My system creates a text file on the first button click of the program and appends various things to it on other button clicks. Ideally everything would be saved all at the end but as it is a monitoring system that uses a timer, some of the data does need to be written to file at specific times or it will be lost.
On the click of the first button (btnStart), the program locates/creates the main folder (given a name using a constant string) and locates/creates a sub folder (using text entered into a combination textboxes prior to the button click) this sets the directory for the text file as shown below in string (fileName):
private void createDirectory()
{ //create output file in this folder using owner name and current date
//main folder path (contains all files output from system)
string rootDirectory = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments) + "\\Horse Monitoring Records";
//sub folder path (each patient has individual subfolder)
string subDirectory = rootDirectory + "\\" + txtPatName.Text + "/" + txtOwnerName.Text;
//file name (patient has file created for each operation)
fileName = subDirectory + "\\" + txtOwnerName.Text + "/(" + DateTime.Now.Date.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy") + ").txt";
if (!Directory.Exists(rootDirectory)) //if main folder does not exist...
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(rootDirectory); //create it in My Documents
}
if (!Directory.Exists(subDirectory)) //if patient sub folder does not exist...
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(subDirectory); //create it in Patient-Owner format
}
}
The next function called writes the first bit of text to the file, as shown:
private void saveFileDetails()
{
//Once case details have been entered, create new file using these details and add data input structure
StreamWriter consoleFile = new StreamWriter(fileName, true);
consoleFile.WriteLine("------------------------------------------- Case Details -------------------------------------------");
consoleFile.WriteLine("\n\n");
//patient and vet details
...
}
Originally when I set this function up, I did not include the 'true' overload to the StreamWriter in the first line of the function. This led to a run-time error that told me the text file could not be opened as it was already opened by another process.
Since I added the 'true' overload, the system has worked fine, but I have just encountered a problem in that once a text file has been created, it cannot be overwritten as a text file normally would by a StreamWriter using the same path.
I do need to be able to overwrite files as they become obselete after a period of time and do need to be replaced, does anyone have any idea where I can go from here to fix this issue?
Thanks,
Mark
StreamWriter's overload that takes a boolean is detailed here. true makes it append the content. If you always want to override the file, you can use File.OpenWrite; I believe you can also pass this to the constructor like the following:
new StreamWriter(File.OpenWrite(fileName, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.ReadWrite))
See more about File.OpenWrite and FIleMode. File.OpenWrite can do the job by itself if you want to use that instead. But I believe since File.OpenWrite returns FIleStream, that can be passed to the StreamWriter constructor.
Related
I have a problem Where I cant make my program automatically read the given file path inside the .dat and be ready to launch the program when pressing launch file without opening openFileDialog and choosing the program every time.
the code im using here is for the user to enter the file path for the first time then create a file path .dat file and it works with now issues.
using (OpenFileDialog openFileDialog = new OpenFileDialog())
{
string desktop = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop);
string path = Path.Combine(desktop, "LS\\Fail-SafePath.dat");
openFileDialog.InitialDirectory = filePath;
openFileDialog.Filter = " PlayGTAV (*.exe)|PlayGTAV.exe";
openFileDialog.FilterIndex = 1;
openFileDialog.RestoreDirectory = true;
if (openFileDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
filePath = openFileDialog.FileName;
var fileStream = openFileDialog.OpenFile();
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(fileStream))
{
fileContent = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
using (StreamWriter sw = File.CreateText(path))
{
sw.WriteLine(filePath);
}
After that that i have a start button for it
private void panel21_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
Process.Start(filePath);
}
This works well when the user does it for the first time but now I want it to read that .dat file path automatically without having to ask the user for the file path every single time which I don't know how to do and need help with please.
I was thinking to do it like that: When Pressing the Launch button (After the first time) The Program Checks if the Fail-SafePath.dat Exists if Yes it reads the lines from it and starts the program from the given path without opening OpenFileDialog.
I'm Using Visual Studio, Windows Form.
If it's a file that the application will always need, then something like you mentioned:
I was thinking to do it like that: When Pressing the Launch button (After the first time) The Program Checks if the Fail-SafePath.dat Exists if Yes it reads the lines from it and starts the program from the given path without opening OpenFileDialog.
Could work easily enough. You could have your application look for it in the default location, and if not there, have your user select it.
Another solution could be using something like Application Settings or User Settings, which are values persisted between executions of .NET projects.
Depending on your full application design, you could also have the file path and other settings stored in some database or other data storage. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this.
EDIT: To elaborate further on the Application Settings
The application settings are very easy to read and write to.
You just need to create the ones you want, before trying to use them.
They can be created by:
Open Visual Studio.
In Solution Explorer, expand the Properties node of your project.
Double-click the .settings file in which you want to add a new setting. The default name for this file is Settings.settings.
In the Settings designer, set the Name, Value, Type, and Scope for your setting. Each row represents a single setting.
To read from your settings:
this.FilePath= Properties.Settings.Default.FilePath;
To write to and save the setting:
Properties.Settings.Default.FilePath= Path.GetFullPath("importantFilePath");
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
This is the first question I asked on stackoverflow, very exciting. So sorry about my grammar and other type mistakes, I would appreciate if you correct them. I want to write a program that reads a csv file if it exists in the specific folder first, stores it in List variable, add some new lines and writes it to the same file. This process will be repeated continuously in a while block.
While the file is being read and written by the program, if it is opened with Notepad, it doesn't give an error and the program could access the file in parallel. But if it is opened with Office Excel, program gives error that says "file access is denied because it is used by another process..". I want to ask you that:
1) Is it possible to give priority to the program, so program can still access the file but user cannot? Or is it possible both program and user can access the file?
2) If the solution is opening the file with Notepad, is there a way to set default program for this file as Notepad? Or how can I change default program for csv files as Notepad from C#?
Reading and writing parts of the code is as bellows:
List<string> csvLines = new List<string>();
string address = folderpath + #"\PLC_LOGLARI";
if (!Directory.Exists(address))
Directory.CreateDirectory(address);
string fileAddress = address + #"\" + fileName + "_" + machineNo + "_1.csv";
if (Directory.EnumerateFiles(address).Any(f => f.Contains(fileName + "_" + machineNo)))
{
string[] addressArray = Directory.GetFiles(address, fileName + "_" + machineNo + "*.*");
FileInfo fileInformation = new FileInfo(addressArray[addressArray.Length - 1]);
long fileSize = fileInformation.Length;
if (fileSize > 5000000)
{
int fileNo = int.Parse(addressArray[addressArray.Length - 1].Substring(addressArray[addressArray.Length - 1].LastIndexOf('_') + 1, 1)) + 1;
fileAddress = addressArray[addressArray.Length - 1].Substring(0, addressArray[addressArray.Length - 1].LastIndexOf('_') + 1) + fileNo.ToString() + ".csv";
}
else
{
fileAddress = addressArray[addressArray.Length - 1];
csvLines = File.ReadAllLines(address).ToList();
}
}
else
{
string[] headings = makeHeadings();
csvLines.Add(headings[0]);
csvLines.Add(headings[1]);
}
string newLine = "";
// some operations and calculations for newLine
// some operations and calculations for newLine
// some operations and calculations for newLine
newLine = newLine.Substring(1, newLine.Length-1);
csvLines.Add(newLine);
File.WriteAllLines(fileAddress, csvLines.ToArray());
Thanks for your help.
For question 2: In order to change the default program, if you are using Windows, you could click start and find/type 'Default Programs'. Depending on the version of windows, basically find 'Associate a file type of protocol with a program' or 'choose a default application by file type' and adjust the csv file to use a new default program.
I would be very careful if both program and notepad are able accessing the file in the same time. The reason why it was blocked in the first place was to prevent overridding the content of the file, thus probably test it first if you open it in the program and notepad. Then the program make some update - and you also make a different update with the notepad. Would both changes be recorded? As I suspect the 'last save' win in which you may lost some of your changes.
For question 1: I was guessing that whoever open the file first got the lock of that file. As such, if Excel was opening the file - then the program would have that error. Vice versa, if the program had opened the file - then the Excel may have problem opening that file. I'm not sure how to give priority to the program.
Hello I’m trying to create directory folder with text document for my windows form application executable. Now I must make it available locally for other users.
I'm doing it this way:
string dir = "%ProgramData%\\MyAppName\\doc.txt";
if (!Directory.Exists(dir))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(dir));
var stream = File.CreateText(dir);
stream.Close();
}
and here is my access path from executable directory inside the code:
const string mypath = (#"%ProgramData%\MyAppName\doc.txt");
On the one stage of implementation I have also separate creation of document, but I almost sure that has no connection with problem, because creates it once and never overwrites if file exist, keeps content of text document with each new run of program, adding of data or request to it. Only if I delete it by hand, in this case creates new one:
if (File.Exists(mypath))
wordsTyped.AddRange(File.ReadAllLines(mypath));
and works perfect with local path to debug folder like this:
const string tetdb = ("doc.txt");
So code for executable must work same way, if directory, folder, file with content exist don't do nothing with it. But with code above, it rewrites everything with every request to it, not only with new run of program, with folder, text document and content inside.
but must be as follows: if folder is created once, if directory, file, document exist, no netter with code of executable, or with press enter, or it was already there. keep content inside the text document with every start of program or request to it of adding to it.
I've tried create only folder to executable path, to create text document separately as it shown above, but I got same result. So how to avoid this problem, what I'm doing wrong?
The test for !Directory.Exists is the cause of your problem.
You pass a filename to the method, thus the method returns false (a directory with that name doesn't exist).
This means that you always enter the if and calling File.Create over an existing file overwrite the content of the file
string file = "%ProgramData%\\MyAppName\\doc.txt";
if (!Directory.Exists(Path.GetDirectoryName(file)))
{
....
}
I currently have a program that merges a folder consisting of word docs into one combined file via user input with a FileBrowserDialog. Once files are selected, a 'combine' button applies the code shown below which sources the folder containing the documents, output location and name of the file created.
string fileDate = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yy");
string fileTime = DateTime.Now.ToString("HH.mm.ss");
string outcomeFolder = outputFolder;
string outputFileType = ".docx";
string outputFile = "Combined Folder " + fileDate + " # " + fileTime + outputFileType;
string outputFileName = Path.Combine(outcomeFolder, outputFile);
// Combines the file name, output path selected and the yes / no for pagebreaks.
MsWord.Merge(sourceFiles, outputFileName, pageBreaker);
// Message displaying how many files are combined.
MessageBox.Show("A total of " + sourceFiles.Length.ToString() + " documents have been merged", "Success", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);}
The MsWord referenced calls a separate .CS file which combines the folder components, output name and a boolean to enable page-breaks. The MsWord also automatically saves the word .doc to the user specified location once the contents of the folder are successfully combined. MsWord.Merge(sourceFiles, outputFileName, pageBreaker);
The issue i'm wanting to address is, when I enable this check box:
if (convert2PDFBox.Checked)
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application officeApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application();
officeApp.Documents.Open(outputFileName);
outputFileType = ".pdf";
officeApp.ActiveDocument.SaveAs(outputFileName + outputFileType, WdSaveFormat.wdFormatPDF);
officeApp.Quit();
I want the program to solely create a PDF of the combined folder and not 2 seperate .doc and .PDF files, which it currently does. Since the MsWord.save function is called separately and is essential to the overall function of my program, I was wondering is there a possibility of deleting the initially combined file once conversion of the PDF takes place? e.g. "combinedDocument".Delete - Essentially allowing the copy to take place however not presenting the user with the initial .doc - only the .PDF
Though the issue is small, I would love to get it addressed and welcome any suggestions or advice with this manner. I can also provide any additional information if needed, thank you.
tl;dr - merging program creates an amalgamated Word .doc, which i want to change solely to a PDF when a checkbox is enabled instead of creating a .doc and PDF.
I finally resolved my issue - What I decided to do was manipulate my existing MsWord.cs and create a separate PDF.cs call for my main form:
Rather than save the Word .doc when being merged, I instead used: wordApplication.ActiveDocument.SaveAs(outputFile, Word.WdSaveFormat.wdFormatPDF);
which saved the merged content thus far as a .pdf
This however presented errors with Microsoft Word as I was then prompted to 'Save File As' due to the merged file never actually being saved in a .Doc / .Docx format
I then altered the closing statement of the call,
// Close Word application
wordApplication.Quit(
false, // save changes
By setting the 'Save Changes' setting to False, it removed the 'Save As' prompt which allowed the Word doc. to be dismissed without needing to be saved, thus leaving only the initial PDF created. I then applied the two separate File type calls to each checkbox presented, which allowed the user to enable the outcome format of the merged files.
Thank you for the suggestions regarding the issue.
We are using an application that reads the file and inserts into database. For some reason, we set the creation time to a particular time. and when we create the file the application picks up the file before we even change the creation time. Is there anyway that we can lock the file until we change its creation time.
The error i am getting is at File.SetCreationTime as the file is being used by other process or the file is archived.
//Copy signal file
s = filePath + "s";
newS = targetFullPath2 + "s";
File.Copy(s, newS, true);
//
//new creation ts
dtFileCreation = File.GetCreationTime(s);
//retain creation time
File.SetCreationTime(newS, dtFileCreation);
Please advice.
The common solution to this is to create the file (and set its timestamp) in a different directory or under a different name first, and then move or rename it when it’s ready so the other process can pick it up. The move/rename is an atomic operation on NTFS (unless of course you move files between separate partitions).
For example:
s = filePath + "s";
newS = targetFullPath2 + "s";
File.Copy(s, newS + "_", true); // add the _ so the other process
// doesn’t “see” the file yet
dtFileCreation = File.GetCreationTime(s);
File.SetCreationTime(newS + "_", dtFileCreation);
// We’re done with the file, now rename it to its intended final name
File.Move(newS + "_", newS);
That error indicates someone (it could be you or another program) is locking the file; therefore, I do not think locking the file will solve your problem. What kind of file is it? Is your code reading the file and forgetting to close the stream after it is done?