This is my first windows form application.
I need to work with folders that I have created in my project and I need to access the Data folder where I put .txt files.
I try :
string fileName = #"Data\TextFile1.txt";
string path = Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, fileName);
but i keep receiving this error :
impossible find part of path.
How can I combine the folder's path with file's name so when I release the project all works well?
This is what I do in an asp.net application:
Path.Combine(HttpRuntime.AppDomainAppPath, "Folder/FileName.txt");
Your data files need to be available in output folder along with you application .exe file. to do that:
Open properties of each file in Data folder.
Select Copy Always against Copy to output directory
Then build application
This will copy Data folder along with all files in Bin\Debug folder and will work with your existing code.
If I understand correctly, you are trying to read some file you have added to your solution in Visual Studio.
First, to have those files "deployed", click on them in the Solution Explorer, go to the Properties tool and have a look at the "Copy to Output Directory". Default is "Do not copy". Change that setting to "Copy always" or "Copy if newer". Now your files will be copied to the output directory when you build the solution.
Then, to get the current assembly path at runtime, have a look at:
Getting the path of the current assembly
string path = (new System.Uri(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase)).AbsolutePath;
from the assembly path, you can get the containing folder's path, then you can use Path.Combine() to get your desired file path.
in C# .NET you can easy use the Environment Properties when working with Forms.
If you want e.g. the Appdata Path do this:
string MyPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData) + #"\" + MyFileName;
But please get sure that the File/Path Exists!
For this you can use File.Exists -Function:
if(File.Exists(MyPath))
{
//Do Something
}
(For File-Class you need the System.IO namespace!)
EDIT:
Example:
string MyPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData) + #"\MyConfig.txt";
if(File.Exists(MyPath))
{
MessageBox.Show($"{MyPath} exists!");
}
Hope that helped ;)
I would not create any path inside the application if possible. The NET framework provides the application configuration file for this kind of problems. You should simply add this section to your configuration file (app.config when developing, then application.exe.config after compilation)
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="mydatafolder" value="e:\whateverpathyoulike"></add>
</appSettings>
</configuration>
Then at runtime read that value from your code
string path = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["mydatafolder"];
path = Path.Combine(path, fileName);
This is easily modifiable both automatically or manually to adapt to any environment you find on the destination computers
Related
When a form loads, I need to read a binary file under the /skubin folder and use it to populate a List. But I’m unable to open the file. When I do, I receive an error indicating that the file doesn’t exist.
Below is the snippet of my code which I am trying to read the file from the folder.
string startpath = Application.StartupPath;
string BinDir = Path.Combine(startpath, "skubin");
binNanme = Path.Combine(BinDir, "skuen.bin");
if (!File.Exists(binNanme))
{
MessageBox.Show("Load bin fail");
return;
}
When checking the BinDir value, instead of pointing to <project_root>/skubin, it's pointing to <project_root>/bin/Debug/skubin.
I am not understanding why it is pointing to /bin/Debug folder.
Right-click on the .bin files in the skubin folder within solution explorer and select properties. Set "Copy to Output Directory" to "Copy Always". This should solve your problem without making any code changes. I am assuming you need those binary files at run-time.
When you compile your project, the results are placed into a {projectFolder}\bin\Debug, and when debugging, the application is run from there.
You have 2 choices:
Keep your code as-is, and in the properties window, mark your bin files as "Copy if newer" or "Copy always". This will copy the files into \bin\Debug\skubin when you compile, and access them from there. This would simulate deploying those files with your application.
-- Or --
Modify your code to move up 2 directories from Application.StartupPath:
string BinDir = Path.Combine(startpath, "..\\..\\skubin");
This would be the option if you're not thinking about deploying your application, and just running it from within your project folder.
string filepath = Server.MapPath("~/skubin")
filepath= Path.Combine(filepath, "skuen.bin")
// open the file
//if not in a controller, you may use this
HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/skubin")
For Windows App, you may try Best way to get application folder path
I'm trying to load and save an xml file called Modules.xml in my code. I have currently got the file path hardcoded as shown below. I am trying to get the file path within my code without it being hardcoded.
I have tried using Path.GetDirectoryName and new FileInfo("Modules.xml").Directory.FullName. However, both of these target the file in my debug folder, when the file I need is in the main solution folder.
Is there a way to target the file in my main solution folder instead of my debug folder? (both files are called Modules.xml)
doc.Save("C:\\Users\\Matthew\\Desktop\\Year4\\Object Oriented\\Project1\\Project1\\Modules.xml");
Both file locations are shown below:
C:\Users\Matthew\Desktop\Year4\Object Oriented\Project1\Project1\Modules.xml
^^^this is the file path I need for my code^^^
C:\Users\Matthew\Desktop\Year4\Object Oriented\Project1\Project1\bin\Debug\Modules.xml
The best approach here would be to use a configuration file, e.g. app.config, for storing such a string. Then you can change file path without recompiling the code, and your file can be stored in any location accessible by application.
If you really want to access your file the way you explained, AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory will provide you with the bin/Debug location in runtime. Then you can find a relative path from there like:
Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, #"..\..\", fileName);
where fileName is "Modules.xml" for example.
I have tried using Path.GetDirectoryName and new
FileInfo("Modules.xml").Directory.FullName. However, both of these
target the file in my debug folder, when the file I need is in the
main solution folder.
That's because bin\Debug is your working directory when you start and run the project. To change that, you can set the working directory environment variable to point to your solution directory (instead of bin\debug|release) which I wouldn't recommend that. Because when you finally endup with development, and release the application, there wouldn't be any solution directory that holds your XML file. What I can suggest is to copy your XML file to the output folder. Either you are in development (debug) or production (release) mode, the XML always going to be copied to final directory. And you can access the working directory with something like AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory. To enabling copy XML to output directory, right-click on it, choose Properties, set Build Action to None, and set Copy to Output Directory to Copy Always or Copy if newer. You're good to go now.
I am using c#. In my project I am having a xml folder in which i have an xml file say "file.xml"..
I want to use the file in my project. I want to take that file from the current project itself,for that I am giving the path as:
xmlDoc.Load(#"..\xml\file.xml");
but it is not taking the file.
It is showing some "C:" path..
how can I retrive this file from project itself.
You should set the Copy to Output Directory property on the file in the Solution Explorer to gocpy the file to the folder with your EXE.
You can then write
xmlDoc.Load(Path.Combine(typeof(MyClass).Assembly, "file.xml"));
This uses the actual location of the EXE file and will work regardless of the current directory.
EDIT: In ASP.Net, you should put your file in the App_Data folder (which is not publicly accessible), then write
xmlDoc.Load(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/file.xml"));
You should set the Copy to Output Directory to "copy if newer" and you can then use:
Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "file.xml");
Path.Combine(typeof(MyClass).Assembly.Location.ToString(), "file.xml")
Say I have this file structure
Soultion-> Folder1 -> FileIwant.html
So this could be something like C:\Soultion\Folder1\FilterIwant.html
Now I need to read this file into my application. I can't just hardcode it since when I give it to someone else they might put it on F: drive or something.
Or when I create a msi file the path might be completely different. So how can I say maybe take
"Folder1\FilterIwant.html"
and use that to get the folder path regardless of where they put it?
Edit
I tried Path.GetFullPath but I land up in the bin/debug directory. But my file is not in that directory. I think it is a couple directories before. Also if I make a msi file will I have bin/debug directory?
Why is a file which is used as part of your application not in the same folder as the application? It sounds to me like you should set the properties on that file to copy to the output folder when you do a build.
Doing that will make sure your file is in the bin\debug folder.
EDIT:
either that or you should be placing your files in one of the special folders, app data or my documents spring to mind.
When Visual Studio compiles your project, it will be putting the output into the bin\debug directory. Any content files that you want to reference must also be copied to those locations, in order for your app residing in that directory to be able to read that file.
You have two choices:
either you set the Copy to Output Directory property on your FilterIwant.html to Copy if newer; in that case, if the file has changed, it will be copied to the output directory, and you should be able to reference it and load it there
or
you just define a path in your app.config, something like DataPath, and set it to your folder where the file resides. From your app, you then create the full path name for that file as Path.Combine(AppSettings["DataPath"], "FilterIwant.html") - with this approach, you become totally independant of where the file really is and you don't need to move around anything. Also: this gives you the opportunity to create an admin/config utility for your users later on, so that they can pick any directory they like, and your app will find those files there.
In my console app, I started with the debug directory until i found the closest parent folder I wanted.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Start");
var debugDir = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(debugDir);
var searchDir = "";
while (!di.FullName.ToLower().EndsWith("Folder1"))
{
if(di.FullName.ToLower().EndsWith(":")) //if you went too far up as in "D:" then
break;
di = di.Parent;
}
Console.WriteLine(di.FullName);
}
You need the help of System.Io.Path class:
GetFullPath: Returns the absolute path for the specified path string.
Edit:
You might also need the application directory - this is where your application will be installed:
string appPath = Path.GetDirectoryName(Application.ExecutablePath);
Path.GetFullPath
Edit
The bin/Debug path will not be present when you run your installed application (unless you specifically tell the installer to use that subdirectory, of course).
You probably want to pass the full path as a command line argument. You can then get the argument using the args parameter of the Main method. To convert a relative path to an absolute one you can use Path.GetFullPath:
using System;
using System.IO;
public class CommandLine
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
// The path is passed as the first argument
string fileName = arg[0];
// get absolute path
fileName = Path.GetFullPath(fileName);
// TODO: do whatever needs to done with the passed file name
}
}
I am writing a small command-line tool for my own daily tasks, and having problems reading from a XML file I have used for configuration. As per the examples, I use this code to load the XML file for Linq-to-XML.
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("SearchSources.xml");
What I'm having problems with is when I "deploy" my app and XML to c:\windows\system32 for easy access, it won't work when I try to launch the file from the RUN prompt (e.g. run => TOOL -commands) because it's looking for the XML relative to wherever I launch the application.
I could obviously change the path to be the full path, e.g. c:\windows\system32\SearchSources.xml in the code, but that would prevent me from running it via F5 in Visual Studio.
EDIT: I am attempting to do this in code, rather than modifying configuration files when I deploy the app to other locations.
Use:
String filePath = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location
) + #"\SearchSources.xml";
That will create a path to the file based on the directory of the executable.
Or using Path.Combine, as suggested:
String filePath = System.IO.Path.Combine(
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location
),
"SearchSources.xml"
);
Try doing this:
var myAssembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var file = Path.GetDirectoryName(myAssembly.Location) + "\\SearchSources.xml";
This will get the location of the current executable, then build a path from the executable's folder and the name of the file you're after.
Sounds like you need a config file with the path to the xml file in it. At install time you could modify the path if required.
Create a Settings file in Visual Studio (Right click project, add-> new item -> Settings file ). There you can create a string with the path name to your file. In code, you can access it like this:
Properties.Settings.Default.MyString
This will create an xml file (app.config). I would then store the path in there, and use that in my app. That way, when you deploy it, you can just open the XML file in any text editor and edit the path.