We Keep Coding

How to save a file's original location?

This is what i'm trying to do in my application:
On startup, the application searches for specific files (*.txt for example) in a specific folder (let's say c:\testfolder + all subfolders) and stores their path in a simple string[]. Some files might be located in the root-folder (c:\testfolder), some files have additional subfolders (c:\testfolder\subfolderA\subfolderB).
Now, when I click on a button, all selected files are moved to a temp-folder (like c:\testfolder\temp). When I now close and reopen the application, I want to move all files from the temp-folder to their original location. Obviously this won't work, since the original path was overwritten after restarting the app.
This might be an easy task, but could someone maybe give me hint on how I could do this?
/edit
Would it be possible to ignore a specific folder (temp-folder in this case) when searching for files? Basically moved files are ignored & the old path is still saved (in Properties.Settings. for example) from the first start.
Current code I'm using to get all files:
var files = Directory.EnumerateFiles(file_path, "*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories).Where(s => s.EndsWith(".jpg") || s.EndsWith(".png"));

Get a file path C#

I have a .txt file that I need to read in my program. For the moment I have the directory hardcoded as such:
file = new StreamReader(#"C:\Users\<username>\Documents\File.txt");
However that will (obviously) not work on any other PC that does not have that access to altering the code, or (by some strange happenstance) the same directory as the original code.
How can I get the full file path to set it in my program using C#?

You could create the file in their Application Data directory (they could still find it if they wanted to, but at least it wouldn't be as obvious as the My Documents folder).
When you want to access it, use the Environment class. There are methods for locating special folders for the current user, without resorting to hard-coded paths:
var filePath = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData), "File.txt");

Option 1:
Application.StartupPath can be used for the purpose.
It gets the path for the executable file that started the application, not including the executable name.
Keep File.txt with your executable.
Option 2:
Use Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData
It gives directory that serves as a common repository for application-specific data for the current roaming user.
NOTE: If you want to restrict the user to look into the contents of File.txt then you might need to encrypt the contents.

How to implement a text file in content (XNA)

I am building a game which loads its map from a text file.
While creating the parts that handle maps, I simply kept the text file in the content folder and fetched it by its Windows filepath. This won't work for proper deployment (or even running the game from different drives) because it requires that the filepath be exactly the same.
I looked around for a way to include the text file the same way I would a Texture2D, but I cannot find any class that allows me to use it. Some answers to other questions suggested that I just use the text file from my content folder? How would I do that? My program's name is IslandQuest (placeholder; it doesn't even involve an island) so would I place the text file in the IslandQuestContent folder generated by XNA Studio? How would I access it from there such that its filepath doesn't depend on the drive configuration of a computer?
Thanks for any help.

This may not be the best way to do this but just looked back at what I did in my first year at university with XNA,
I added my txt file to the contents folder. Then in the properties for the file (select it in the solution explorer and view properties window) there should be "Copy to Output Directory", make sure this is copy if newer.
Then its just a case of
string.Format("Content/{0}.txt", filename)
I do think this can be improved perhaps by the following but it is untested
Path.Combine(Content,filename +".txt");

In my case I was reading XML file files from a data folder in my main project.
So under my project in Solution explore I had this set up:
WindowsPhoneGame1
...
data/
content.xml
Game1.cs
Program.cs
etc...
Where properties for content.xml were Build Action: Content and Copy to Output Directory: Copy always
In the class that read the file I used TitleContainer.OpenStream Method which according to the docs:
Returns a stream to an existing file in the default title storage
location. .... The stream returned is read-only. The file to be read must already exist, or this method will fail.
My example code
//open stream
Stream stream = TitleContainer.OpenStream("data/content.xml");
//do something with it...

Create a "Content" folder in your main project.
Put the files that cannot be put in the Content project in there.
Be sure to set all your content Build actions to Content and Copy Always.
The Content folder from your main project and the content in the content project will end up in the same folder when built.
The file path would still be "Content/file.ext" or whatever.

Using WritePrivateProfileString to write path issue

I am using WritePrivateProfileString in c# (through DllImport) to store paths taken from textboxes on the interface. And the .ini file name is hardcoded in my application
string ini_file = ".\\config.ini";
However, when the file writing happens, the configuration file is written to the first path taken from the interface instead of writing it to the exe directory. Which is quite odd.
Debugging shows that the values are sent correctly to the WritePrivateProfileString but it still is written to the wrong location. Anyone knows why is that happenening?

I'd guess that something is changing the working directory of your process, most likely your code in the process. Note that the documentation has this to say:
If the lpFileName parameter does not contain a full path and file name for the file, WritePrivateProfileString searches the Windows directory for the file. If the file does not exist, this function creates the file in the Windows directory.
Now my guess is that this applies if you supply just a file name. Because your file name starts with . I believe that will force the function to start from the current working directory.
Having said all of that, and no matter what the cause of the problem is, you should use a fully-qualified path in order to make sure the file is written where you want it to be written. Whenever you want the file to go in a specific directory, it's always easiest to force that by using fully-qualified paths.
You can find the path to your executable using Application.ExecutablePath and then remove the file name part.
Another point to make is that the same directory as the executable may be a bad choice. If your program is installed under the Program Files directory then the directory which contains the executable will not be generally writeable. I think you should consider using a directory under in the user profile. Look for one of the Environment.SpecialFolder values.

Further to David Heffernan's answer - you can use
Path.GetDirectoryName(Application.ExecutablePath);
to safely get just the running application's folder part.
If you're in a dll rather than an executable, you can use
Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(MyClass)).CodeBase);
Both require System.IO, and were originally posted here. Second example also requires System.Reflection).

Application data files are supposed to be written to the LocalApplicationData special folder.
string path = System.Environment.GetFolderPath(System.Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData);
You typically will not have permissions to write into the Program Files folder etc.

Quick Question: How can I make sure the current directory is not changed because of OpenFileDialog?

say my application is installed in C:\programfiles\xyz\ I've some setting & other data files (*.dat files) in this directory too.
My application uses OpenFileDialog to open an image. Problem is that when ever user browses to some directory (say MyPictures) for an image. The current working directory of the application becomes that directory (MyPictures in this case).
After user inputs the image. I do some processing over it and save some values to imagedata.dat which will be located in the path where original application is installed.(C:\programfiles\xyz here )
In my code I'm just using FileStream("imagedata.dat",...,...) without any path prefix before the filename. Problem here is that application is crashing because it is searching for imagedata.dat in 'MyPictures\imagedata.dat'.
How can I avoid this?

You should be using absolute path names when saving data to files. The current working directory is controlled by the user, not by you (for example, if they launch your process from a shortcut then the working directory could've been changed before your process even starts up).
Also, you should never save anything under C:\Program Files during normal use. Doing this means your program needs to be running as an administrator, and unless you're doing administrator-y things then you should be able to run it as a regular user.
The correct thing to do in your case is to use the Environment.GetFolderPath() function to get the location of the ApplicationData folder and save your data under there. Just choose a sub-directory based on your application's name.

You could save it to GetCurrentDirectory then restore with SetCurrentDirectory. However, I agree wih codeka that using the appropriate GetFolderPath (probably ApplicationData, CommonApplicationData or LocalApplicationData) is a better solution.