I'm working on a project for a class. What I have to do is export parsed instructions to a file. Microsoft has this example which explains how to write to a file:
// Compose a string that consists of three lines.
string lines = "First line.\r\nSecond line.\r\nThird line.";
// Write the string to a file.
System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter("c:\\test.txt");
file.WriteLine(lines);
file.Close();
I'm fine with that part, but is there a way to write the file to the current project's environment/location? I'd like to do that instead of hard coding a specific path (i.e. "C:\\test.txt").
Yes, just use a relative path. If you use #".\test.txt" ( btw the # just says I'm doing a string literal, it removes the need for the escape character so you could also do ".\\test.txt" and it would write to the same place) it will write the file to the current working directory which in most cases is the folder containing your program.
You can use Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location to get the path of your main assembly (.exe). Do note that if that path is inside a protected folder (for example Program Files) you won't be able to write there unless the user is an administrator - don't rely on this.
Here is sample code:
string path = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
string fileName = Path.Combine(path, "test.txt");
This question / answer shows how to get the user's profile folder where you'll have write access. Alternatively, you can use the user's My Documents folder to save files - again, you're guaranteed to have access to it. You can get that path by calling
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments)
If you want to get the current folder location of your program use this code :
string path = Directory.GetParent(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location).FullName; // return the application.exe current folder
string fileName = Path.Combine(path, "test.txt"); // make the full path as folder/test.text
Full code to write the data to the file :
string path = Directory.GetParent(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location).FullName;
string fileName = Path.Combine(path, "test.txt");
if (!File.Exists(fileName))
{
// Create the file.
using (FileStream fs = File.Create(fileName))
{
Byte[] info =
new UTF8Encoding(true).GetBytes("This is some text in the file.");
// Add some information to the file.
fs.Write(info, 0, info.Length);
}
}
Related
I'm looking to make a program to make my life easier, I need to be able to easily select a folder, which I can do, I don't need help with that. I want to take the directory of a folder, and put that folder into a new folder with a specified name, and then zip up that folder into a zip format in which I can change the name and filetype of. Is this possible in vanilla C#? I've only ever done files for text and I've never looked at moving and packaging files. SO I'm really clueless, I'd just like to be guided into the right direction.
Edit: I found this code online, but I need to put the folder inside another folder, may I adapt upon this to do so?
string startPath = #"c:\example\start";
string zipPath = #"c:\example\result.zip";
string extractPath = #"c:\example\extract";
ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory(startPath, zipPath);
ZipFile.ExtractToDirectory(zipPath, extractPath);
So, after an extended chat discussion, here's what we've established.
The goal is to put the contents of a source directory into a zip with the following structure:
- Payload
|- name of source
|-- contents of source
Okay, so, starting from an input path called startPath:
var parent = Path.GetDirectoryName(startPath);
var payload = Path.Combine(parent, "payload");
Directory.CreateDirectory(payload); // ensure payload ex
Directory.Move(startPath, Path.Combine(payload, Path.GetFileName(startPath));
var zipPath = Path.Combine(parent, "export.zip");
File.Delete(zipPath);
ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory(payload , zipPath, CompressionLevel.Optimal, true);
The key is that true in the CreateFromDirectory call, that puts the entries in the archive under a directory with the same name as the directory being zipped (in this case, "payload"). Feel free to change CompressionLevel to other values if you want.
Now, this has the side effect of actually physically moving the source directory, which might not be the best user experience. If you want to avoid that, you'll have to basically do what ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory does by hand, which is to enumerate the source directory yourself and then copy the files into the zip archive (in which case you can name those files whatever you want):
var parent = Path.GetDirectoryName(startPath);
var zipPath = Path.Combine(parent, "export.zip");
File.Delete(zipPath);
using var zip = ZipFile.Open(zipPath, ZipArchiveMode.Create);
foreach(var file in Directory.EnumerateFiles(startPath, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories))
{
// get the path of the file relative to the parent directory
// this gives us a path that starts with the source directory name
// e.g. C:\example\start\file.txt -> start\file.txt
var relativePath = Path.GetRelativePath(parent, file);
// construct the path of the entry in the archive
// this is "Payload", and then the relative path of the file
// we need to fix up the separators because zip entries use /
// e.g. start\file.txt -> Payload/start/file.txt
var entryPath = Path.Combine("Payload", relativePath).Replace(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar, '/');
// put the file in the archive
// to specify a compression level, pass it as the third parameter here
zip.CreateEntryFromFile(file, entryPath);
}
http://pastebin.com/DgpMx3Sx
Currently i have this, i need to find a way to make it so that as opposed to writing out the directory of the txt files, i want it to create them in the same location as the exe and access them.
basically i want to change these lines
string location = #"C:\Users\Ryan\Desktop\chaz\log.txt";
string location2 = #"C:\Users\Ryan\Desktop\chaz\loot.txt";
to something that can be moved around your computer without fear of it not working.
If you're saving the files in the same path as the executable file then you can get the directory using:
string appPath = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
Normally you wouldn't do that, mostly because the install path will be found in the Program Files folders, which require Administrative level access to be modified. You would want to store it in the Application Data folder. That way it is hidden, but commonly accessible through all the users.
You could accomplish such a feat by:
string path = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);
string fullPath = Path.Combine(path, #"NameOfApplication");
With those first two lines you'll always have the proper path to a globally accessible location for the application.
Then when you do something you would simply combine the fullPath and the name of the file you attempt to manipulate with FileStream or StreamWriter.
If structured correctly it could be as simple as:
private static void WriteToLog(string file)
{
string path = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);
string fullPath = Path.Combine(path, #"NameOfApplication");
// Validation Code should you need it.
var log = Path.Combine(fullPath, file);
using(StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(log))
{
// Data
}
}
You could obviously structure or make it better, this is just to provide an example. Hopefully this points you in the right direction, without more specifics then I can't be more help.
But this is how you can access data in a common area and write out to the file of your choice.
I wrote a simple console tool that reads a file and then writes something out. I intend to just drag and drop files and then out pops the output in the same directory as the input file.
All of the testing works, and when I call it from command-line, everything comes out as expected. However, when I tried dragging and dropping it in explorer, no files were created.
I did a search through the system and found that they were all dumped at Documents and Settings under my user folder, and when I printed out the full path that's what it said.
Which is weird. Wouldn't Path.GetFullPath return the absolute path of the input file? Instead it looks like it just combined that user directory path to the input's filename.
EDIT: here's the code. I feel like I've made a logic error somewhere but can't seem to see it.
filename = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(args[i]);
abspath = Path.GetFullPath(filename);
dirpath = Path.GetDirectoryName(abspath);
....
Console.WriteLine(dirpath);
Path.GetFullPath should return the absolute path of the path string you pass in.
Path.GetFileName(string path) only returns the filename and extension of the file you pass in. For example, System.IO.Path.GetFileName("C:\SomeDirectory\Test.txt"); would just return "Test.txt". You'll want to use the Path.GetDirectoryName to get the path of your input file, like so:
string inputDirectory = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(args[i]);
Alternately, you can use the FileInfo class to retrieve a bunch more information about your input file. For example:
// Assuming args[i] = "C:\SomeDirectory\Test.txt"
FileInfo inputFile = new FileInfo(args[i]);
string inputDirectory = inputFile.DirectoryName; // "C:\SomeDirectory"
string inputFileName = inputFile.Name; // "Test.txt"
string fullInputFile = inputFile.FullName; // "C:\SomeDirectory\Test.txt"
I'm trying to save a file at path WindowsFormsApplication1\WindowsFormsApplication1\SaveFile but the following code returning me a "DirectoryNotFound" Exception with the message :
Could not find a part of the path
'D:\WindowsFormsApplication1\WindowsFormsApplication1\WindowsFormsApplication1\bin\Debug\SaveFile\Hello.tx
String Path = #".\SaveFile\Hello.txt";
FileInfo info = new FileInfo(Path);
if (!info.Exists)
{
using (StreamWriter writer = info.CreateText())
{
writer.WriteLine("HELLO");
}
}
Could anyone please tell me how should I save a file at my desirable folder with specifying complete path?
When you are running in the debugger, your default path is under bin\Debug. That's what "." means in your path.
Which folder do you want to save to? You'll need to specify the full path. Perhaps you'll want to pull the path from a config file. That way, the path will be able to change based on where your application is deployed.
As the error message tells you the file will be saved in the subdirectory SaveFile under bin/debug. Before you can save a file you have to create a directory with Directory.CreateDirectory("SaveFile"). It will not be automatically created.
You need to make sure the directory exists prior to creating the text file.
String Path = #".\SaveFile\Hello.txt";
FileInfo info = new FileInfo(Path);
if (!info.Exists)
{
if (!info.Directory.Exists)
info.Directory.Create();
using (StreamWriter writer = info.CreateText())
{
writer.WriteLine("HELLO");
}
}
What am I doing wrong in the following code?
public string ReadFromFile(string text)
{
string toReturn = "";
System.IO.FileStream stream = new System.IO.FileStream(text, System.IO.FileMode.Open);
System.IO.StreamReader reader = new System.IO.StreamReader(text);
toReturn = reader.ReadToEnd();
stream.Close();
return toReturn;
}
I put a text.txt file inside my bin\Debug folder and for some reason, each time when I enter this file name ("text.txt") I am getting an exception of System.IO.FileNotFoundException.
It is not safe to assume that the current working directory is identical to the directory in which your binary is residing. You can usually use code like the following to refer to the directory of your application:
string applicationDirectory = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase);
string filename = System.IO.Path.Combine(applicationDirectory, text);
This may or may not be a solution for your given problem. On a sidenote, text is not really a decent variable name for a filename.
If I want to open a file that is always in a folder relative to the application's startup path, I use:
Application.StartupPath
to simply get the startuppath, then I append the rest of the path (subfolders and or file name).
On a side note: in real life (i.e. in the end user's configuration) the location of a file you need to read is seldom relative to the applications startup path. Applications are usually installed in the Program Files folder, application data is stored elsewhere.
File.ReadAllText(path) does the same thing as your code. I would suggest using rooted path like "c:......\text.txt" instead of the relative path. The current directory is not necessarily set to your app's home directory.
You can use Process Monitor (successor to FileMon) to find out exactly what file your application tries to read.
My suggestions:
public string ReadFromFile(string fileName)
{
using(System.IO.FileStream stream = new System.IO.FileStream(fileName, System.IO.FileMode.Open))
using(System.IO.StreamReader reader = new System.IO.StreamReader(stream))
{
return = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
}
or even
string text = File.OpenText(fileName).ReadToEnd();
You can also check is file exists:
if(File.Exists(fileName))
{
// do something...
}
At last - maybe your text.txt file is open by other process and it can't be read at this moment.