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How to create text file in .NET project folder, not in bin/Debug folder where is by default

I have a very simple .NET console application in Visual Studio. I am trying to write some words into a text file.
using (StreamWriter file = File.AppendText("log1.txt"))
{
file.WriteLine("Hello from the text file");
}
If the file does not exist, the application creates it in the autogenerated folder bin/Debug.
Is there a way to create this file in the project's directory, where I have .csproj file?
And more important, in real-world applications, when you work with files, you keep them in bin/Debug? That's why .NET creates them there firstly?

Is there a way to create this file in the project's directory, where I have .csproj file?
Yes, but this can only be done while you are working on your project. Once you are done developing it and try to publish it you won't have access to the location where you have .csproj file, because after publishing you can install it on any PC and it wont have the project you are working on.
And more important, in real-world applications, when you work with files, you keep them in bin/Debug?
No, I assume by real-world applications in your context you mean a published project '.exe' that you can run on any PC. Windows provides you three Data folders that you should use when writing your program so that it works smoothly after publishing:
User Data
Roaming User Data
All User Data
You can acess the above folders in .NET application using the Environment.SpecialFolder:
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData)
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData)
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData)
As per your given code, try this :
var fileName = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData),
"log1.txt");
using (StreamWriter file = File.AppendText(fileName))
{
file.WriteLine("Hello from the text file");
}
This way you will be able to publish your program and it will still work smoothly without hard-coding the path as you were doing previously.
That's why .NET creates them there firstly?
If you don't specify a complete path, and just the file name .NET looks into the working directory of the executable, which in this case is bin/Debug

Is there a way to create this file in the project's directory, where I have .csproj file?
Yes. As explained here (second answer) you can use the post-build event to write down the value of $(ProjectDir) in a text file (using command echo $(ProjectDir) > ..\..\projectdir.txt). This macro contains the directory of your .csproj. This command will create the file projectdir.txt with your project directory after a build process so you read this file contents in your code and use what is inside it to pass to File.AppendText as the base directory to create your file log1.txt.
And more important, in real-world applications, when you work with files, you keep them in bin/Debug? That's why .NET creates them there firstly?
That depends on what you want to do. In your case the code creates the file at bin/Debug because that is where your executable are being executed. When you omit the full path to File.AppendText and just pass "log1.txt" as argument, it will create the file in the same folder as the executable are at. If you want a different folder you should specify the folder here (e.g. File.AppendText("C:/log1.txt") will create the file at C:/.

You can create the text file in the root of your project and use copy always to have them in the same place as your executable. If this is just a readonly text file then it's OK because windows doesn't allow you to modify the files reside in Programs folder in OS drive.
If you want your code to modify these text file then you need to put them in appdata folder. In real world example I did this on many project. All the database work my winforms, WPF application need goes in AppData folder.

How to give a folder path in app.config file in C#

I am creating an application in WPF.
In that I am using XML file to store some settings.
My app will run for every 10 sec. So it will use that XML file settings.
My issue is in My local system i am calling the XML file as D://Foldername/projectname/test.xml .
But after deployment it is storing in C://Programfiles/Projectname/test.xml .
So how to give a generic path so that it runs in all the client systems.
I am creating setup file to install in clients systems.
Please help me.

Open the project properties page.
Click on Settings tab.
Add a new item called "MyPath". Make it an Application Setting of type String and give it a sensible default path name as value.
Reference the value in code with Properties.Settings.Default.MyPath.
If you open the applications config there will be a setting called MyPath where you can override the path at runtime.

I suggest you to put the XML file in the same folder as your EXE file and then use Assembly to get its current path.
var cfgPath = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location + ".config"
Update
it's better to name your config file the same with your exe file but with ".config" extension.

If you are really using ClickOnce, I hardly recommend you to create your own directory for data and configuration files:
private static string GetDataDir()
{
var dataDir = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData),
"YourApplicationName");
if (!Directory.Exists(dataDir))
Directory.CreateDirectory(dataDir);
return dataDir;
}
The problem with storing the data in the directory of the executable is, that it will be at a different location. While debugging, it will be in you \bin directory. When the application is deployed by ClickOnce, you gonna have a bad time. The installation directory for a ClickOnce application is created for every version. So if you EVER update your application at "customers", all their settings will be lost.

open file from folder in visual studio 2012

I had a folder on my desktop with files in it. I copied that into the folder of my solution and in the solution explorer I referenced that folder into the solution. However, Im not able to open files in that folder with a relative path.
The relative path from the cs-file would be "../FolderIAdded/blabla" as seen in the solution explorer. But in the windows explorer, the path is differen of course:
Solutionfolder
- SolutionFolder.sln
- Solutionfolder.v11.suo
- SolutionFolder
-- bin
-- obj
-- Properties
-- TheFolderIAdded
-- App.config
-- Form1.cs
-- etc.
Here, it would be "FolderIAdded/blabla"
Where do I have to put that folder?
My goal: I want to be able to open files from that folder in my c#-code with a relative path.

You're assuming that your program runs in the directory where your source code is located. That's not the case. Depending on your configuration, your program will execute from a directory inside Solutionfolder\bin.
One possible solution is to copy the file(s) to the output directory when you build your project.

Another alternative is to embed the files into your application's assembly at compile time, although this precludes editing of them after deployment. To do that, set Build Action to 'Embedded Resource', then you can access them using the GetManifestResourceStream method of the Assembly class. The filename you need to give it will be derived from the path within the project structure, so in your example it would be "TheFolderIAdded.Filename.ext".
Yes, that's a dot, not a backslash.
Assuming the files are embedded in the same assembly the code that wants to read them is in, the code will look something like
var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
using (var stream =
assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("TheFolderIAdded.Filename.ext"))
using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream)) {
string fileContents = reader.ReadToEnd();
}

I don't think it's a good idea to write relative path from .cs file. Better build the path base on where the application is executed:
One example, there are plenty other on the web: How can I get the application's path in a .NET console application?
(Your application is not running in the solution's root folder but where the .exe file is locatated. For example when you debug a desktop application, it runs typically from [solution folder]/bin/debug/ )
Then make sure the file you want to open property Copy to Output Directory is set to Copy Always or Copy if newer. (Right click on the file in your Solution Explorer and click on "Properties" to be sure to access it.)

Application creating / deleting local xml files when installed

I have an application that needs to create, read and delete 2 xml files. These files are stored in the same directory as the application file. When I run this application in debug it works fine. but as soon as you create an installer for this and run the installed program it failed to create the files. Is there any way I can set the application permission to the folder it has been installed to?
Any help would be great.
Thank you
Here is the code im using:
if (File.Exists("ApplicationData.xml") == true)
{
File.SetAttributes("ApplicationData.xml", FileAttributes.Normal);
File.Delete("ApplicationData.xml");
}
doc.Save("ApplicationData.xml");
This is throwing a System.UnauthorizedAccessException

Rather than start changing directory permissions, how about putting the files into the temporary directory? You can get the directory from Path.GetTempPath().

I would suggest you to create a "tmp" folder from your application, and then create your xml files inside . This will guarantee you that have permission on the folders, as you have created them in the privilege scope of the application.
string folderName = #"Folder";
string pathString = System.IO.Path.Combine(folderName, "SubFolder");
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(pathString);
Here i've tested it out for you:
http://pastebin.com/cAmFQvee
This works fine

Command-Line App Read from File in C#

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.