Question

I have a back up folder and a main folder in my project. I am giving an option to user in main menu to open file from backup folder. For that i have written code:

        string[] paths;
        string fullpath = "";
        paths = Directory.GetFiles(backuppath);
        foreach (string backupfilepath in paths)
        {
            if (path.EndsWith(".txt"))
                fullbackupfilepath = backupfilepath;
        }

Here backuppath is the path of the backup file.
Now i copy this back up file in main project folder:

         File.Copy(fullbackupfilepath, mainprojectfilepath);

But i get the error that Could not find file C:\Users\me\Desktop\csharpproject\bin\debug\BackupProject.txt

Why is it going in bin debug folder when my project is in MyDocuments\Myproject. There is backupfolder inside this Myproject folder.
Please help with a solution.

Answer 1

If you use relative path rather than absolute path, in runtime the base folder is the folder where the executable is located. In debug mode it’s bin/debug.

It’s not advisable to have user files in the programs directory at all. I.e. if you install your program in Windows Vista or 7 programms folder, you will need admin rights to write into this directory.

You should have a look at Environment.SpecialFolder.

string yourAppPath = Path.Combine(
       Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData),
       "YourApp");

This piece of code will generate a path for the current user, where you could store the files.