that you overwrite it otherwise the encryption is useless.
If you want to avoid conflict with other programs that work with zip files you can make your own file type it does not affect the content of the file in any way.
I hope this helps.
To make sure I understand... you want to build an application that will, when someone tries to open it, will only open after they supply a password. Hmmm... okay. A specific folder, or any folder? Local folders or folders on network shares? I initially was thinking a file system watcher approach, but that will only work on change events, like copying, renaming, deleting, etc. So that won't work. The closest would be to check last accessed time, but that is an alert ex post facto, so this must be rejected. I'm not sure how you could do this in C#. What is wrong with the robust security options MS has already established, like global groups. That provides flexible restrictions on access. Especially over large amounts of folders. Are users going to have one password per folder? Too cumbersome. One password per user? Use Windows authentication to lock it down. How is this app storing the passwords?
I recommend trying to leverage existing technology to solve problems before trying to re-invent the wheel. You have omitted the scope of this, and what you have already attempted, so we may not understand completely.