We Keep Coding

Search and return path of given folder name (Windows and Linux)

I want to get the path of an existing folder SeleniumTestData inside the solution.
Why? My selenium tests should create at start of the test, temporary folder which are being ignored in Git, so each of my colleagues has their own TestData folders for their own TestExecutions on their machine (Like Save/Load Cookies) and dont pull TestData from other colleagues.
The folder where i want to create other folder by code is named SeleniumTestData folder and is inside:
..\source\repos\CoffeeTalk\src\Tests
I cant hardcore the path, as i'm facing here 2 problems:
Tests are being ran in Windows and Docker (Linux)
Co-Workers are saving the solution in different windows directories
Now i need a general solution which will work in any of these cases.
I already tried: var currentDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());
which returned: D:\source\repos\CoffeeTalk\src\Tests\Web\CoffeeTalk.Client.Selenium.Tests\bin\Debug\net6.0
and then tried to navigate back by executing the codeline currentDirectory?.Parent about 5-6 times. But its then again different in Linux.
Now im looking for a clean way. I suppose the first way i did it was not wrong by getting the CurrentDirectory and navigate back.
I already searched for solutions using stackoverflow, google. Either the solutions are outdated or im not getting the result im expecting.
Here i have the method which creates the folder, but im struggling with the GetFolderPath method.
public static void CreateFolder(string folderName, string newFolderName)
{
var folderPath = GetFolderPath(folderName);
var pathCombined = Path.Combine(folderPath, newFolderName);
var folderExists = Directory.Exists(pathCombined);
if (folderExists) return;
Directory.CreateDirectory(pathCombined);
}

Directory.GetCurrentDirectory isn't the directory with your executable file. It's something else (I don't know) that by the way depends on the OS. You should use this instead:
using System.Reflection;
// ...
string exeDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase);
And then go up the folders hierarchy as you want:
string neededFolder = new DirectoryInfo(exeDirectory).Parent.Parent.Parent.ToString(); // Or more "Parent" calls
As far as I know, it works on different OSs.

Creating database with Linq-to-SQL to change the path

I managed to create a database using Linq-to-SQL with the following code:
private static DataClasses1DataContext _dataDC = new DataClasses1DataContext(#"C:\\database1.mdf");
public AddClient()
{
InitializeComponent();
DataContext = this;
_dataDC.CreateDatabase();
}
and this created a new local database on C: .
How can I change the #"C:\\database1.mdf" so that the file is created in the current directory from where I run the program ?

You can use one of these that suits your application and pass it in to new DataClasses1DataContext(HERE);
System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory();
Environment.CurrentDirectory;
Request.PhysicalPath

Check here how to ge the current directory path. Incude it inside parentheses:
How can I get the application's path in a .NET console application?

How to get the exact path of notepad.exe in order to associate a file extension

I need to associate a file extension I have created “.rulog” with notepad.exe as part of a setup project installation for a windows 7 machine (it’s here since we require admin privileges to write to the registry).
Basically I need to obtain programmatically the exact path of the notepad.exe. Now, I understand that it typically lives in C:\Windows\system32. This is part of PATH system environment variable, so I guess I could loop through all the PATH variables and test if “notepad.exe” exists by combining “notepad.exe” with the current path using File.Exists. However this feels very clumsy.
Essentially I need to add an entry to
Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rulog\shell\open\command\
with the value of the path of notepad.
Incidentally I can see that .txt in:
Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\ShellNew
has a value for ItemName of
“#%SystemRoot%\system32\notepad.exe,-470”
Perhaps I can just copy this value? Or is this dangerous?(e.g. does not exist).

You can use:
Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("windir") + "\\system32\\notepad.exe";
Or even easier:
Environment.SystemDirectory + "\\notepad.exe";
That way it doesn't matter which drive the os is on.

Copying the value with %systemroot% should be just fine. If it works for the OS, it should work for you!

Fool-proof solution:
string NotepadPath = Environment.SystemDirectory + "\\notepad.exe";
if (System.IO.File.Exists(NotepadPath))
{
Microsoft.Win32.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\.rulog\\shell\\open\\command\\", "", NotepadPath + " %1");
}
else
{
//do something else or throw new ApplicationException("Notepad not found!");
}

How to reference the C:\Users\Public directory programmatically in C#

Is it safe to programmatically reference the public folder through:
Directory = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("public")+"MyCompanyName" // etc.
or is there a better way?
Again, what if someone deletes the environment variable for public, and is this safe to use for different language OSs?
This follows: How to install to the Public directory in Windows 7 from the VS 2010 deployment Setup Project

This seems a tad questionable, but it should work:
// This should give you something like C:\Users\Public\Documents
string documentsPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonDocuments);
var directory = new DirectoryInfo(documentsPath);
// Now this should give you something like C:\Users\Public
string commonPath = directory.Parent.FullName;

It depends on what you want to achieve.
There is a enum called SpecialFolder. You can use it to get the Path to some Directories.
For Example:
System.Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonDesktopDirectory)
points to "C:\Users\Public\Desktop".
IMHO, your way isn't wrong, though i would do some Exception Handling in case the EnvVar is really missing.
Also you could use the ENUM with "CommonDesktopDirectory" and get rid of the "\Desktop" part.

Notice that the Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonDesktopDirectory is only available in .NET 4.0. For my .NET 3.5 systems (Windows 7 or XP) I used the registry key for the Shell Folders. My code snippet is in VB.NET.
Private mRegShellPath="Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders"
Private mCommonDesktop = Nothing
' dgp rev 3/8/2012
Private ReadOnly Property CommonDesktop As String
Get
If mCommonDesktop Is Nothing Then
Dim RegKey As RegistryKey
Try
RegKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(mRegShellPath, False)
mCommonDesktop = RegKey.GetValue("Common Desktop")
Catch ex As Exception
mCommonDesktop = ""
End Try
End If
Return mCommonDesktop
End Get
End Property

If you want a place to put application-specific data that can accessed by all users, use as a base:
Environment.GetFolderPath(SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData)
Also, consider using Path.Combine to combine elements to form a new path:
Path.Combine(
Environment.GetFolderPath(SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData),
"MyCompanyName")

Have you looked at this ?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.environment.specialfolder.aspx
Specifies enumerated constants used to retrieve directory paths to system special folders.
Ie
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData)

You can get all these %wildcard% literals by looking into
Windows->Start-->regedit-->
Then, you perform
using System;
string path2Downloads = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(#"%USERPROFILE%\Downloads");
string path2Music = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(#"%USERPROFILE%\Music");
... and, so on .... and to test:
using System.IO;
string[] files = { "" };
if (Directory.Exists(path2Music)) {
files = Directory.GetFiles(path2Music);
}

Get directory where executed code is located

I know that in the same directory where my code is being executed some files are located. I need to find them and pass to another method:
MyLib.dll
Target1.dll
Target2.dll
Foo(new[] { "..\\..\\Target1.dll", "..\\..\\Target2.dll" });
So I call System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(path, "*.dll"). But now I need to get know the path:
string path = new FileInfo((Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location)).Directory.FullName)
but is there more short way?

You may try the Environment.CurrentDirectory property. Note that depending on the type of application (Console, WinForms, ASP.NET, Windows Service, ...) and the way it is run this might behave differently.

Environment.CurrentDirectory returns the current directory, not the directory where the executed code is located. If you use Directory.SetCurrentDirectory, or if you start the program using a shortcut where the directory is set this won't be the directory you are looking for.
Stick to your original solution. Hide the implementation (and make it shorter) using a property:
private DirectoryInfo ExecutingFolder
{
get
{
return new DirectoryInfo (
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName (
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location));
}
}