Question

I’m trying to copy a file (pdftk.exe) from the Current Working Directory the VB.NET program is in.

The file is to be copied to the Selected Path from the Folder Dialog Browser.

I tried this code, but it seems it’s not working

Imports System
Imports System.IO

Public Partial Class MainForm

    Dim Hours As Integer
    Dim Mins As Integer
    Dim Secs As Integer
    Dim Time As Integer 
    Dim nmTime As String

    Dim FileCopy As String = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase) + "pdftk.exe"
    Dim FileCopyPath As String = FileCopy.ToString


    Public Sub New()

        Me.InitializeComponent()

    End Sub

    Sub Button1Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)



        If dlgFolder.ShowDialog = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then

            txtPath.Text = dlgFolder.SelectedPath
            System.IO.File.Copy(_System.IO.Path.Combine(_System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName.CodeBase,_"pdftk.exe")_,dlgFolder.SelectedPath)

        End If

    End Sub

    Sub DlgFolderHelpRequest(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)




    End Sub

    Sub TxtPathTextChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)

        txtPath.Text = dlgFolder.SelectedPath
        txtPath.Show

    End Sub

    Sub LblCurrTimeClick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)



    End Sub

    Sub MainFormLoad(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)



        Me.timer1.Interval = 1 * 1000
        Me.timer1.Enabled = True    

        rdMerge.Checked = True



    End Sub


    Private Sub Timer1Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object,     ByVal e As System.EventArgs) 


            Me.lblCurrTime.Text = Now.ToLongTimeString

            Dim currTime As String = Now.ToLongTimeString
            Dim selTime As String = nmTime



            If currTime = selTime Then

                If Not (rdSWF.Checked = True) Then

                    Beep

                    Dim myProcess As Process

                    File.Copy("pdfmerge.py", dlgFolder.SelectedPath)


                    myProcess.Start("pdfmerge.py")

                Else 

                    Beep                

                    Dim myProcess As Process

                    File.Copy("p2f.bat", dlgFolder.SelectedPath)


                    myProcess.Start("p2f.bat")

                End If  

              End If


    End Sub

    Sub BtnSetClick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)

        lbl8.Visible = True

        nmTime = nmHour.Value.ToString().PadLeft(2,"0") + ":" + nmMin.Value.ToString().PadLeft(2, "0") + ":" + nmSec.Value.ToString().PadLeft(2, "0")

        lblST.Text = (nmTime)

        lblST.Visible = True
        pctBox1.Visible = True

    End Sub

    Sub BtnSwfClick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)

        Dim myProcess As Process


        Beep    

        File.Copy("p2f.bat", dlgFolder.SelectedPath)

        myProcess.Start("p2f.bat")


    End Sub

    Sub BtnNowClick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)

        Dim myProcess As Process        
        myProcess.Start("pdfmerge.py")


    End Sub



    Sub Panel1Paint(sender As Object, e As PaintEventArgs)



    End Sub


End Class

When trying to execute that code I get the following error message from the debugger:

System.ArgumentException: URI formats are not supported.
   at System.IO.Path.NormalizePath(String path, Boolean fullCheck, Int32 maxPathLength)
   at System.IO.Path.GetFullPathInternal(String path)
   at System.IO.File.InternalCopy(String sourceFileName, String destFileName, Boolean overwrite)
   at System.IO.File.Copy(String sourceFileName, String destFileName)
   at lgaPDF.MainForm.Button1Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Documents and Settings\student3\My Documents\SharpDevelop Projects\lgaPDF\lgaPDF\MainForm.vb:line 29
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.DebuggableCallback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.SendMessage(HandleRef hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.SendMessage(Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ReflectMessageInternal(IntPtr hWnd, Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmCommand(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.DebuggableCallback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.CallWindowProc(IntPtr wndProc, IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.DefWndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.DefWndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.DebuggableCallback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG& msg)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(IntPtr dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.OnRun()
   at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.DoApplicationModel()
   at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.Run(String[] commandLine)
   at lgaPDF.My.MyApplication.Main(String[] Args) in 17d14f5c-a337-4978-8281-53493378c1071.vb:line 81

The program should get “pdftk.exe” from the current working directory (the directory the program exe is in) and copy it to the selected path from the dialog window.

Answer 1

Strings are the worst data type for most uses. Where you can’t avoid using them, at least try to use tools that do the right thing. GetDirectoryName returns:

In most cases, the string returned by this method consists of all characters in the path up to but not including the last DirectorySeparatorChar

Which would mean that if you directly concatenate a filename onto the end of it, you’ll end up with a path that ends LastDirectoryNamepdftk.exe, which probably doesn’t exist.

Path.Combine is a method specifically designed for joining paths together and getting directory separators correct.

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Your FileCopyPath variable seems particularly pointless. It takes FileCopy, which is a String and… calls ToString() on it, and stores the result as a String. What were you expecting this to achieve?

Similarly, the SelectedPath property of the FolderBrowserDialog is already a string, so why are you calling ToString() on it?

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I’d expect the correct code would be something like:

System.IO.File.Copy( _
    System.IO.Path.Combine( _
         System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase), _
         "pdftk.exe"), _
    dlgFolder.SelectedPath)