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Where to store static files in the cloud used by the application?

My application refers to a bunch of xsd files which are used for xml validation. Currently, they are stored in my local directory and I refer it by giving a path to the primary xsd like "C:\TestFolder\TestFile.xsd". This path is stored in the mongo database. I am not sure where do I store the files once I host this application on the Cloud(Azure). And how do I refer that path in mongo? Since there would be many instances of this application running on the cloud, I am not sure what is the best way to solve this problem.
One way could be to store the files in the project and refer them but I don't think that is the best way.
Can someone point me in the right direction?
The xsd files are not changed by the application, they are just used for validation.

Solution 1 (Simple). Make sure you are using the Relative Path and not the Absolute Path when dealing with the files. Also, make sure to import the files into the project and set the “Copy to Output Directory” property to “Copy Always” so that it can be accessed at run time.
Solution 2. You could store your static files as Blob files on Azure and then reference them (there are many tutorials available out there on how to do it). This way, should you accidentally delete your application, those files will not be lost.

Add Multiple Folders / Directories to a ZipFile

I am writing a backup program that requires predefined multiple folder(s) & single file(s) to be added to a single zip archive. I have had no issues adding a single folder using -ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory(string, string, c..level, bool(false))
However i am having a hard time adding multiple folders as there does not seem to be a way to update an archive or target two folders using the CreateFromDirectory method.
- Would be nice if there was an UpdateFromDirectory mehod!
I have been trying to stay away from third party libraries for no reason really, however as far as i have found none deal with multiple unrecursive folders.
I have tried just about everything other than writing my own code to recurse & add individually which i don't really want to do.
The program has several inputs that defines the folders / files to be zipped and depending on whether they are not null should add them to a single zip file regardless of whether they are a folder or file.
I guess my question is whether this is possible at all using the boxed libraries without custom recursing or even with a third party library without heavy mods... Not sure if i have made my question clear, sure you will all let me know if i have not.

From what I can tell using the ZipFile class you can only create and read. if you want to update you would need to create the whole zip again. [Source: ZipFile methods]
to target more than one folder you could arrange all the files and folders into one folder then zip the entire source without including the source folder. In most cases moving this files/folders isn't possible so I'd recommend looking into Symlinks within windows. I'd redirect to you [Issue with creating symbolic link to directory

You can create a "myFolder" folder and put in it all the folders you want found in the zipped folder. Then do ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory("myFolder", "name of zip file to create", CompressionLevel.Fastest, false, Encoding.UTF8). Overriding this IncludeBaseDirectory method to false allows this to be done.

Prevent deleting a folder during uninstall

Is there any possible way to prevent files in a folder being removed or from over written during re installation? i have a folder where i store some templates for sending mails which user can edit.I have added the basic templates in my setup and so during re installation it removes the templates which the user might have already edited and places a new copy of the template.How can i prevent this?Should i use installer class or is there any property that i can use?Please Guide.

See:
File Versioning Rules (Windows)
Especially:
Neither File Has a Version (Windows)
You are using a tool that makes every single file a key file of it's own components. Therefore, you should already be getting this default behavior. If you set Permanent, they should not get removed. You said that the use "can" modify these files. The behavior is that if they haven't modified the files, they will get overwritten and if they have modified the files they will not.
However, IMO, a better pattern is to have an override directory that users can copy templates to and modify. You can get into undesired behaviors on upgrades resulting from the conflict of 1) My new build fixes something and 2) I can't install it because the old stuff has user data. This is especially true for things like XML files.

this can be done by selecting the file properties and setting the value of permanent to true.

Localization Resources .NET - how to keep them synchronized?

When we follow localization guidelines we endup with at least a couple of resource files.
Resource.resx and Resource.CI.resx which is a specific CultureInfo resource.
Lets say we add a hundred string pairs in Resource.resx and want to translate those keys in another resource. we can copy paste them right now and translate them and it might work the first time.
However after we translate strings it becomes hard to keep files synchronized - it reorders strings automatically and I currently don't understand what is the supposed way to make sure each string is localized.
Since resource strings are supposed to be kind of linked with each other and with extra job that is done to make sure satellite assemblies are built correctly I was hoping theres a function like 'make sure each resource string is present in localized resource file' but I am afraid that one is missing..

RESX Synchroniser might do you what you are looking for
When you edit the .NET Resource files
in Visual Studio, either manually and
using the "Generate Local Resources"
command, the IDE updates only the
culture-invariant resources: if you
have a resource file called
Messages.aspx, the files in other
languages, say Messages.it-IT.resx,
are not updated, and you have to do
that manually. RESX Synchronizer will
help you keep the resource files
synchronized, adding the new keys to
the localized files, and removing the
deleted ones. Comments are preserved
during the process.

I just found http://zetaresourceeditor.codeplex.com/ as well seems like a similar idea to the others

may be UnitTest can help you? you know, which text each control should have, once you create them, after just add new strings to list and compare the values. after once hard working you can test your localization works right.

a little old this discussion, but still interesting. have a look at ResXManager

I know this has already been given traditional answers, but I would also like to put forward something completely original we tried (and succeeded) doing ourselves for more efficient localisation of Silverlight:
Localisation of Silverlight projects after completion
(Resx is so "last century")

I suggest you create culture specific resource files programmatically using the Resx file for that Winform.
You can create a small app which you could run time to time.
Create XML kind of file for each culture like fr.XML, fill that with the Union of all the strings in your project.And provide the translations there itself like, for example that file in french might look like the following..
< wordTranslation>
< Word>Hello< /Word>
< Translation>Bonjour< /Translation>
< /wordTranslation>
Create a hashtable or some data structure which would best act as dictionary for each culture, fill it with data from the culture specific XMl files like frDictionary.
For Each Resx file in your project for example wind1.resx , create a culture specific file like wind1.fr.resx.
Read words from wind1.resx, find the translation of the word from the frDictionayry.
Write it to wind1.fr.resx.
You can keep updating your translations in the XML file.
So its a one time effort.
This way you can keep it synchornised and easily maintainable.

You mean synchronize translations between those files? Use http://www.getlocalization.com and upload both as master files, when they are translated the translations are populated to all your files.

I think you can try Amanuens. It's developed by the same author of RESX Synchronizer and besides help keeping resource files synchronized (even automatically into your repository if you set it), can be used to give your translators access to strings to be translated in a very powerful and easy to use web editor.

Copy Folder/File wiithout modifying attributes?

Is it possible to copy a file or a folder from one location to another without modifying its attribute data? For example if I have a folder on a network drive and it was created on 2/3/2007 and I want to copy it to my c: drive .. but leave the date/time stamp as 2/3/2007...is that possible?

I'm not sure if it is possible; however you can use the methods within System.IO.File and System.IO.Directory to reset these attributes back to what they were originally.
Specifically the SetCreationTime and SetModificationTime methods will be of most value to you in this case.

I did something as shown below:
File.SetCreationTime(tgtFile, File.GetCreationTime(srcFile));
File.SetLastAccessTime(tgtFile, File.GetLastAccessTime(srcFile));
File.SetLastWriteTime(tgtFile, File.GetLastWriteTime(srcFile));

When you copy a file, it will retain the modified date, however the created date will be changed. I doubt there will be an easy way to retain the created date.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.io.file.copy?view=net-7.0
The attributes of the original file are retained in the copied file.