Develop Reference

Directory.EnumerateDirectories : Only get back Directores with a special file in it [duplicate]

I wish to get list of all the folders/directories that has a particular file in it. How do I do this using C# code.
Eg: Consider I have 20 folders of which 7 of them have a file named "abc.txt". I wish to know all folders that has the file "abc.txt".
I know that we can do this by looking thru all the folders in the path and for each check if the File.Exists(filename); But I wish to know if there is any other way of doing the same rather than looping through all the folder (which may me little time consuming in the case when there are many folders).
Thanks
-Nayan

I would use the method EnumerateFiles of the Directory class with a search pattern and the SearchOption to include AllDirectories. This will return all files (full filename including directory) that match the pattern.
Using the Path class you get the directory of the file.
string rootDirectory = //your root directory;
var foundFiles = Directory.EnumerateFiles(rootDirectory , "abc.txt", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
foreach (var file in foundFiles){
Console.WriteLine(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(file));
}
EnumerateFiles is only available since .NET Framework 4. If you are working with an older version of the .NET Framework then you could use GetFiles of the Directory class.
Update (see comment from PLB):
The code above will fail if the access to a directory in denied. In this case you will need to search each directory one after one to handle exceptions.
public static void SearchFilesRecursivAndPrintOut(string root, string pattern)
{
//Console.WriteLine(root);
try
{
var childDireactory = Directory.EnumerateDirectories(root);
var files = Directory.EnumerateFiles(root, pattern);
foreach (var file in files)
{
Console.WriteLine(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(file));
}
foreach (var dir in childDireactory)
{
SearchRecursiv(dir, pattern);
}
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
Console.WriteLine(exception);
}
}

The following shows how to narrow down your search by specific criteria (i.e. include only DLLs that contain "Microsoft", "IBM" or "nHibernate" in its name).
var filez = Directory.EnumerateFiles(#"c:\MLBWRT", "*.dll", SearchOption.AllDirectories)
.Where(
s => s.ToLower().Contains("microsoft")
&& s.ToLower().Contains("ibm")
&& s.ToLower().Contains("nhibernate"));
string[] allFiles = filez.ToArray<string>();
for (int i = 0; i < allFiles.Length; i++) {
FileInfo fInfo = new FileInfo(allFiles[i]);
Console.WriteLine(fInfo.Name);
}

Zip Windows 10 Documents folder without including reparse points using System.IO.Compression

I'm writing a simple desktop application to copy files from one PC to another. Having trouble with the Windows 10 reparse points, specifically My Music. I thought was going to get away with one simple line of code:
ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory(documentsFolder, docSavePath + #"\Documents.zip", CompressionLevel.Optimal, false);
But not so, it crashes on the My Music folder. I've also tried a bunch of different ways of doing this, all with the same result - access denied. Can copying and/or zipping the Documents folder really be this hard? I doubt it, I'm just missing something. I tried elevating privileges and that didn't work, either. Anyone have an example of how to do this?

I was able figure out how to check for the ReparsePoint attribute, which was relatively easy, but then had to piece together how to loop through all the files and add them to the ZipArchive. The credit for the RecurseDirectory goes to this answer.
Then I added in what I learned about the reparse file attributes.
private void documentBackup(string docSavePath)
{
if (File.Exists(docSavePath + #"\Documents.zip")) File.Delete(docSavePath + #"\Documents.zip");
using (ZipArchive docZip = ZipFile.Open(docSavePath + "\\Documents.zip", ZipArchiveMode.Create))
{
foreach (FileInfo goodFile in RecurseDirectory(documentsFolder))
{
var destination = Path.Combine(goodFile.DirectoryName, goodFile.Name).Substring(documentsFolder.ToString().Length + 1);
docZip.CreateEntryFromFile(Path.Combine(goodFile.Directory.ToString(), goodFile.Name), destination);
}
}
}
public IEnumerable<FileInfo> RecurseDirectory(string path, List<FileInfo> currentData = null)
{
if (currentData == null)
currentData = new List<FileInfo>();
var directory = new DirectoryInfo(path);
foreach (var file in directory.GetFiles())
currentData.Add(file);
foreach (var d in directory.GetDirectories())
{
if ((d.Attributes & FileAttributes.ReparsePoint) == FileAttributes.ReparsePoint)
{
continue;
}
else
{
RecurseDirectory(d.FullName, currentData);
}
}
return currentData;
}
It takes longer than I'd like to run - but after looking at this dang problem for days I'm just happy it works!

UWP Parse folder from absolute or relative path

I want to parse a folder that the user can choose.
But if I understand, absolute paths are not allowed in UWP because the disks are not the same following the media (xbox, windows phone, windows desktop, ...) ?
So, I have a class called Parser that can parse the path that the user picks but now, only the current folder can be parsed.
This doesn't work :
Parser parser = new Parser(#"C:\a\b\c");
parser.createTreeView(tree);
Help me please. Thank you in advance.
EDIT : This is my Parser class =>
public TreeViewItem Parse(DirectoryInfo directoryInfo)
{
try
{
var directoryNode = new TreeViewItem { Header = directoryInfo.Name };
Convention convention = new Convention();
foreach (var directory in directoryInfo.GetDirectories())
{
directoryNode.Items.Add(Parse(directory));
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("test : " + directory.Name);
}
foreach (var file in directoryInfo.GetFiles())
{
if (file.Name.Contains(EConvention.INSTALL))
{
listFiles.Add(file.FullName);
}
TreeViewItem item = new TreeViewItem
{
Header = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(file.FullName),
Tag = file.FullName
};
directoryNode.Items.Add(item);
}
return directoryNode;
}
catch (System.UnauthorizedAccessException e)
{
//MessageDialog dialog = new MessageDialog(""+e.Message);
dialogAsync(e.Message);
return new TreeViewItem();
}
}
public void CreateTreeView(TreeView tree)
{
DirectoryInfo dir = new DirectoryInfo(pathToParse);
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("dir exists ? "+dir.Exists);
if (dir.Exists)
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("dir existe");
TreeViewItem root = new TreeViewItem() { Header = dir.Name };
root.Tag = dir;
tree.Items.Add(Parse(dir));
}
}

UWP apps do not have permission to access all files on the device. Apps can access certain file system locations by default. Apps can also access additional locations through the file picker, or by declaring capabilities. For more info, please see File access permissions
Although, we can use DirectoryInfo in UWP apps, but it can only work with the folders that UWP apps can access by default such as the install directory and local folder etc. Most types in the System.IO namespaces for UWP apps have the similar limitation. While dealing with files or folders in UWP, one important rule is Skip the path: stick to the StorageFile.
You can use a Folder​Picker to let the user choose a folder and then add it to your app's FutureAccessList or MostRecentlyUsedList to keep track of it. You can learn more about using these lists in How to track recently-used files and folders. After this, you will be able to retrieve the StorageFolder from FutureAccessList or MostRecentlyUsedList whenever you want to use it.
Once you have the StorageFolder, you can then use GetFilesAsync() or GetFoldersAsync() method in your Parse instead of DirectoryInfo.GetDirectories or DirectoryInfo.GetFiles method.

Directory.GetDirectories return empty string inside an async Task operation

I have a UWP application which perform to capture and process images from a camera. This project leverage Microsoft Cognitive Services Face Recognition API and I'm exploring the application's existing functionality for awhile now. My goal is that when the image of a person is identified by the camera (through Face Recognition API service), I want to show the associated image of that person.
With that, the images are captured and stored in a local directory of my machine. I want to retrieve the image file and render it on the screen once the person is identified.
The code below shows the async Task method ProcessCameraCapture
private async Task ProcessCameraCapture(ImageAnalyzer e)
{
if (e == null)
{
this.UpdateUIForNoFacesDetected();
this.isProcessingPhoto = false;
return;
}
DateTime start = DateTime.Now;
await e.DetectFacesAsync();
if (e.DetectedFaces.Any())
{
string names;
await e.IdentifyFacesAsync();
this.greetingTextBlock.Text = this.GetGreettingFromFaces(e, out names);
if (e.IdentifiedPersons.Any())
{
this.greetingTextBlock.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Windows.UI.Colors.GreenYellow);
this.greetingSymbol.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Windows.UI.Colors.GreenYellow);
this.greetingSymbol.Symbol = Symbol.Comment;
GetSavedFilePhoto(names);
}
else
{
this.greetingTextBlock.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Windows.UI.Colors.Yellow);
this.greetingSymbol.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Windows.UI.Colors.Yellow);
this.greetingSymbol.Symbol = Symbol.View;
}
}
else
{
this.UpdateUIForNoFacesDetected();
}
TimeSpan latency = DateTime.Now - start;
this.faceLantencyDebugText.Text = string.Format("Face API latency: {0}ms", (int)latency.TotalMilliseconds);
this.isProcessingPhoto = false;
}
In GetSavedFilePhoto, I passed the string names argument once the person is identified.
Code below for the GetSavedFilePhoto method
private void GetSavedFilePhoto(string personName)
{
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(personName)) return;
var directoryPath = #"D:\PersonImages";
var directories = Directory.GetDirectories(directoryPath);
var filePaths = Directory.GetFiles(directoryPath, "*.jpg", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
}
However, in GetSavedFilePhoto method the variable directories returned an empty string of array when using directoryPath string variable. Directory "D:\PersonImages" is a valid and existing folder in my machine and, it contains subfolders with images inside. I also tried Directory.GetFiles to retrieve the jpg images but still returned an empty string.
I think it should work because I have used Directory class several times but not inside an asyncTask method. Does using async caused the files not returned when using I/O operation?
Sorry for this stupid question, but I really don't understand.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Using Directory.GetFiles or Directory.GetDirectories method can get the folder/file in the local folder of the Application by the following code. But it could not open D:\.
var directories = Directory.GetDirectories(ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder.Path);
In UWP app you can only access two locations at default (local folder and install folder), others need capabilities setting or file open picker.Details please reference file access permission.
If you need access to all files in D:\, the user must manually pick the D:\ drive using the FolderPicker, then you have permissions to access to files in this drive.
var picker = new Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker();
picker.ViewMode = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerViewMode.Thumbnail;
picker.SuggestedStartLocation =
Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerLocationId.ComputerFolder;
picker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".jpg");
picker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".jpeg");
picker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".png");
Windows.Storage.StorageFile file = await picker.PickSingleFileAsync();
if (file != null)
{
// Application now has read/write access to the picked file
}
else
{
//do some stuff
}

How to get all files in a StorageFolder in Windows Phone Runtime?

I want to get all files in a folder and its sub folders. but a flat query like this:
var allFiles = await myFolder.GetFilesAsync(Windows.Storage.Search.CommonFileQuery.OrderByName);
throws a ArgumentException exception:
A first chance exception of type 'System.ArgumentException' occurred
Additional information: Value does not fall within the expected range.
before I query subfolders one by one, isn't there any other way?

You want all the files and folder which are a descendent of the root folder, not just the shallow enummeration. For most folders the only way to enumerate all the contents and its subfolders content is:
Use StorageFolder.GetFilesAsync() for the files
Use StorageFolder.GetFoldersAsync() to retrieve the all the subfolders
Repeat recursively for all the subfolders you find in step 2.
There is a workaround for this if you are looking for a particular type of media. The instructions are here. These few combinations of locations and CommonFile/FolderQuery options will give a device deep search for media and return the ordered results.

Use CommonFileQuery.OrderByName This is a deep query too so the result will contain all of files from all of subfolders
AND IT WORKS! ;)

MSDN says that you get System.ArgumentException if:
You specified a value other than DefaultQuery from the CommonFileQuery enumeration for a folder that's not a library folder.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/BR211591.aspx

That is strange! Looks like a bug in GetFilesAsync method with all CommaonFileQuery options except DefaultQuery. It is working fine with DefaultQuery.
var allFiles = await myFolder.GetFilesAsync(CommonFileQuery.DefaultQuery);
Hope this helps!

I had the same problem, solved it by preloading file paths recursively:
private static List<string> mContentFilenames = new List<string>();
private static void preloadContentFilenamesRecursive(StorageFolder sf)
{
var files = sf.GetFilesAsync().AsTask().ConfigureAwait(false).GetAwaiter().GetResult();
if (files != null)
{
foreach (var f in files)
{
mContentFilenames.Add(f.Path.Replace('\\','/'));
}
}
var folders = sf.GetFoldersAsync().AsTask().ConfigureAwait(false).GetAwaiter().GetResult();
if (folders != null)
{
foreach (var f in folders)
{
preloadContentFilenamesRecursive(f);
}
}
}
private static void preloadContentFilenames()
{
if (mContentFilenames.Count > 0)
return;
var installed_loc = Windows.ApplicationModel.Package.Current.InstalledLocation;
var content_folder = installed_loc.GetFolderAsync("Content").AsTask().ConfigureAwait(false).GetAwaiter().GetResult();
if (content_folder != null)
preloadContentFilenamesRecursive(content_folder);
}
private static bool searchContentFilename(string name)
{
var v = from val in mContentFilenames where val.EndsWith(name.Replace('\\', '/')) select val;
return v.Any();
}
No idea why downvoted, there is no other way to get full filelist in WP8.1. MSFT for some strange reason corrupts its apis from version to version. Some of calls now returns "not implemented".