Develop Reference

Hide Json file containing GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS when building executable file in Visualstudio [SOLVED]

currently I am developing a tool that interacts with a Firebase Firestore database. When I want to make the C# Forms Application an executable file I get the .exe but also the json file which contains the Google App Credentials. However, I want to forward the tool so that you can't see the json file or read the contents of the file, so you only need the .exe file. Is there a way to achieve this? For example, define the app credentials in a C# script so that it compiles to the .exe file? If so how?
My current implementation looks like this:
string path = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + #"cloudfire.json";
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS", path);
The cloudfire.json file is directly contained in the namespace "LUX".
I also tried making the cloudfire.json file a resource, since i read this post but then the problem is, that i can't set the path of the .json, if i try it like that:
var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
string resourceName = assembly.GetManifestResourceNames()
.Single(str => str.EndsWith("cloudfire.json"));
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS", resourceName);
I get the error: System.InvalidOperationException: "Sequence contains no matching element"
Is there maybe a way to set the "GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS" to the embedded cloudfire.json ressource file?
EDIT:
I solved the problem by adding the "cloudfire.json" file to Resources.resx and changed the modifier to public. Like mentioned here.
Since you can only set the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS by using this code:
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS", "path to file");
I solved it by creating a temporary file:
byte[] resourceBytes = Properties.Resources.cloudfire;
// Write the resource to a temporary file
string tempPath = Path.GetTempFileName();
File.WriteAllBytes(tempPath, resourceBytes);
// Set the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS environment variable
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS", tempPath);

Add you file as embedded resource with name. And try to read by following code:
var resources = new ResourceManager("<namespace>", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
var obj = resources.GetObject(<embedded_resource_key>);
or
var str = resources.GetString(<embedded_resource_key>)

How do I get the directory for the app itself in xamarin.forms

I have a .txt file in a Resources folder that I created in the Xamarin.Forms project for the app (not the Android or iOS versions), and I want to know how to access that file as soon as the app loads. I tried just creating a StreamReader with the path "Resources/tips.txt" ("tips" is the name of the file), but that doesn't work because apparently, the current directory at that point is nothing. How do I get the directory of the app itself so I can access that folder?

Resources aren't files, you don't use file paths to access them
// MyClass is a class in the same assembly as your resource
var assembly = IntrospectionExtensions.GetTypeInfo(typeof(MyClass)).Assembly;
// see linked docs for notes about resource naming
Stream stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("MyResourceName");
string text = "";
using (var reader = new System.IO.StreamReader (stream))
{
text = reader.ReadToEnd ();
}

Getting the contents of a file in Visual Studio without opening the file from an extension

I'm trying to read the contents of a file in a Visual Studio extension. The following code works, but forces me to open the file, if it isn't (otherwise it crashes):
textDocument = (TextDocument)projectItem.Document.Object("TextDocument");
EditPoint editPoint = textDocument.StartPoint.CreateEditPoint();
string text = editPoint.GetText(textDocument.EndPoint);
I can get the path of the project, so I suppose I could make an educated guess as to the location of the project item. However, ideally I'd like to either get the file contents without opening it; or, alternatively, get the path to the project item (then I could just use System.IO to access the file contents).
I've looked, but don't seem to be able to find any mention of either of these. Can anyone point me in the right direction, please?

You can get the path from a ProjectItem by reading its properties.
var path = YourProjectItem.Properties.Item("FullPath").Value.ToString()
After you have the path you can read its content with System.IO.
string content = File.ReadAllText(path);
If the file is somewhat larger and you are getting troubles with the current code due to size, you should take a look at the StreamReader class.

I'm not sure if this is possible for extensions but you could probably use System.IO, like this:
using System.IO;
string filePath = #"C:\Whatever\YourFileName.txt";
string fileText = File.ReadAllText(filePath);
You could also use StreamReader like this:
using System.IO;
string filePath = #"C:\Whatever\YourFileName.txt";
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(filePath))
fileText = sr.ReadToEnd();
EDIT:
I think I understand you better now.
The only way to "get the file contents without opening it" would be if the extension were to give you that data actively, but I can safely assume it doesn't.
When reading a file, you should already know where the file is (if you don't know then either you're not intended to access that file or you just haven't looked long enough).
I'd try searching the SDK files manually (Or with a file crawler).

C#: opening a text file stored within the same project as the app

I managed to open a text file using an absolute path (in Visual Studio 2017) although if I change the location of my Solution folder the whole code would not work anymore as the actual physical path has changed and the code can not reference an existing location anymore.
I tried to create a text file within the same project and I would now like to open this file in my code, so if the location of the whole Solution changes the program can still work, would anyone be so kind to help me fix this issue?
I have also looked online for some different solution using code that references the current directory but I can't get my head around it as the current directory seems to be bin/debug and if I try to insert the file there the code doesn't recognize the location (also it doesn't look like a clean solution to me).
This is the code I am using so far in a WPF app, the whole purpose is to open the content of the text file containing countries listed line by line and to add them to a list box which will be displayed when a checkbox will be ticked.
private void listCountry_Initialized(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
listCountry.Visibility = Visibility.Hidden;
string path = "C:\\Users\\david\\source\\repos\\StudentRecord\\StudentRecordSystemMod\\StudentRecord\\country.txt";
if (File.Exists(path))
{
string[] myCountryFile = File.ReadAllLines(path);
foreach (var v in myCountryFile)
{
listCountry.Items.Add(v);
}
}
}

This is a great use case for OpenFileDialog Class.
Represents a common dialog box that allows a user to specify a filename for one or more files to open.
Here is the example of use, from the documentation.
// Configure open file dialog box
Microsoft.Win32.OpenFileDialog dlg = new Microsoft.Win32.OpenFileDialog();
dlg.FileName = "Document"; // Default file name
dlg.DefaultExt = ".txt"; // Default file extension
dlg.Filter = "Text documents (.txt)|*.txt"; // Filter files by extension
// Show open file dialog box
Nullable<bool> result = dlg.ShowDialog();
// Process open file dialog box results
if (result == true)
{
// Open document
string filename = dlg.FileName;
}

Assuming C:\\Users\\david\\source\\repos\\StudentRecord\\StudentRecordSystemMod\\ is your project, and StudentRecord\\country.txt is a project folder and file in your project - you need change "Copy to Output Directory" to be "Always Copy" or "Copy If Newer" and "Build Action" to "Content" for the file in your project.
As you can see from the screenshot above, the folder structure for this content is created as well.
Then change your path assignment to be something like the following:
string path = string.Join(#"\", Application.ExecutablePath, #"StudentRecord\country.txt");

Clean and simple, place the file you want to open next to where the executable is generated, remember the executable path changes depending to if your project is in Debug or Release build mode. Now set:
string path = "country.txt";
By only providing a filename, the file is looked for in the same folder as the executable. Just remember that when you move the executable you must also move the file to the same place, but if you move the entire project folder then you're already set.
However, if you want to keep your file in a fixed location regardless of where you have your executable and/or VS project files, then the simplest path for it is:
string path = "C:\\country.txt";
This is an absolute path, but it's quite simple and very robust to changes, you would have to change the drive letter to break it and if C: is where your operating system files are then you probably won't do that.
If you don't like to have your files around in your root, you can always have a path like this:
string path = "C:\\ProjectNameFiles\\country.txt";
Or if you prefer to maintain a hierarchy of projects then you can use:
string path = "C:\\MyProjectsFiles\\ProjectName\\country.txt";
With this, every project can have a directory for the files it needs to open. These are all absolute paths, but are notably simpler than the one you posted, and they have a more fixed and organized structure.

How can I create a file with StreamWriter using a relative path?

When I run the following code, an XML file is correctly created in c:\temp:
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(ObservableCollection<Models.Customer>));
using (StreamWriter wr = new StreamWriter("C:/temp/CustomerMock2.xml"))
{
xs.Serialize(wr, CustomerList);
}
However, I actually want it to be created in a sub-directory underneath the project, but when I do this:
using (StreamWriter wr = new StreamWriter("Data/CustomerMock2.xml"))
it just acts as if it writes it but the file never appears in that directory:
C:\Projects\Prototype12\CustomersModul\bin\Debug\Data.
How can I create a file with StreamWriter with a relative path inside my project?

It is always dangerous to rely on the 'Current Directory' concept, so you will need a starting point. In a WinForms project, you can get the location of the .EXE with
string exeFolder = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(Application.ExecutablePath);
In WPF there will be something similar.
But if you are in a library and do not have access to the Application (or Environment) objects, you should consider making a BaseFolder parameter or property to let the main application take control over folders.

Does ./Data/CustomerMock2.xml work?
using (StreamWriter wr = new StreamWriter("./Data/CustomerMock2.xml"))

Are you setting the XML data to be copied at compile time (so it's not in the actual project directory, but the bin folder)? In which case you can get to it using
string xmlFile = string.Format("{0}/Data/{1}",AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory,"myxml.xml");

Relative paths are relative to the current directory. Maybe you're not in the bin/debug directory... You should build the absolute path based on the exe directory, as shown by Chris.
Also, the StreamWriter constructor won't create the directory, you need to create it explicitly if it doesn't exist.