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Apply Folder Icon Change

I am attempting to change the icon of a folder. The code below does all what I found online says to do but the icon never changes. Am I maybe not "Applying" the change?
string createdFile = Path.Combine(#"C:\Users\np\Desktop\PUTEST", "desktop.ini");
if (File.Exists(createdFile))
{
var di = new DirectoryInfo(createdFile);
di.Attributes &= ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
File.Delete(createdFile);
File.Create(createdFile).Dispose();
}
else
{
File.Create(createdFile).Dispose();
}
//string iconPath = #"%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll";
string iconPath = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(#"%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll");
string iconIndex = "-183";
using (TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(createdFile))
{
tw.WriteLine("[.ShellClassInfo]");
tw.WriteLine("IconResource=" + iconPath + "," + iconIndex);
//tw.WriteLine("IconFile=" + iconPath);
//tw.WriteLine("IconIndex=" + iconIndex);
}
File.SetAttributes(createdFile, System.IO.FileAttributes.ReadOnly);
File.SetAttributes(createdFile, System.IO.FileAttributes.System);
File.SetAttributes(createdFile, System.IO.FileAttributes.Hidden);

When crafting a file like this it's always good to do so using Explorer or Notepad first, then write/adjust your code to match whatever was produced. Otherwise, it's harder to figure out if the problem is with your file or your code.
I believe the minimum requirements to make this work is Desktop.ini must be marked System and the parent directory must be marked ReadOnly (System may work there as well, but I know ReadOnly definitely does). So, your code is working with the right attributes, but there are still a few problems.
Your if ... else ... block is saying "If a file exists at this path, create a directory at that path, then delete the file at that path, then create a file at that path." Of course, the directory should not and cannot have the same path as the file. I assume you are deleting and recreating the file to clear the contents when it already exists, however File.Create() overwrites (truncates) existing files, making the calls to both File.Delete() and File.Exists() unnecessary.
More importantly is this line...
di.Attributes &= ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
...with which there are two problems. First, you are ANDing the directory's attributes with the negation of ReadOnly, which has the effect of removing ReadOnly and keeping the other attributes the same. You want to ensure ReadOnly is set on the directory, so you want to do the opposite of the code you used: OR the directory's attributes with ReadOnly (not negated)...
di.Attributes |= FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
Also, you need that attribute set regardless of whether you created the directory or not, so that line should be moved outside of the if ... else ....
Another issue is the successive calls to File.SetAttributes(). After those three calls the file's attributes will be only Hidden, since that was the value of the last call. Instead, you need to combine (bitwise OR) those attributes in a single call.
A couple of other minor tweaks...
As you know since you are calling Dispose() on it, File.Create() returns a FileStream to that file. Instead of throwing it away, you could use it to create your StreamWriter, which will have to create one, anyways, under the covers. Better yet, call File.CreateText() instead and it will create the StreamWriter for you.
Environment variables are supported in Desktop.ini files, so you don't have to expand them yourself. This would make the file portable between systems if, say, you copied it from one system to another, or the directory is on a network share accessed by multiple systems with different %SystemRoot% values.
Incorporating all of the above changes your code becomes...
// Create a new directory, or get the existing one if it exists
DirectoryInfo directory = Directory.CreateDirectory(#"C:\Users\np\Desktop\PUTEST");
directory.Attributes |= FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
string filePath = Path.Combine(directory.FullName, "desktop.ini");
string iconPath = #"%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll";
string iconIndex = "-183";
using (TextWriter tw = File.CreateText(filePath))
{
tw.WriteLine("[.ShellClassInfo]");
tw.WriteLine("IconResource=" + iconPath + "," + iconIndex);
//tw.WriteLine("IconFile=" + iconPath);
//tw.WriteLine("IconIndex=" + iconIndex);
}
File.SetAttributes(filePath, FileAttributes.ReadOnly | FileAttributes.System | FileAttributes.Hidden);
One catch is that the above code throws an exception if you run it twice in succession. This is because the File.Create*() methods fail if the input file is Hidden or ReadOnly. We could use new FileStream() as an alternative, but that still throws an exception if the file is ReadOnly. Instead, we'll just have to remove those attributes from any existing input file before opening it...
// Create a new directory, or get the existing one if it exists
DirectoryInfo directory = Directory.CreateDirectory(#"C:\Users\np\Desktop\PUTEST");
directory.Attributes |= FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
string filePath = Path.Combine(directory.FullName, "desktop.ini");
FileInfo file = new FileInfo(filePath);
try
{
// Remove the Hidden and ReadOnly attributes so file.Create*() will succeed
file.Attributes = FileAttributes.Normal;
}
catch (FileNotFoundException)
{
// The file does not yet exist; no extra handling needed
}
string iconPath = #"%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll";
string iconIndex = "-183";
using (TextWriter tw = file.CreateText())
{
tw.WriteLine("[.ShellClassInfo]");
tw.WriteLine("IconResource=" + iconPath + "," + iconIndex);
//tw.WriteLine("IconFile=" + iconPath);
//tw.WriteLine("IconIndex=" + iconIndex);
}
file.Attributes = FileAttributes.ReadOnly | FileAttributes.System | FileAttributes.Hidden;
I changed from using File to FileInfo since that makes this a little easier.

Copy only new or modified files/directories in C#

I am trying to create a simple “directory/file copy" console application in C#. What I need is to copy all folders and files (keeping the original hierarchy) from one drive to another, like from drive C:\Data to drive E:\Data.
However, I only want it to copy any NEW or MODIFIED files from the source to the destination.
If the file on the destination drive is newer than the one on the source drive, then it does not copy.
(the problem)
In the code I have, it's comparing file "abc.pdf" in the source with file "xyz.pdf" in the destination and thus is overwriting the destination file with whatever is in the source even though the destination file is newer. I am trying to figure out how to make it compare "abc.pdf" in the source to "abc.pdf" in the destination.
This works if I drill the source and destination down to a specific file, but when I back out to the folder level, it overwrites the destination file with the source file, even though the destination file is newer.
(my solutions – that didn’t work)
I thought by putting the “if (file.LastWriteTime > destination.LastWriteTime)” after the “foreach” command, that it would compare the files in the two folders, File1 source to File1 destination, but it’s not.
It seems I’m missing something in either the “FileInfo[]”, “foreach” or “if” statements to make this a one-to-one comparison. I think maybe some reference to the “Path.Combine” statement or a “SearchOption.AllDirectories”, but I’m not sure.
Any suggestions?
As you can see from my basic code sample, I'm new to C# so please put your answer in simple terms.
Thank you.
Here is the code I have tried, but it’s not working.
class Copy
{
public static void CopyDirectory(DirectoryInfo source, DirectoryInfo destination)
{
if (!destination.Exists)
{
destination.Create();
}
// Copy files.
FileInfo[] files = source.GetFiles();
FileInfo[] destFiles = destination.GetFiles();
foreach (FileInfo file in files)
foreach (FileInfo fileD in destFiles)
// Copy only modified files
if (file.LastWriteTime > fileD.LastWriteTime)
{
file.CopyTo(Path.Combine(destination.FullName,
file.Name), true);
}
// Copy all new files
else
if (!fileD.Exists)
{
file.CopyTo(Path.Combine(destination.FullName, file.Name), true);
}
// Process subdirectories.
DirectoryInfo[] dirs = source.GetDirectories();
foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in dirs)
{
// Get destination directory.
string destinationDir = Path.Combine(destination.FullName, dir.Name);
// Call CopyDirectory() recursively.
CopyDirectory(dir, new DirectoryInfo(destinationDir));
}
}
}

You can just take the array of files in "source" and check for a matching name in "destination"
/// <summary>
/// checks whether the target file needs an update (if it doesn't exist: it needs one)
/// </summary>
public static bool NeedsUpdate(FileInfo localFile, DirectoryInfo localDir, DirectoryInfo backUpDir)
{
bool needsUpdate = false;
if (!File.Exists(Path.Combine(backUpDir.FullName, localFile.Name)))
{
needsUpdate = true;
}
else
{
FileInfo backUpFile = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(backUpDir.FullName, localFile.Name));
DateTime lastBackUp = backUpFile.LastWriteTimeUtc;
DateTime lastChange = localFile.LastWriteTimeUtc;
if (lastChange != lastBackUp)
{
needsUpdate = true;
}
else
{/*no change*/}
}
return needsUpdate;
}

Update:
I modified my code with the suggestions above and all went well. It did exactly as I expected.
However, the problem I ran into was the amount of time it took run the application on a large folder. (containing 6,000 files and 5 sub-folders)
On a small folder, (28 files in 5 sub-folders) it only took a few seconds to run. But, on the larger folder it took 35 minutes to process only 1,300 files.
Solution:
The code below will do the same thing but much faster. This new version processed 6,000 files in about 10 seconds. It processed 40,000 files in about 1 minute and 50 seconds.
What this new code does (and doesn’t do)
If the destination folder is empty, copy all from the source to the destination.
If the destination has some or all of the same files / folders as the source, compare and copy any new or modified files from the source to the destination.
If the destination file is newer than the source, don’t copy.
So, here’s the code to make it happen. Enjoy and share.
Thanks to everyone who helped me get a better understanding of this.
using System;
using System.IO;
namespace VSU1vFileCopy
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
const string Src_FOLDER = #"C:\Data";
const string Dest_FOLDER = #"E:\Data";
string[] originalFiles = Directory.GetFiles(Src_FOLDER, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
Array.ForEach(originalFiles, (originalFileLocation) =>
{
FileInfo originalFile = new FileInfo(originalFileLocation);
FileInfo destFile = new FileInfo(originalFileLocation.Replace(Src_FOLDER, Dest_FOLDER));
if (destFile.Exists)
{
if (originalFile.Length > destFile.Length)
{
originalFile.CopyTo(destFile.FullName, true);
}
}
else
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(destFile.DirectoryName);
originalFile.CopyTo(destFile.FullName, false);
}
});
}
}
}

SSIS Script to Delete and Create Folders

I have a loop that runs and creates a bunch of files per folder. The folders are uniquely named based on the order range, so they can change. And the folder must exist or the loop crashes.
I want to create a script that will delete all subfolders and files in each subfolder, from a root dir.
ie
Root = C:\Output\
SubFolder = C:\Output\T1-500\
SubFolder = C:\Output\T501-1010\
SubFolder = C:\Output\T1011-3076\
Then have it create folders as needed on the fly.
I tried:
public void Main()
{
// Deletes subfolders and files in the main folder
EmptyFolder(Dts.Variables["User::FolderName"]);
// Creates new folder on the fly
if (Directory.Exists(Dts.Variables["User::FolderName"].Value = 0))
Dts.TaskResult = Directory.CreateDirectory(Dts.Variables["User::FolderName"]);
}
private void EmptyFolder(DirectoryInfo directoryInfo)
{
foreach (FileInfo file in directoryInfo.GetFiles())
{
file.Delete();
}
foreach (DirectoryInfo subfolder in directoryInfo.GetDirectories())
{
EmptyFolder(subfolder);
}
}
It doesn't seem to pick up my package level variables, and won't let me add new ones.
I get the following when I try to use my folder variable:

The error means you are passing in the wrong data type. Try this.
Instead of this:
EmptyFolder(Dts.Variables["User::FolderName"]);
Use this:
String folderName = (string)Dts.Variables["User::FolderName"].Value;
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(folderName);
EmptyFolder(di);
There is probably a way to put all of it on one line but start with that.
As mentioned in comments below, the (string) cast may not be necessary if you just use the Value property - please also try that.
You will probably also need to use your new folderName string variable in other parts of your code.
As I mentioned in the comments you can also just run a command line like this to remove a folder and all subfolders
RD <yourfolder> /S /Q

Application: Application Launcher, can't Move directory, it's being used by another process

I'm writing application launcher as a Window Application in C#, VS 2017. Currently, having problem with this piece of code:
if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(extractPath))
{
string[] files = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(extractPath);
string[] dirs = Directory.GetDirectories(extractPath);
// Copy the files and overwrite destination files if they already exist.
foreach (string s in files)
{
// Use static Path methods to extract only the file name from the path.
var fileName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(s);
var destFile = System.IO.Path.Combine(oldPath, fileName);
System.IO.File.Move(s, destFile);
}
foreach (string dir in dirs)
{
//var dirSplit = dir.Split('\\');
//var last = dirSplit.Last();
//if (last != "Resources")
//{
var fileName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(dir);
var destFile = System.IO.Path.Combine(oldPath, fileName);
System.IO.Directory.Move(dir, destFile);
//}
}
}
I'm getting well known error
"The process cannot access the file 'XXX' because it is being used by another process."
I was looking for solution to fix it, found several on MSDN and StackOvervflow, but my problem is quite specific. I cannot move only 1 directory to another, which is Resources folder of my main application:
Here is my explanation why problem is specific:
I'm not having any issues with moving other files from parent directory. Error occurs only when loop reaches /Resources directory.
At first, I was thinking that it's beeing used by VS instantion, in which I've had main app opened. Nothing have changed after closing VS and killing process.
I've copied and moved whole project to another directory. Never opened it in VS nor started via *.exe file, to make sure that none of files in new, copied directory, is used by any process.
Finally, I've restarted PC.
I know that this error is pretty common when you try to Del/Move files, but in my case, I'm sure that it's being used only by my launcher app. Here is a little longer sample code to show what files operation I'm actually doing:
private void RozpakujRepo()
{
string oldPath = #"path\Debug Kopia\Old";
string extractPath = #"path\Debug Kopia";
var tempPath = #"path\ZipRepo\RexTempRepo.zip";
if (System.IO.File.Exists(tempPath) == true)
{
System.IO.File.Delete(tempPath);
}
System.IO.Compression.ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory(extractPath, tempPath);
if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(oldPath))
{
DeleteDirectory(oldPath);
}
if (!System.IO.Directory.Exists(oldPath))
{
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oldPath);
}
if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(extractPath))
{
string[] files = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(extractPath);
string[] dirs = Directory.GetDirectories(extractPath);
// Copy the files and overwrite destination files if they already exist.
foreach (string s in files)
{
// Use static Path methods to extract only the file name from the path.
var fileName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(s);
var destFile = System.IO.Path.Combine(oldPath, fileName);
System.IO.File.Move(s, destFile);
}
foreach (string dir in dirs)
{
//var dirSplit = dir.Split('\\');
//var last = dirSplit.Last();
//if (last != "Resources")
//{
var fileName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(dir);
var destFile = System.IO.Path.Combine(oldPath, fileName);
System.IO.Directory.Move(dir, destFile);
//}
}
}
string zipPath = #"path\ZipRepo\RexRepo.zip";
ZipFile.ExtractToDirectory(zipPath, extractPath);
}
And now, my questions:
Can it be related to file types (.png, .ico, .bmp) ?
Can it be related to fact, that those resources files are being used like, as, for example .exe file icon in my main application? Or just because those are resources files?
Is there anything else what I'm missing and what can cause the error?
EDIT:
To clarify:
There are 2 apps:
Main Application
Launcher Application (to launch Main Application)
And Resources folder is Main Application/Resources, I'm moving it while I'm doing application version update.

It appeared that problem is in different place than in /Resources directory. Actually problem was with /Old directory, because it caused inifinite recurrence.

Moving files based on name to the corresponding folder

Hello everyone and well met! I have tried a lot of different methods/programs to try and solve my problem. I'm a novice programmer and have taken a Visual Basic Class and Visual C# class.
I'm working with this in C#
I started off by making a very basic move file program and it worked fine for one file but as I mentioned I will be needing to move a ton of files based on name
What I am trying to do is move .pst (for example dave.pst) files from my exchange server based on username onto a backup server in the users folder (folder = dave) that has the same name as the .pst file
The ideal program would be:
Get files from the folder with the .pst extension
Move files to appropriate folder that has the same name in front of the .pst file extension
Update:
// String pstFileFolder = #"C:\test\";
// var searchPattern = "*.pst";
// var extension = ".pst";
//var serverFolder = #"C:\test3\";
// String filename = System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(pstFileFolder);
// Searches the directory for *.pst
DirectoryInfo sourceDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(#"C:\test\");
String strTargetDirectory = (#"C:\test3\");
Console.WriteLine(sourceDirectory);
Console.ReadKey(true);>foreach (FileInfo file in sourceDirectory.GetFiles()) {
Console.WriteLine(file);
Console.ReadKey(true);
// Try to create the directory.
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(strTargetDirectory);
file.MoveTo(strTargetDirectory + "\\" + file.Name);
}
This is just a simple copy procedure. I'm completely aware. The
Console.WriteLine(file);
Console.ReadKey(true);
Are for verification purpose right now to make sure I'm getting the proper files and I am. Now I just need to find the folder based on the name of the .pst file(the folder for the users are already created), make a folder(say 0304 for the year), then copy that .pst based on the name.
Thanks a ton for your help guys. #yuck, thanks for the code.

Have a look at the File and Directory classes in the System.IO namespace. You could use the Directory.GetFiles() method to get the names of the files you need to transfer.

Here's a console application to get you started. Note that there isn't any error checking and it makes some assumptions about how the files are named (e.g. that they end with .pst and don't contain that elsewhere in the name):
private static void Main() {
var pstFileFolder = #"C:\TEMP\PST_Files\";
var searchPattern = "*.pst";
var extension = ".pst";
var serverFolder = #"\\SERVER\PST_Backup\";
// Searches the directory for *.pst
foreach (var file in Directory.GetFiles(pstFileFolder, searchPattern)) {
// Exposes file information like Name
var theFileInfo = new FileInfo(file);
// Gets the user name based on file name
// e.g. DaveSmith.pst would become DaveSmith
var userName = theFileInfo.Name.Replace(extension, "");
// Sets up the destination location
// e.g. \\SERVER\PST_Backup\DaveSmith\DaveSmith.pst
var destination = serverFolder + userName + #"\" + theFileInfo.Name;
File.Move(file, destination);
}
}

System.IO is your friend in this case ;)
First, Determine file name by:
String filename = System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(SOME_PATH)
To make path to new folder, use Path.Combine:
String targetDir = Path.Combine(SOME_ROOT_DIR,filename);
Next, create folder with name based on given fileName
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(targetDir);
Ah! You need to have name of file, but with extension this time. Path.GetFileName:
String fileNameWithExtension = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(SOME_PATH);
And you can move file (by File.Move) to it:
System.IO.File.Move(SOME_PATH,Path.Combine(targetDir,fileNameWithExtension)
Laster already show you how to get file list in folder.

I personally prefer DirectoryInfo because it is more object-oriented.
DirectoryInfo sourceDirectory = new DirectoryInfo("C:\MySourceDirectoryPath");
String strTargetDirectory = "C:\MyTargetDirectoryPath";
foreach (FileInfo file in sourceDirectory.GetFiles())
{
file.MoveTo(strTargetDirectory + "\\" + file.Name);
}