I want to persist some data into a text file in my C# application. I added the text file to the root of my project.
How do I access it now? Will this file be embedded with my exe or what?
First, make sure that you right click the file and select "Copy to Output Directory".
Second, the file will not be embedded inside of your Executable. It will be a normal *.txt file alongside your *.exe and you would access it as such:
StreamWriter sw = null;
FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "filename.txt"));
if(fi.Exists)
sw = new StreamWriter(fi.Open(FileMode.Open));
You need to set the file to copy to output directory.
You can access the path relatively ("file.txt", or ".file.txt")
It will not be embedded with your exe.
Read this for help on opening a file.
It will be in the same directory as your exe by default, you can also provide a specific path where it can be dropped to via the construct of your StreamWriter or w/e class you are using.
It sounds like your text file will contain "settings" for your application, and if you want to embed these settings then just use the actual Settings built into the project. Properties>Settings. MSDN: Settings
There's also the excellent Nini project (http://nini.sourceforge.net/manual.php) which makes it easy to access (and write) simple settings files of various flavors and to optionally combine them with command line parameters.
Related
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.
I got a settings.ini file, which I want to be included in the game when installed.
It should be in a folder called Settings and it should be in the same directory as the rest of the game (Like the executable and the default content folder).
I thought I would just add an extra empty content project to my game solution and add the settings.ini file to it.
Guess What! It doesn't work.
It gives me the following error:
Error 6 Cannot autodetect which importer to use for "Settings.ini".
There are no importers which handle this file type. Specify the
importer that handles this file type in your project.
PATH_TO_GAME\Settings\Settings.ini
I googled a bit, but it looks like I need to write my own content pipeline.
Is there a better/more easy way to do this? I don't want to waste my time on writing this very difficult part.
PS. If I install the game and add the settings.ini to the settings directory, I am able to write into and read from the settings.ini file. But now I have to add the settings.ini file manually, which I don't want. I want it to be supplied with the game when you install it.
In your game project solution (not content project!), add a Settings folder, and the Settings.ini file. You might use Add -> Existing Item... for the file if you already have it.
Under Properties for the file, set Build Action to Content and Copy to Output Directory to Copy if newer.
Your settings file will now be deployed with your application.
Take all the contents of your .ini file and put them into your game's code:
string path = #"path\to\your.ini";
if (!File.Exists(path))
using (var sw = File.CreateText(path))
{
sw.WriteLine(#"This is the .ini file text.");
sw.WriteLine(#"It can contain all sorts of characters, like !##$%^&*()_+|");
sw.WriteLine(#"But you need to use double quotes "" so you don't get errors");
}
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 add an excel file to my project resource, and I would like to open it, but method woorkobook.open() take only path string as parameter :-(
What is the proper way to open and use those excel files from resource?
Office applications are before the time of .NET Streams. The applications only work with physical files. You must copy the resource to a physical file or use a third-party component.
Dim sPath As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.GetTempFileName
My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllBytes(sPath, My.Resources.us, False)
in VS, if you set the property "Copy to Output Directory" to "Copy always", on the excel file you've added to your project, you can then directly use the name of your file as the value of the path.