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Copy file using relative path

File.Copy(#"my program\\subfolder\\what i want to copy.txt", "C:\\Targetlocation");
How can i copy a text file from one folder to another using relative path.

To execute the File.Copy the source and destination will be a valid file path. in your case the destination is a folder not File. in this case you may get some exception like
Could not find a part of the path 'F:\New folder'
While executing the application, the current directory will be the bin folder. you need to specify the relative path from there. Let my program/subfolder be the folders in your solution, so the code for this will be like this:
string sourcePath = "../../my program/subfolder/what i want to copy.txt";
string destinationPath = #"C:\Targetlocation\copyFile.txt"
File.Copy(sourcePath, destinationPath );
Where ../ will help you to move one step back from the current directory. One more thing you have to care is the third optional parameter in the File.Copy method. By passing true for this parameter will help you to overwrite the contents of the existing file.Also make sure that the folder C:\Targetlocation is existing, as this will not create the folder for you.

File.Copy(#"subfolder\\what i want to copy.txt", "C:\\Targetlocation\\TargetFilePath.txt");
The sourceFileName and destFileName parameters can specify relative or
absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as
relative to the current working directory. This method does not
support wildcard characters in the parameters.
File.Copy on MSDN
Make sure your target directory exists. You can use Directory.CreateDirectory
Directory.CreateDirectory("C:\\Targetlocation");
With Directory.CreateDirectory(), you don't have to check if the directory exists. From documentation:
Any and all directories specified in path are created, unless they
already exist or unless some part of path is invalid. The path
parameter specifies a directory path, not a file path. If the
directory already exists, this method does nothing.

// Remove path from the file name.
string fName = f.Substring(sourceDir.Length + 1);
try
{
// Will not overwrite if the destination file already exists.
File.Copy(Path.Combine(sourceDir, fName), Path.Combine(backupDir, fName));
}

You can provide the relative path from your current working directory which can be checked via Environment.CurrentDirectoy.
For example if your current working directory is D:\App, your source file location is D:\App\Res\Source.txt and your target location is D:\App\Res\Test\target.txt then your code snippet will be -
File.Copy(Res\\Source.txt, Res\\Test\\target.txt);

Dealing with paths in MVC libraries

I have an MVC project and a class library just for saving and deleting images.
I have the path to those images stored in a variable as a relative path
Content\images\ that I reference inside the Save() and Delete() methods.
The save method works as I would think but the delete throws an error as it's relating the current path from the window directory.
// Works fine
File.WriteAllBytes(Path.Combine(Settings.ImagesPath, filename), binaryData);
// Error saying it cannot find the path in the C:\windows\system32\folder
File.Delete(Path.Combine(Settings.ImagesPath, filename));
I'd like to be able to switch between relative and absolute paths in my Settings.ImagesPath string but every SO article I've tried works for one scenario or the other. What's the best way to convert absolute or relative paths to some common way to deal with them?

You should use Server.MapPath method to generate the path to the location and use that in your Path.Combine method.
var fullPath = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath(Settings.ImagesPath), filename);
System.IO.File.Delete(fullPath);
Server.MapPath method returns the physical file path that corresponds to the specified virtual path. In this case, Server.MapPath(Settings.ImagesPath) will return the physical file path to your Content\images\ which is inside your app root.
You should do the same when you save the file as well.
You can also check the existence of the file before attempting to delete it
var fullPath = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath(Settings.ImagesPath), filename);
if (System.IO.File.Exists(fullPath))
{
System.IO.File.Delete(fullPath);
}
Server.MapPath expects a relative path. So if you have an absolute value in the Settings.ImagePath, You can use the Path.IsPathRooted method to determine if it is a virtual path or not
var p = Path.Combine(Path.IsPathRooted(Settings.ImagesPath)
? path : Server.MapPath(Settings.ImagesPath), name);
if (System.IO.File.Exists(p))
{
System.IO.File.Delete(p);
}
When you use the virutal path, make sure it start with ~.
Settings.ImagesPath = #"~\Contents\Pictures";

Error when create a folder by code

I have a Member Register aspx page.
ACCOUNT(user,pass,mail,privilege)
When a user is registerd sucessfully, if the privilege == "lecturer" --> a folder is created which folder's name= user.
Take a look at my code below:
if(privilege=="lecturer")
{
string path = this.Server.MapPath("~/Lecturer/"); // path="D:\\C#Projects\\website\\Lecturer\\"
string targetPath = path + #"\";
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(Server.MapPath(targetPath+newuser));
}
It has an error: 'D:/C#Projects/website/Lecturer/david' is a physical path, but a virtual path was expected. Why???
I really want to create a david folder in Lecturer folder. Help???

You do not need to use Server.MapPath again as you have already converted the virtual path to physical path.
Change
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(Server.MapPath(targetPath+newuser));
To
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(targetPath+newuser);

If you already have a physical path D:\\C#Projects\\website\\Lecturer\\, it doesn't make sense to call Server.MapPath
You can try this:-
var files = Directory.GetFiles(#"D:\C#Projects\website\Lecturer");
or simply try this:-
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(targetPath+newuser);

Save Paths, Virtual directories, and static locations

I had a file upload that was uploading to a folder in the web application root, i.e. I had
string savePath = #"~/documentation/"
string filename = Path.GetFileName(FileUploadControl.FileName);
FileUploadControl.SaveAs(Server.MapPath(savePath) + filename);
and that worked fine, uploading the file to WebApp/documentation/filename.abc
The problem is, I want to change the documentation location so I don't have to move that folder when pushing from development to production. So I did the following
In Web.Config:
<appSettings>
<add key="DocumentationLocation" value="C:\Documentation\" />
</appSettings>
In the code:
string savePath = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["DocumentationLocation"];
string filename = Path.GetFileName(FileUploadControl.FileName);
FileUploadControl.SaveAs(Server.MapPath(savePath) + filename);
I figured this would work identically, saving the file to the folder specified in the web.config.
However, I get an error when I try to upload a document now, that says:
'C:\TM_Documentation\' is not a valid virtual path.
any idea what i'm doing wrong so that i can fix it and save the files outside of the web app directory? Thanks.

Remove the Server.MapPath(), you don't need the server to map the path for you, because you are giving a full path already.

You don't need a Server.MapPath if you have your path as "C:\Documentation\".
Server.MapPath is required only if you config has a relative path such as "~/Documentation/"
Try this
FileUploadControl.SaveAs(savePath + filename);

Open a text file with WPF

There is a text file that I have created in my project root folder. Now, I am trying to use Process.Start() method to externally launch that text file.
The problem I have got here is that the file path is incorrect and Process.Start() can't find this text file. My code is as follows:
Process.Start("Textfile.txt");
So how should I correctly reference to that text file? Can I use the relative path instead of the absolute path? Thanks.
Edit:
If I change above code to this, would it work?
string path = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
Process.Start(path + "/ReadMe.txt");

Windows needs to know where to find the file, so you need somehow specify that:
Either using absolute path:
Process.Start("C:\\1.txt");
Or set current directory:
Environment.CurrentDirectory = "C:\\";
Process.Start("1.txt");
Normally CurrentDirectory is set to the location of the executable.
[Edit]
If the file is in the same directory where executable is you can use the code like this:
var directory = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);
var file = Path.Combine(directory, "1.txt");
Process.Start(file);

The way you are doing this is fine. This will find the text file that is in the same directory as your exe and it will open it with the default application (probably notepad.exe). Here are more examples of how to do this:
http://www.dotnetperls.com/process-start
However, if you want to put a path in, you have to use the full path. You can build the full path while only caring about the relative path using the method listed in this post:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vbgeneral/thread/e763ae8c-1284-43fe-9e55-4b36f8780f1c
It would look something like this:
string pathPrefix;
if(System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsAttached())
{
pathPrefix = System.IO.Path.GetFullPath(Application.StartupPath + "\..\..\resources\");
}
else
{
pathPrefix = Application.StartupPath + "\resources\";
}
Process.Start(pathPrefix + "Textfile.txt");
This is for opening a file in a folder you add to your project called resources. If you want it in your project root, just drop off the resources folder in the above two strings and you will be good to go.

You'll need to know the current directory if you want to use a relative path.
System.Envrionment.CurrentDirectory
You could append that to your path with Path
System.IO.Path.Combine(System.Envrionment.CurrentDirectory, "Textfile.txt")

Try using Application.StartupPath path as default path may point to current directory.
This scenario has been explained on following links..
Environment.CurrentDirectory in C#.NET
http://start-coding.blogspot.com/2008/12/applicationstartuppath.html

On a windows box:
Start notepad with the file's location immediately following it. WIN
process.start("notepad C:\Full\Directory\To\File\FileName.txt");