If my executable is running from a path with no spaces, this
if(!File.Exists(#"\program.exe"))
MessageBox.Show("File not found");
doesn't fire. But, if the program executes from a path with spaces, like C:\Program Files\etc\ I get a file not found. My executable application and program.exe lies in the same folder.
How can I avoid this?
Though it may seem like the path has something to do with it, it's the Working Directory. Try this code:
var path = Path.Combine(
Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location),
"program.exe");
if (!File.Exists(path))
The path in which is it launched wouldn't cause that code to fail. However, when the working directory isn't what's expected; that will.
Furthermore, never assume that you're in a specific directory. Always provide a fully qualified path. Objects like the SaveFileDialog and OpenFileDialog can change the working directory on you at runtime.
Just get the execution directory path and append it to your exe file name
string DirPath = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
if(!File.Exists(DirPath + #"\program.exe"))
MessageBox.Show("File not found");
I would simply remove "\" from the argument of the method File.Exists(#"program.exe"), and check the current working directory by GetCurremtDirectory to be sure that relative path you are passing (that is relative path) constructs correct full path to executable.
File.Exist(#"\program.exe")
will check for program.exe at the root of the drive, eg c:\program.exe if your program is running from c:
To check the existence of your file in the "current directory", you have not to put the "\" character. So:
if(!File.Exists("program.exe"))
MessageBox.Show("File not found");
Here a little explanation.
Related
I just ran
File.Move(#"C:\sub1\file.xml", "file" + ".XMl"));
The file did dissappear from C:\sub1. No error was thrown. Did the file go somewhere?
When directory is not specified, current one is used:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.file.move(v=vs.110).aspx
The sourceFileName and destFileName arguments can include relative or
absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as
relative to the current working directory. To obtain the current
working directory, see GetCurrentDirectory.
Environment.CurrentDirectory = #"C:\Test";
// C:\sub1\file.xml will be moved to C:\Test\file.XMl
File.Move(#"C:\sub1\file.xml", "file" + ".XMl"));
It moved to the app working directory. Usually it is where executable file located
Yes, it's in your running folder.
I have a class in C# that saves an error message in a log file in case of an exception. Now I want to save the log file in the same folder containing the application's (in my case, a website) files. I tried using Environment.CurrentDirectory however it is not retrieving the path to my website. What can I do please to make use of a relative file path which points inside the website's directory?
Here is the class' code. As you can see, the path is absolute. I want to change it to a relative file path pointing to a folder in my website's directory.
Usually Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location) returns the path where the current assembly resides. You could use
string logName = Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location), "MyLogFile.log");
to create the log file name.
Question is really whether logging to the application's folder is permitted by the OS. Also, for Web-applications, the log file would be publically visible and accessible through the web browser.
For a website use:
HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/");
You might also could try this solution:
string path = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "anotherFolder";
This would put the base dir of the app and a folder inside of the project!
I had this console application. Now i have added Environment variable PATH to its setup so that it can be executed from any location through Console. Strangely, the same application is breaking after this change.
Installation directory contains, BIN and CONFIG folder. Exe is placed inside BIN folder.
I have this line of code,
WriteToFile(#"..\Config\Settings.xml")
The path used to write to a file Settings.xml inside Config folder inside the INSTALLATION DIRECTORY. However, now it tries to write to settings.xml inside Config folder at EXECUTION PATH.
So, if i execute my app from console as c:/users/guest/app.exe, it would try to interpret path relative to this location AND NOT relative to installation directory for the application.
Any help, suggestions?
Get the path of the executing assembly then add to it the folder and file name:
string pathOfExecutingAssembly = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
string settingsPath = pathOfExecutingAssembly + "\\..\\Config\\Settings.xml"
Why don't you try getting the Executing Application's Path and append it before the path where you want to save
Path starting from \ means: start from the root directory on the current drive. \Config\Settings.xml executed from any C subdirectory gives: C:\Config\Settings.xml.
BTW, do you post exact code? It should be WriteToFile(#"\Config\Settings.xml") or WriteToFile("\Config\Settings.xml")
In any case, you need to decide, whether you want to search configuration file using absolute path, or path relative to current directory/installation directory/executable directory. The code, installation package and execution command should be changed accordingly.
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 have an app launching an executable which is in the same folder as that app, by doing:
Process procStarter = new Process();
procStarter.StartInfo.FileName = "OtherApp.exe";
procStart.Start();
which works fine, until I used a file open or file save dialog in my app. Then it can't find OtherApp.exe.
Does that seem normal? Can I just fix it by adding the current folder to StartInfo.Filename (and how do I obtain the current folder)?
Using the file dialog probably changes the current directory of your process. To access a file in the same folder as your current executable you can use the following code:
string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
path = Path.Combine(path, "OtherApp.exe");
Or you could add to your code:
saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = true ;
when prompting for filenames.
The issue is that you can possibly change the current working directory when doing other file operations.
You want to remember the path as the other posters have showed you, but it may be that you want to create your own ProcessStartInfo instance and use the ProcessStartInfo.WorkingDirectory property so that you can remember the correct path.
Try explicitly specifying the path to OtherApp.exe.
Your open file dialog may be changing the current directory.
If you don't specify the folder explicitly, the system will look in the "current working directory" for the process.
The current working directory (usually) starts off as the application exe directory, but can be changed by browsing to with an Open or Save dialog.
Using an explicit filepath is the right answer. Best way is to not rely on the working directory at all, but to use the filepath of the current executable as a base.
Here are some ways to do this: Application.StartupPath, Application.ExecutablePath
Code might look something like this ...
var exeName = "sample.exe";
var exePath
= Path.Combine(
Path.GetDirectoryName( Application.ExecutablePath ),
exeName);
Try System.IO.Path.Combine( System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath, "myfile.exe" );
If it's not a winforms project divo's answer is best (imo, at the time of this answer)