We Keep Coding

Trouble with BackGround

I've problems with an image, I've create a background for my application called gridBg.png and I've read it in this way:
string currentDir = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory();
if (File.Exists((currentDir + #"/Images/gridBg.png")))
{
bgAnimated.StopAnimation();
bgAnimated.GifSource = currentDir + #"/Images/gridBg.png";
bgAnimated.NormalLoopFrameCount = 20;
bgAnimated.SpecialLoopFrameCount = 20;
bgAnimated.TotalLoopFrameCount = 40;
bgAnimated.NormalLoopRepeatCount = 1;
bgAnimated.SpecialLoopRepeatCount = 1;
bgAnimated.StartAnimation();
}
On debug mode it works all properly. I've add the image on the setup project and I've given to it Images path. When I install and try the application it works properly too but the problem is that some of my friends does not see the image but the image is on the right place, the Images folder. Anyone has suggests?
SOLVED: string currentDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);

The only way I can even think this could happen is the Working Directory for your friends isn't set to the install directory. This would cause the currentDir to be wrong.
Per the MSDN documentation, GetCurrentDirectory does this:
Gets the current working directory of the application

How to navigate a few folders up?

One option would be to do System.IO.Directory.GetParent() a few times. Is there a more graceful way of travelling a few folders up from where the executing assembly resides?
What I am trying to do is find a text file that resides one folder above the application folder. But the assembly itself is inside the bin, which is a few folders deep in the application folder.

Other simple way is to do this:
string path = #"C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\Folder4";
string newPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(path, #"..\..\"));
Note This goes two levels up. The result would be:
newPath = #"C:\Folder1\Folder2\";
Additional Note
Path.GetFullPath normalizes the final result based on what environment your code is running on windows/mac/mobile/...

if c:\folder1\folder2\folder3\bin is the path then the following code will return the path base folder of bin folder
//string directory=System.IO.Directory.GetParent(Environment.CurrentDirectory).ToString());
string directory=System.IO.Directory.GetParent(Environment.CurrentDirectory).ToString();
ie,c:\folder1\folder2\folder3
if you want folder2 path then you can get the directory by
string directory = System.IO.Directory.GetParent(System.IO.Directory.GetParent(Environment.CurrentDirectory).ToString()).ToString();
then you will get path as c:\folder1\folder2\

You can use ..\path to go one level up, ..\..\path to go two levels up from path.
You can use Path class too.
C# Path class

This is what worked best for me:
string parentOfStartupPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, #"../"));
Getting the 'right' path wasn't the problem, adding '../' obviously does that, but after that, the given string isn't usable, because it will just add the '../' at the end.
Surrounding it with Path.GetFullPath() will give you the absolute path, making it usable.

public static string AppRootDirectory()
{
string _BaseDirectory = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
return Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(_BaseDirectory, #"..\..\"));
}

Maybe you could use a function if you want to declare the number of levels and put it into a function?
private String GetParents(Int32 noOfLevels, String currentpath)
{
String path = "";
for(int i=0; i< noOfLevels; i++)
{
path += #"..\";
}
path += currentpath;
return path;
}
And you could call it like this:
String path = this.GetParents(4, currentpath);

C#
string upTwoDir = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(System.AppContext.BaseDirectory, #"..\..\"));

The following method searches a file beginning with the application startup path (*.exe folder). If the file is not found there, the parent folders are searched until either the file is found or the root folder has been reached. null is returned if the file was not found.
public static FileInfo FindApplicationFile(string fileName)
{
string startPath = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, fileName);
FileInfo file = new FileInfo(startPath);
while (!file.Exists) {
if (file.Directory.Parent == null) {
return null;
}
DirectoryInfo parentDir = file.Directory.Parent;
file = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(parentDir.FullName, file.Name));
}
return file;
}
Note: Application.StartupPath is usually used in WinForms applications, but it works in console applications as well; however, you will have to set a reference to the System.Windows.Forms assembly. You can replace Application.StartupPath by
Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location) if you prefer.
I use this strategy to find configuration and resource files. This allows me to share them for multiple applications or for Debug and Release versions of an application by placing them in a common parent folder.

Hiding a looped call to Directory.GetParent(path) inside an static method is the way to go.
Messing around with ".." and Path.Combine will ultimately lead to bugs related to the operation system or simply fail due to mix up between relative paths and absolute paths.
public static class PathUtils
{
public static string MoveUp(string path, int noOfLevels)
{
string parentPath = path.TrimEnd(new[] { '/', '\\' });
for (int i=0; i< noOfLevels; i++)
{
parentPath = Directory.GetParent(parentPath ).ToString();
}
return parentPath;
}
}

this may help
string parentOfStartupPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, #"../../")) + "Orders.xml";
if (File.Exists(parentOfStartupPath))
{
// file found
}

If you know the folder you want to navigate to, find the index of it then substring.
var ind = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory().ToString().IndexOf("Folderame");
string productFolder = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory().ToString().Substring(0, ind);

I have some virtual directories and I cannot use Directory methods. So, I made a simple split/join function for those interested. Not as safe though.
var splitResult = filePath.Split(new[] {'/', '\\'}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
var newFilePath = Path.Combine(filePath.Take(splitResult.Length - 1).ToArray());
So, if you want to move 4 up, you just need to change the 1 to 4 and add some checks to avoid exceptions.

Path parsing via System.IO.Directory.GetParent is possible, but would require to run same function multiple times.
Slightly simpler approach is to threat path as a normal string, split it by path separator, take out what is not necessary and then recombine string back.
var upperDir = String.Join(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar, dir.Split(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar).SkipLast(2));
Of course you can replace 2 with amount of levels you need to jump up.
Notice also that this function call to Path.GetFullPath (other answers in here) will query whether path exists using file system. Using basic string operation does not require any file system operations.

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);
}

C# Windows Application - Linking a button to start a game

I believe I have been taking the right approach to this so far, but I would like to have a button start a video game on my computer.
So far, I have a button linking to a process:
void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
process1.Start();
}
this.process1.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
this.process1.StartInfo.Domain = "";
this.process1.StartInfo.FileName = "MBO\\marbleblast.exe";
this.process1.StartInfo.LoadUserProfile = false;
this.process1.StartInfo.Password = null;
this.process1.StartInfo.StandardErrorEncoding = null;
this.process1.StartInfo.StandardOutputEncoding = null;
this.process1.StartInfo.UserName = "";
this.process1.SynchronizingObject = this;
this.process1.Exited += new System.EventHandler(this.Process1Exited);
So, where-ever I place the EXE (the one I'm coding), it will launch the "marbleblast.exe" under the subfolder MBO relative to it's location.
It seems to be working and trying to launch the game, however, it says it cannot load files that are there. I tested the game without my launcher, and it worked. I believe it's trying to run the EXE, but not letting it use the other files inside of it's folder.
I'll give more details if needed.
How can I get the game to run normally?

try adding this
this.process1.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory= "MBO\\";
or something similar to set the Working Directory.

this.process1.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory= "MBO\";
There's sloppy programming in the game, it relies on the Environment.CurrentDirectory being set right. Which by default is the same directory as where the EXE is located. The upvoted answer repeats the mistake though. To make that statement actually fix the problem, you now rely on your CurrentDirectory being set right. If it is not set where you think it is then it still won't work.
The problem with the program's current directory is that it can be changed by software that you don't control. The classic example is OpenFileDialog with the RestoreDirectory property set to the default value of false. Etcetera.
Always program defensively and pass the full path name of files and directories. Like c:\mumble\foo.ext. To get that going, start with Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location, that's the path to your EXE. Then use the System.IO.Path class to generate path names from that. The correct always-works code is:
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
...
string myDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);
string gameDir = Path.Combine(myDir, "MBO");
string gameExe = Path.Combine(gameDir, "marbleblast.exe");
process1.StartInfo.FileName = gameExe;
process1.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = gameDir;
process1.SynchronizingObject = this;
process1.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
process1.Exited += new EventHandler(Process1Exited);

Set the WorkingDirectory property of the ProcessInfo to the correct directory.

I am Dobrakmato from MBForums. You simple need to add Working directory for Marble Blast.
this.process1.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
this.process1.StartInfo.Domain = "";
this.process1.StartInfo.FileName = "MBO\\marbleblast.exe";
this.process1.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "pathto marbleblast.exe directory";
this.process1.StartInfo.LoadUserProfile = false;
this.process1.StartInfo.Password = null;
this.process1.StartInfo.StandardErrorEncoding = null;
this.process1.StartInfo.StandardOutputEncoding = null;
this.process1.StartInfo.UserName = "";
this.process1.SynchronizingObject = this;
this.process1.Exited += new System.EventHandler(this.Process1Exited);

A problem with Relative Path Resolution when setting an Image Source

I have built a small WPF application that allows users to upload documents and then select one to display.
The following is the code for the file copy.
public static void MoveFile( string directory, string subdirectory)
{
var open = new OpenFileDialog {Multiselect = false, Filter = "AllFiles|*.*"};
var newLocation = CreateNewDirectory( directory, subdirectory, open.FileName);
if ((bool) open.ShowDialog())
CopyFile(open.FileName, newLocation);
else
"You must select a file to upload".Show();
}
private static void CopyFile( string oldPath, string newPath)
{
if(!File.Exists(newPath))
File.Copy(oldPath, newPath);
else
string.Format("The file {0} already exists in the current directory.", Path.GetFileName(newPath)).Show();
}
The file is copied without incident. However, when the user tries to select a file they just copied to display, A file not found exception. After debugging, I've found that the UriSource for the dynamic image is resolving the relative path 'Files{selected file}' to the directory that was just browsed by the file select in the above code instead of the Application directory as it seems like it should.
This problem only occurs when a newly copied file is selected. If you restart the application and select the new file it works fine.
Here's the code that dynamically sets the Image source:
//Cover = XAML Image
Cover.Source(string.Format(#"Files\{0}\{1}", item.ItemID, item.CoverImage), "carton.ico");
...
public static void Source( this Image image, string filePath, string alternateFilePath)
{
try
{image.Source = GetSource(filePath);}
catch(Exception)
{image.Source = GetSource(alternateFilePath);}
}
private static BitmapImage GetSource(string filePath)
{
var source = new BitmapImage();
source.BeginInit();
source.UriSource = new Uri( filePath, UriKind.Relative);
//Without this option, the image never finishes loading if you change the source dynamically.
source.CacheOption = BitmapCacheOption.OnLoad;
source.EndInit();
return source;
}
I'm stumped. Any thought's would be appreciated.

Although I don't have a direct answer, you should use caution for such allowing people to upload files. I was at a seminar where they had good vs bad hackers to simulate real life exploits. One was such that files were allowed to be uploaded. They uploaded malicious asp.net files and called the files directly as they new where the images were ultimately presented to the users, and were able to eventually take over a system. You may want to verify somehow what TYPES of files are being allowed and maybe have stored in a non-exeucting directory of your web server.

It turns out I was missing an option in the constructor of my openfiledialogue. The dialogue was changing the current directory which was causing the relative paths to resolve incorrectly.
If you replace the open file with the following:
var open = new OpenFileDialog{ Multiselect = true, Filter = "AllFiles|*.*", RestoreDirectory = true};
The issue is resolved.