Develop Reference

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.

Running a batch file in relative path?

There is a batch file which I want to run it when I press the button.
My code works fine when I use absolute (full) path. But using relative path causes to occur an exception.
This is my code:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//x64
System.Diagnostics.Process batchFile_1 = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
batchFile_1.StartInfo.FileName = #"..\myBatchFiles\BAT1\f1.bat";
batchFile_1.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = #".\myBatchFiles\BAT1";
batchFile_1.Start();
}
and the raised exception:
The system cannot find the file specified.
The directory of the batch file is:
C:\Users\GntS\myProject\bin\x64\Release\myBatchFiles\BAT1\f1.bat
The output .exe file is located in:
C:\Users\GntS\myProject\bin\x64\Release
I searched and none of the results helped me. What is the correct way to run a batch file in relative path?!

The batch file would be relative to the working directory (i.e. f1.bat)
However, your working directory should be an absolute path. It is not guaranteed whichever path is current for your application (may be set in .lnk). In particular it's not the exe path.
Sou you should use the path of your exe file as obtained from AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory (or any other well known method) to build the path of your batch file and/or working directory.
Finally - use Path.Combine to determine a correctly formatted path.

According to JeffRSon`s answer and comments by MaciejLos and KevinGosse my problem was solved as below:
string executingAppPath = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName;
batchFile_1.StartInfo.FileName = executingAppPath.Substring(0, executingAppPath.LastIndexOf('\\')) + "\\myBatchFiles\\BAT1\\f1.bat";
batchFile_1.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = executingAppPath.Substring(0, executingAppPath.LastIndexOf('\\')) + "\\myBatchFiles\\BAT1";
An alternative way is:
string executingAppPath = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase);
batchFile_1.StartInfo.FileName = executingAppPath.Substring(6) + "\\myBatchFiles\\BAT1\\f1.bat";
batchFile_1.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = executingAppPath.Substring(6) + "\\myBatchFiles\\BAT1";
I report it here hoping help somebody.

Path is wrong (FileNotFoundException)

I have this chunk of code:
private void button4_MouseEnter(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
System.Media.SoundPlayer player = new System.Media.SoundPlayer(#"Resources/navigation.wav");
player.Play();
}
And I get FileNotFoundException, but navigation.wav is in Project/Resources. Plese help!!!

This looks for the file from your Bin\Debug Folder
You have couple of options:
Right click the file and pick Properties. Select for BuildAction = Content.
You will find the file under Bin\Debug\Resource\Sound.wav
Right click the file and pick Properties. Select for BuildAction = Embedded Resource.
var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var resourceName = "NamespaceName.FolderName.Sound.wav";
using (Stream stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(resourceName))
{
var wave = new WaveFileReader(stream);
Console.WriteLine(wave.TotalTime);
}

The path is determined relatively from the executable, so in this case probably Bin\Debug.
Try to add the resource in your application as Content (it copies the file to Bin\Debug). That should work.

That path is relative to the directory in which the application is currently running. If you hit F5 in Visual Studio this is most probably bin/Debug, so the file should be there.
Consider embedding this resource, or setting Copy to output directory property to "copy always".

To start with, you need a backslash: #"Resources\navigation.wav"
If this doesn't help, then most likely you are running your application from a different directory than you think. Are you running in debug mode from VS? Is your file in Project\bin\Debug\Resources then?

System.UnauthorizedAccessException while creating a file

I was trying to write a code so that I could log the error messages. I am trying to name the file with the date and would like to create a new log file for each day. After going through a little look around, I came with the following code...
class ErrorLog
{
public void WriteErrorToFile(string error)
{
//http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa326721.aspx refer for more info
string fileName = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yy", DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo);
//# symbol helps to ignore that escape sequence thing
string filePath = #"c:\users\MyName\mydocuments\visual studio 2012\projects\training\" +
#"discussionboard\ErrorLog\" + fileName + ".txt";
if (File.Exists(filePath))
{
// File.SetAttributes(filePath, FileAttributes.Normal);
File.WriteAllText(filePath, error);
}
else
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(filePath);
// File.SetAttributes(filePath, FileAttributes.Normal)
//Throws unauthorized access exception
RemoveReadOnlyAccess(filePath);
File.WriteAllText(filePath, error);
}
}
public static void RemoveReadOnlyAccess(string pathToFile)
{
FileInfo myFileInfo = new FileInfo(pathToFile);
myFileInfo.IsReadOnly = false;
myFileInfo.Refresh();
}
/*Exception thrown:
* UnAuthorizedAccessException was unhandled.
* Access to the path 'c:\users\anish\mydocuments\visual studio 2012\
* projects\training\discussionboard\ErrorLog\04\12\2013.txt' is denied.
*/
}
I found a forum that has discussed about a similar problem but using
File.SetAttrributes(filePath, FileAttributes.Normal) did not help neither did the RemoveReadOnlyAccess (included in the code above). When I check the properties of the folder, it has read only marked but even when I tick that off it comes back again. I checked the permissions on the folder and except for the special permission, which I was not able to change, everything is allowed.
Any suggestion on how I should proceed would be appreciated.
Why is access to the path denied? the link discusses about a similar problem, but I wasn't able to get my thing working with suggestions listed there.
Thanks for taking time to look at this.

Your path is strange : "My documents" directory must be "C:\Users\MyName\Documents\"
You can use Environment in order to correct it easily :
String myDocumentPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
Note that it will acces to "My documents" folder of the user that running your exe.
Second error, CreateDirectory must have a path in argument, not a file. using like you do will create a sub-directory with the file name. So you can't create a file with this name !
Try this :
String fileName = DateTime.Now.ToString("d", DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo);
String filePath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments)
+ #"\visual studio 2012\projects\training\discussionboard\ErrorLog\";
String fileFullName = filePath + fileName + ".txt";
if (File.Exists(fileFullName ))
{
File.WriteAllText(fileFullName , error);
}
else
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(filePath);
[...]
}
}

Some possible reasons:
your app is not running under account which is allowed to access that path/file
the file is being locked for writing (or maybe reading too) by some other process
The first situation could be solved by checking under which account the process is running and verifying that the account has the appropriate rights.
The other situation can be solved by checking if any other process is locking the file (e.g. use tools like 'WhosLocking' or 'ProcessExplorer'

I had to run my app as an administrator in order to write to protected folders in c:. For example if debugging your app in visual studio make sure to right click on "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" and choose "Run As Administrator". Then open your solution from there. My app was trying to write to the root of c:\

Check your antivirus, it might be blocking the file creation.

Execute files included in Resource folder

In WPF application where I have included some files in resources, I want to execute them on a button click. How do I specify a path in Process.Start().
private void button1_Click_2(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Process.Start("test.txt");
}
Or is there any other way?
private void button1_Click_2(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
string path = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location) + #"\test.txt";
if (File.Exists(path))
{
Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo(path));
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("No file found"+path);
}
I added a message box and it showed No files found. :(
EDIT:
I Tried to check the path after publishing and this what i got.
No File Found With a Path - C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0... test.txt
Before I published the Application I got a path which id
No File Found at ..project..\bin\Debug\test.txt which is obvious since my Resource file not included there its Under a Resource Folder and not Debug when i add a test file in debug it open without any problem.
Can someone Help throwing some light on this case.
EDIT:
I want to open a file from Resource directory # C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\FastFix\FastFix\Resources Which would be included in my project when i am going to publish it is going to run as a standalone application without installation.

use this
string path = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location) + #"\test.txt";
if (File.Exists(path))
{
Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo(path));
}