How can I create a file with StreamWriter using a relative path? - c#

When I run the following code, an XML file is correctly created in c:\temp:
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(ObservableCollection<Models.Customer>));
using (StreamWriter wr = new StreamWriter("C:/temp/CustomerMock2.xml"))
{
xs.Serialize(wr, CustomerList);
}
However, I actually want it to be created in a sub-directory underneath the project, but when I do this:
using (StreamWriter wr = new StreamWriter("Data/CustomerMock2.xml"))
it just acts as if it writes it but the file never appears in that directory:
C:\Projects\Prototype12\CustomersModul\bin\Debug\Data.
How can I create a file with StreamWriter with a relative path inside my project?

It is always dangerous to rely on the 'Current Directory' concept, so you will need a starting point. In a WinForms project, you can get the location of the .EXE with
string exeFolder = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(Application.ExecutablePath);
In WPF there will be something similar.
But if you are in a library and do not have access to the Application (or Environment) objects, you should consider making a BaseFolder parameter or property to let the main application take control over folders.

Does ./Data/CustomerMock2.xml work?
using (StreamWriter wr = new StreamWriter("./Data/CustomerMock2.xml"))

Are you setting the XML data to be copied at compile time (so it's not in the actual project directory, but the bin folder)? In which case you can get to it using
string xmlFile = string.Format("{0}/Data/{1}",AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory,"myxml.xml");

Relative paths are relative to the current directory. Maybe you're not in the bin/debug directory... You should build the absolute path based on the exe directory, as shown by Chris.
Also, the StreamWriter constructor won't create the directory, you need to create it explicitly if it doesn't exist.

Related

How to Get current date and create directory Everyday in C#?

get current date and make directory and second when directory is created, in that directory I have to store excel file and also save file as current date.
String Todaysdate = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy");
if (!Directory.Exists("C:\\Users\\Krupal\\Desktop\\" + Todaysdate))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory("C:\\Users\\Krupal\\Desktop\\" + Todaysdate);
}
This code have made directory with current date.
But when I want to store file in that directory, it generates the error:
Could not find a part of the path
'D:\WORK\RNSB\RNSB\bin\Debug\22-01-2020\22-01-2020.XLS
Belove path is store excel file that i have to store.
using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(Todaysdate+"\\"+DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy") +".XLS"))
Actually you are making the directory in a path then you are saving the .xls in another path.
You are making the directory using this path:
"C:\\Users\\Krupal\\Desktop\\" + Todaysdate
Then, here the path where you are trying to save the .xls:
Todaysdate+"\\"+DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy") +".XLS"
The error shows the problem clearly, it could not fin this path:
D:\WORK\RNSB\RNSB\bin\Debug\22-01-2020\22-01-2020.XLS
While creating the .xls you are omitting the root path, so the process looks for the path 22-01-2020\22-01-2020.XLS in his working directory D:\WORK\RNSB\RNSB\bin\Debug.
You just need to align those paths: I sugget you to use relative paths, so here how you should fix your code:
String Todaysdate = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy");
if (!Directory.Exists(Todaysdate))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(Todaysdate);
}
//then
using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(Todaysdate+"\\"+DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy") +".XLS"))
I presume you are running your WinForms application in Debug mode. This means that your current path is [your application path]\bin\Debug. If you look in file explorer, you will find that an executable has been created there. When using StreamWriter without an absolute file name, the file it tries to create is relative to the current execution path (in your case 'D:\WORK\RNSB\RNSB\bin\Debug'). StreamWriter will create a new file, if one does not exist, but it will not create a new folder, and you are passing it Todaysdate + "\\" which is effectively a new folder. Hence you are getting the error message.
To fix your problem, you need to provide the absolute path to your newly created directory thus:
using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter("C:\\Users\\Krupal\\Desktop\\" + Todaysdate+"\\"+DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy") +".XLS"))
Winforms always expect directories inside Debug Folder, since it's EXE file is inside Debug and try to find it inside Debug folder.
In error it clearly shows that it is looking inside "Debug" folder.
Can you check whether File Exists in the mentioned folder created by you in C Drive.
// To Write File
System.IO.File.WriteAllLines(#"C:\Users\Public\TestFolder\WriteLines.txt", lines);
You can follow this MSDN Post, hope it helps, if Yes, please Upvote it
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/file-system/how-to-write-to-a-text-file

Getting the contents of a file in Visual Studio without opening the file from an extension

I'm trying to read the contents of a file in a Visual Studio extension. The following code works, but forces me to open the file, if it isn't (otherwise it crashes):
textDocument = (TextDocument)projectItem.Document.Object("TextDocument");
EditPoint editPoint = textDocument.StartPoint.CreateEditPoint();
string text = editPoint.GetText(textDocument.EndPoint);
I can get the path of the project, so I suppose I could make an educated guess as to the location of the project item. However, ideally I'd like to either get the file contents without opening it; or, alternatively, get the path to the project item (then I could just use System.IO to access the file contents).
I've looked, but don't seem to be able to find any mention of either of these. Can anyone point me in the right direction, please?
You can get the path from a ProjectItem by reading its properties.
var path = YourProjectItem.Properties.Item("FullPath").Value.ToString()
After you have the path you can read its content with System.IO.
string content = File.ReadAllText(path);
If the file is somewhat larger and you are getting troubles with the current code due to size, you should take a look at the StreamReader class.
I'm not sure if this is possible for extensions but you could probably use System.IO, like this:
using System.IO;
string filePath = #"C:\Whatever\YourFileName.txt";
string fileText = File.ReadAllText(filePath);
You could also use StreamReader like this:
using System.IO;
string filePath = #"C:\Whatever\YourFileName.txt";
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(filePath))
fileText = sr.ReadToEnd();
EDIT:
I think I understand you better now.
The only way to "get the file contents without opening it" would be if the extension were to give you that data actively, but I can safely assume it doesn't.
When reading a file, you should already know where the file is (if you don't know then either you're not intended to access that file or you just haven't looked long enough).
I'd try searching the SDK files manually (Or with a file crawler).

Referencing a file inside of a Project without using its absolute path?

I'm using StreamReader to dynamically replace content in an HTML template. The HTML file has been imported into my project.
Right now I'm having to referencing the HTML file a static location on my dev box because I'm not able to find the right syntax to reference it once it's been imported into my VS project.
How do I refer to the file without using an absolute path?
Current implementation for reference:
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(#"C:\Users\n00b\Desktop\EmailTemplate.html");
{
body = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
One common thing I've seen is to put the file's location in a configuration file. This lets you change the file location at will without having to recompile.
You can add it as an embedded resource and extract it this way.
using (Stream stream = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream("<namespace>.Resources.EmailTemplate.html"))
per your comment
using (System.IO.StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream("<namespace>.Resources.EmailTemplate.html"))
{
body = sr.ReadToEnd();
}
There are 2 main ways to do this, In a desktop application, the current directory of the .exe is set to the directory where it is launched from by default. Unless that is changed by launching the .exe by a shortcut with special settings, or by another process using a special feature, it should be the default value. If that is the case, you can just use a relative path. For example, if you have a file named "data.txt" in a folder called "things" inside a folder called "stuff" in the same directory as your app, you can just us the relative path "stuff/things/data.txt" directly and Windows will work it out for you.
If you need to be absolutely sure you are targeting that file, even if the app launches with a modified current directory, you can get the .exe's path, and combine it with a relative path using System.IO.Path.Combine.
var appPath = Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
var filePath = "stuff/things/data.txt"
var fullPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(appPath, filePath)
If, for some reason, you need to up "up" from the application's directory, you can use ".." to represent that parent folder of a directory. So "../data.txt" would look in the folder that contains the current directory for a file named "data.txt".
You could also change the app's current directory when it starts to be the directory of the .exe, and then reference everything via relative path, as in the first example.
var appPath = Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
System.IO.Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(appPath);
I found two solutions to this:
If you don't care if the external file is visible in the build directory/installdir of your app:
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(#"../../EmailTemplate.html");
{
body = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
If you want your external file to be invisible once compiled:
var embeddedResource = "<namespace>.EmailTemplate.html";
using (var stream = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream(embeddedResource))
{
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(stream);
body = sr.ReadToEnd();
}
Note the 2nd solution requires adding your external file and changing the build action to "Embedded Resource" on the properties menu of that file within Visual Studio.

How can I open a text file relative to my MVC project?

In my bin file I have set up som test data, and I want my application to be able to access logfiles that are stored in bin/log/log00001.txt.
However, in my crontroller, when I try to use a TextReader on the following path it goes somewhere else: new StreamReader("log/log00001.txt")
How do I read stuff relative to my project?
Try using
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(Server.MapPath("~/bin/log/log00001.txt"));
HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/some/path/relative/to/your/web/app")

Save/retrieve a file in a project directory, not the output directory

I'm creating a simple .NET console application where I want to save a file in a folder that's part of the root project, like so: SolutionName.ProjectName\TestData\. I want to put test.xml into the TestData folder. However, when I go to save my XDocument, it saves it to SolutionName.ProjectName\bin\x86\Debug Console\test.xml.
What do I need to do to save or retrieve the file in a folder that is a child of project directory?
Your console application is, once compiled, not really related to your Visual Studio solution anymore. The best way is probably to simply 'feed' the output path to your application as an command line argument:
Public Sub Main(args as String())
' don't forget validation: handle situation where no or invalid arguments supplied
Dim outputFile = Path.Combine(args(0), "TestData", "test.xml")
End Sub
Now you can run your application like so:
myapp.exe Path\To\SolutionFolder
I've seen this before but never actually tried it out. Did a quick search and dug this up:
System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory
Give that a shot instead of Application.StartupPath for your console app.
You can use the System.IO namespace to get your directory relative to your exe:
var exeDirectory = Application.StartupPath;
var exeDirectoryInfo = new DirectoryInfo(exeDirectory);
var projectDirectoryInfo = exeDirectoryInfo.Parent.Parent.Parnet; // bin/x86/debug to project
var dataPath = Path.Combine(projectDirectoryInfo.FullName, "TestData");
var finalFilename = Path.Combine(dataPath, "test.xml");

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