Loading an XML file path in C# - c#

I'm trying to load an XML-file, located in a folder in my project (using Visual Studio 2012).
The structure is this:
solutionRoot\
- service\
-- ServiceClass.cs
-- AppValues.xml <-- this is the file I want to load
In my ServiceClass, I'm trying to read from the XML-file with the following code:
public String GetXmlElement(String elementName)
{
[....]
XDocument document = XDocument.Load(#"\service\AppValues.xml");
[...]
}
Which gives the following error, when I'm trying to test the code:
Test method PandaTests.ServiceTest.ReadXmlCanReadXml threw exception:
System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: Could not find a part of the path
'C:\Users\MyName\Documents\GitHub\project\Project22\PandaTests\bin\Debug\service\AppValues.xml'.
It's obviously a problem with my path, but I can't figure out how to get the relative path right. I've looked at other questions here on stack overflow, but many of them seem overly involved. Is there an easy way to load the XML-file without giving an absolute path?

When VS runs your program, your working directory is set to the Debug/Release folder, not to your solution root.
You have a couple options that I know of...
Use an absolute path, but you don't want this
Set your file to copy into your working directory on build. You do this by modifying the properties of the file in the solution explorer. Thanks to T.Roland in the comments below: Set Copy to Output Directory to Copy if Newer and set Build Action to Embedded Resource;
Modify your solution's working directory to be your solution root This thread offers different ways to accomplish that.

I faced the same problem and solved it using "Server.MapPath"
For example,
string path=Server.MapPath("~/service/AppValues.xml");
XDocument document = XDocument.Load(path);
Hope it helps.

Bring up the properties in Visual Studio for AppValues.xml. Change "Copy to Output Directory" to "Copy if Newer", and build the project.

check this
XDocument document = XDocument.Load(#"..\service\AppValues.xml");

Set the build action of the xml file to be "Embedded resource" and then reference using this code
private static UnmanagedMemoryStream GetResourceStream(string resName)
{
var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var strResources = assembly.GetName().Name + ".g.resources";
var rStream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(strResources);
var resourceReader = new ResourceReader(rStream);
var items = resourceReader.OfType<DictionaryEntry>();
var stream = items.First(x => (x.Key as string) == resName.ToLower()).Value;
return (UnmanagedMemoryStream)stream;
}
var file = GetResourceStream("appValues.xml");

When adding a file to Visual Studio project, by default it is not copied to the generated output. As such, you need to set to either copy the file or do so manually.
To set the file to automatically copy, select it in solution explorer, right click and select properties. Update the value for "Copy to Output Directory" to "Copy Always". This will ensure a copy of the file is available at runtime in a subfolder of the resultant solution.
You can then load the file using something like:
string path = System.Io.Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, #"\service\AppValues.xml");
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(path);

I solved it in 2 steps. I'm using MVC and I had to use this in a class file.
1) String path
=HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/yourxmlfilename.xml");
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(path);
2) Change XML file properties
Build Action: Content
Copy to Output Directory: Copy always

Related

c# clickOnce xml file not found

C# deployment clicOnce. Setup run xml file not found?
XDocument x = XDocument.Load(#"veri.xml");
image1:
http://www.kgmmp.org/333.jpg
If it is a file in the project, check whether it is copy local from the file's properties. file must be copy local. then you can try the following.
XDocument x = XDocument.Load(#"veri.xml");
string filePath = Path.Combine(
HostingEnvironment.ApplicationPhysicalPath,
#"App_Data\AppSettings.xml"
);

Referencing a file inside of a Project without using its absolute path?

I'm using StreamReader to dynamically replace content in an HTML template. The HTML file has been imported into my project.
Right now I'm having to referencing the HTML file a static location on my dev box because I'm not able to find the right syntax to reference it once it's been imported into my VS project.
How do I refer to the file without using an absolute path?
Current implementation for reference:
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(#"C:\Users\n00b\Desktop\EmailTemplate.html");
{
body = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
One common thing I've seen is to put the file's location in a configuration file. This lets you change the file location at will without having to recompile.
You can add it as an embedded resource and extract it this way.
using (Stream stream = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream("<namespace>.Resources.EmailTemplate.html"))
per your comment
using (System.IO.StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream("<namespace>.Resources.EmailTemplate.html"))
{
body = sr.ReadToEnd();
}
There are 2 main ways to do this, In a desktop application, the current directory of the .exe is set to the directory where it is launched from by default. Unless that is changed by launching the .exe by a shortcut with special settings, or by another process using a special feature, it should be the default value. If that is the case, you can just use a relative path. For example, if you have a file named "data.txt" in a folder called "things" inside a folder called "stuff" in the same directory as your app, you can just us the relative path "stuff/things/data.txt" directly and Windows will work it out for you.
If you need to be absolutely sure you are targeting that file, even if the app launches with a modified current directory, you can get the .exe's path, and combine it with a relative path using System.IO.Path.Combine.
var appPath = Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
var filePath = "stuff/things/data.txt"
var fullPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(appPath, filePath)
If, for some reason, you need to up "up" from the application's directory, you can use ".." to represent that parent folder of a directory. So "../data.txt" would look in the folder that contains the current directory for a file named "data.txt".
You could also change the app's current directory when it starts to be the directory of the .exe, and then reference everything via relative path, as in the first example.
var appPath = Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
System.IO.Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(appPath);
I found two solutions to this:
If you don't care if the external file is visible in the build directory/installdir of your app:
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(#"../../EmailTemplate.html");
{
body = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
If you want your external file to be invisible once compiled:
var embeddedResource = "<namespace>.EmailTemplate.html";
using (var stream = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream(embeddedResource))
{
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(stream);
body = sr.ReadToEnd();
}
Note the 2nd solution requires adding your external file and changing the build action to "Embedded Resource" on the properties menu of that file within Visual Studio.

Programmatically Access a File on ASP.NET MVC4

As part of an ASP.NET MVC4 project I need to be able to read from and write to some XML files. I have trouble finding / accessing the files I need.
I've created a demo project to which I've added a folder /Documents containing some XML files.
So in the same project I have a folder /Classes with my class that should read the XML files using XDocument.load().
Here is what I'd like to do (and how I thought it should work):
string path = "/Documents/test.xml"; // Doesn't work
XDocument xml = XDocument.load(path);
However, this doesn't work. Not with "/Documents", "Documents" or "~/Documents".
Supplying the full path works, but not very useful if the website is going to be deployed in other environments.
string path = "D:/Projects/Demo/Demo/Documents/test.xml"; // Works
XDocument xml = XDocument.load(path);
Any suggestions how I can access the files using some kind of relative path?
use Server.MapPath to get the absolute path.
string path = Server.MapPath("/Documents/test.xml");
XDocument xml = XDocument.load(path);
Use HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath
string path = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("/Documents/test.xml");
Have you tried:
var path = Server.MapPath("/Documents/test.xml");

Get File From an Assembly

I want to read a file path from the following structure
The Structure is like : AssemblyName -> MyFiles (Folder) -> Text.txt
Here I want to get the path of the Text.txt. Please help
I think what you're looking for is a file embedded in the assembly. Check out this question. The first answer explains how to set up an embedded file, as well as how to get it from code.
You can do
string assemblyPath = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
string assemblyDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(assemblyPath);
string textPath = Path.Combine(assemblyDirectory, "MyFiles", "Test.txt");
string text = File.ReadAllText(textPath);
...just to split it up some...but you could write it all in one line needless to say...
alternatively, if your Environment.CurrentDirectory is already set to the directory of your executing assembly's location, you could just do
File.ReadAllText(Path.Combine("MyFiles", "Text.txt"));
Jeff has covered how you get the path, wrt your comment on his answer is the file you want to open actually included in your project output?
Under the properties pane for the relevant file look at the Copy to Output Directory option - it generally defaults to Do not copy. You will want to set it to Copy Always or Copy if Newer if you want to include a file in the output directory with your compiled program.
As a general note you should always wrap any IO in an appropriate try catch block or use the static File.Exists(path) method to check whether a file exists

FileInfo compact framework 3.5 - cannot find file

I am using the FileInfo class. However, the file info cannot find the file.
The file is called log4Net.config and I have added it to my project. I have set the properties to build action = 'Content' and copy output = 'copy always'
When I run the following code:
FileInfo logfileInfo = new FileInfo("Log4Net.config");
if (!logfileInfo.Exists)
{
Console.WriteLine("Cannot find file: " + logfileInfo.FullName);
return;
}
else
{
XmlConfigurator.Configure(logfileInfo);
}
Exists is always false. The exception is: Could not find file 'Log4Net.config'.
I have checked on my PDA and the Log4Net.config has been copied the PDA and is in the same directory as the executable. So not sure why it cannot find it.
Just some extra info the configure method expects a FileInfo as a parameter.
Am I doing something wrong.
Many thanks for any advice,
Steve
You have to point to the root of your project. FileInfo points to the root of the OS not the root of the exe. So you should change the code like this :
FileInfo logfileInfo = new FileInfo(Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase) + #"\Log4Net.config");
A file not found exception is also thrown when the program does not have the security permission to access the file, so perhaps that's the case?
btw, there's a contradiction in your Post: First you say the file is called "logPDA.config", then it's suddenly called "Log4Net.config". Just to make sure, is the file always named the same?
You are assuming that the Program Folder is the current directory. Afaik that is not the case. You can investigate starting with System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()
string logIOFilePath =
Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase),
"Log4Net.config");

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