I've created an setup files for my winform. When I run this setup file, the application will be install into the location specified by the user. The installation will also copy some xml files into that location. Right after the user run the application, it will read some settings from the xml files.
What I want to know is, because the location of the xml file is flexible (user specified), how do we know which location to read? How do we specified in the winform coding that it should read from the installed location?
Have you looked at Application.ExecutablePath for the path where your exe was when it ran, so this would be the base directory of your install.
String startingdir = Path.GetDirectoryName(Application.ExecutablePath);
foreach(String Filename in Directory.GetFiles(startingdir,"*.xml")
{
// process
}
Are the XML files copied to the same location as your executable? In that case, you can use Application.ExecutablePath from your WinForms app to get the location of the executable, and from there create the path to your XML files.
I've tried this
reader = new XmlTextReader(Application.StartupPath + "\\MyFile.xml");
And it work fine!!
The way i would suggest is you create a step in your installer where the user can set the location of the file. Put that in the registry . And get your application to read it from registry
If the files are copied to the working folder of your exe, then you can address them with relative paths (no need for absolute paths).
Edit: Here's an example
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load("filename.xml");
this piece of code will try to read the file filename.xml which is in the same folder that contains your exe file.
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load("somefolder/filename.xml");
and this one will try to read the file filename.xml from the folder somefolder that is located in the folder that contains your exe
Related
I'm trying to load and save an xml file called Modules.xml in my code. I have currently got the file path hardcoded as shown below. I am trying to get the file path within my code without it being hardcoded.
I have tried using Path.GetDirectoryName and new FileInfo("Modules.xml").Directory.FullName. However, both of these target the file in my debug folder, when the file I need is in the main solution folder.
Is there a way to target the file in my main solution folder instead of my debug folder? (both files are called Modules.xml)
doc.Save("C:\\Users\\Matthew\\Desktop\\Year4\\Object Oriented\\Project1\\Project1\\Modules.xml");
Both file locations are shown below:
C:\Users\Matthew\Desktop\Year4\Object Oriented\Project1\Project1\Modules.xml
^^^this is the file path I need for my code^^^
C:\Users\Matthew\Desktop\Year4\Object Oriented\Project1\Project1\bin\Debug\Modules.xml
The best approach here would be to use a configuration file, e.g. app.config, for storing such a string. Then you can change file path without recompiling the code, and your file can be stored in any location accessible by application.
If you really want to access your file the way you explained, AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory will provide you with the bin/Debug location in runtime. Then you can find a relative path from there like:
Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, #"..\..\", fileName);
where fileName is "Modules.xml" for example.
I have tried using Path.GetDirectoryName and new
FileInfo("Modules.xml").Directory.FullName. However, both of these
target the file in my debug folder, when the file I need is in the
main solution folder.
That's because bin\Debug is your working directory when you start and run the project. To change that, you can set the working directory environment variable to point to your solution directory (instead of bin\debug|release) which I wouldn't recommend that. Because when you finally endup with development, and release the application, there wouldn't be any solution directory that holds your XML file. What I can suggest is to copy your XML file to the output folder. Either you are in development (debug) or production (release) mode, the XML always going to be copied to final directory. And you can access the working directory with something like AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory. To enabling copy XML to output directory, right-click on it, choose Properties, set Build Action to None, and set Copy to Output Directory to Copy Always or Copy if newer. You're good to go now.
I have C# windows application with XML file. After installing the set up file I need to edit the XML file time to time. But my XML file not going to the path where the executable is located.
So that is giving error.
With in a program I'm getting XML path like this.
private string PATH = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "XMLFile1.xml");
Please some one can suggest a way to do.
If you have installed your application on Windows Vista, 7, or 8, it's quite possible that you get security exceptions. Since you haven't told what kind of errors you get I have to ask my crystal ball to think with me.
He thinks that because you are trying to write in a protected folder you get an exception.
He suggest you move the XML to %appdata% or %localappdata%
Use Application.ExecutablePath, the Application.StartupPath property will change if your app is started from desktop shortcut or any other shortcuts.
private string PATH = Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(Application.ExecutablePath), "XMLFile1.xml");
You have to include it in project. Here's a helpful link: How to include XML file while creating setup file for windows application
while your application starts copy your XML file to a common folder path, if it is not exist in the path. Do your edit on the xml file in the common folder.
better to use common folder as Local application Data Folder
Path.Combine(Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData), "Your application name")
XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(#"E:\NewFolder\WindowsFormsApplication1\WindowsFormsApplication1\QuestionFile.xml")
In my application i have read a xml file which is location in a specific location in my pc but now i want to deploy my application now when i rum my exe and install in other pc i get error that read error of xml file so what should i do for that.
like that i have used to read the xml file.
I would really appreciate if someone helps me out!
thanks
You could include the XML in the same folder as your program. In the code, build up the string dynamically, using the following to get the name of the folder the program is currently executing from:
Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
All you need to do after that is append the name of your XML file with Path.Combine or appending to the string.
Edit:
(You'll need to include references to System.IO and System.Reflection).
You could create the string holding the path separately, then use that for creating your reader:
string xmlLocation = Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location), "QuestionFile.xml");
XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(xmlLocation);
Remember if you're running this in debug in VS, this will point to your debug directory so make sure a copy of the XML file is in there.
Can you package the questions.xml with the EXE as embedded resource?
Well, I think you have two options:
1) include the xml inside your solution as an embedded resource, and read it using GetManifestResourceStream. Here's more info on how to do it.
2) Include it in the solution and set the file's Build Action to Content. Then in your MSI installer package you can include that project's "Content" output. This means the file will end up included as a separate physical file located in the application's installation path.
See Here for more details. Step 2 shows how to add different outputs.
if i want to add a file to a project in c#, i just right click the project, add a new xml file and then always set to copy to the output directory. That way when the user runs it there will always be a copy of it.
Now i want to logically group 4 xml files with a folder. I added the folder, added the xml files to the folder, and set to copy. Thats great in the sense that it copies the folder to the output directory. But now however, instead of being able to open the xml file like this
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load(filename);
i need a new way of doing it as it doesnt locate the xml file as its within the folder in the output directory, opposed to directly in the output directory if that makes sense?
what can i do?
Thanks
Adding this as an answer:
doc.Load(Path.Combine("MyFolder", filename));
You could set it as an embedded resource and access it that way. Have a look at this link
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319292
I am writing a small command-line tool for my own daily tasks, and having problems reading from a XML file I have used for configuration. As per the examples, I use this code to load the XML file for Linq-to-XML.
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("SearchSources.xml");
What I'm having problems with is when I "deploy" my app and XML to c:\windows\system32 for easy access, it won't work when I try to launch the file from the RUN prompt (e.g. run => TOOL -commands) because it's looking for the XML relative to wherever I launch the application.
I could obviously change the path to be the full path, e.g. c:\windows\system32\SearchSources.xml in the code, but that would prevent me from running it via F5 in Visual Studio.
EDIT: I am attempting to do this in code, rather than modifying configuration files when I deploy the app to other locations.
Use:
String filePath = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location
) + #"\SearchSources.xml";
That will create a path to the file based on the directory of the executable.
Or using Path.Combine, as suggested:
String filePath = System.IO.Path.Combine(
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location
),
"SearchSources.xml"
);
Try doing this:
var myAssembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var file = Path.GetDirectoryName(myAssembly.Location) + "\\SearchSources.xml";
This will get the location of the current executable, then build a path from the executable's folder and the name of the file you're after.
Sounds like you need a config file with the path to the xml file in it. At install time you could modify the path if required.
Create a Settings file in Visual Studio (Right click project, add-> new item -> Settings file ). There you can create a string with the path name to your file. In code, you can access it like this:
Properties.Settings.Default.MyString
This will create an xml file (app.config). I would then store the path in there, and use that in my app. That way, when you deploy it, you can just open the XML file in any text editor and edit the path.