Question

This workflow is a xamlx file in an asp.net application.

I have a CodeActivity with an InArgument that takes a relative file path to a text file that lives in the asp.net application.

What is the right way to turn the relative path into an absolute path, so that I can read the file into memory.

HttpContext.Current is null in the code activity so I can’t use Server.MapPath.

The way I have it working now is by reading an appsetting called SitePhysicalRoot from web.config and passing the SitePhysicalRoot setting and the inargument value to Path.Combine.

I feel like there is a better way to do this (maybe with a WF extension). If a WF extension is the way to go, can someone provide sample code?

Answer 1

This is what I do:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics.Contracts;
using System.IO;
using System.Web.Hosting;

public static class PathExtensions
{
    public static String ExpandPath(this String path)
    {
        if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(path))
        {
            return path;
        }

        String resolvedPath = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(path);

        resolvedPath = ExpandHostedPath(resolvedPath);

        return resolvedPath.ToFullPath();
    }

    public static String ToFullPath(this String path)
    {
        Contract.Requires<ArgumentNullException>(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(path) == false);

        DirectoryInfo directory = new DirectoryInfo(path);

        if (directory.Exists)
        {
            return directory.FullName;
        }

        return path;
    }

    private static String ExpandHostedPath(String path)
    {
        if (Path.IsPathRooted(path))
        {
            return path;
        }

        if (path.StartsWith("~", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == false)
        {
            return path;
        }

        if (HostingEnvironment.IsHosted == false)
        {
            return path;
        }

        String hostedPath = HostingEnvironment.MapPath(path);

        return hostedPath;
    }
}