Relative file path referencing problem

[Jacobus01]

I need to change the default location that my application uses to reference files relatively. I use the syntax as follows: "..\\DBconnection.sec". This returns: C:\Projects\dotnet\RMS_IMCS\RMS_IMCS_WIN\bin\DBconnection.sec. I need the "bin" folder to be changed to RMS_IMCS. my relative reference needs to look like this: "..\\RMS_IMCS\\RMS_IMCS_WIN\bin\DBconnection.sec". This would allow me to chnage files located in folders outside my project without having to use absolute referencing. Any help?

[Dave Kreskowiak]

Jacobus01 wrote:

my relative reference needs to look like this: "..\\RMS_IMCS\\RMS_IMCS_WIN\bin\DBconnection.sec"

I would highly recommend building a fully qualified path to the file. Using relative paths is problematic because the CurrentDirectory for you app can change without you knowing it. So, get the fully qualified path to your executable, then use the methods in the Path class to manipulate that path to give you the one you want.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP Visual Developer - Visual Basic
     2006, 2007, 2008

[Jacobus01]

This is a hard thing to do. I have a solution in visual studio 2008 that contains multiple projects. Some are class libraries, some are web apps and some are win apps. Upon deployment I have no idea where all the apps will be located. They will however contain all their needed dlls in the bin folder. Not exactly sure where the web app will keep its dlls. This DBconnection.sec file contains an encrypted DB connection string. I decided to do this to avoid having to recompile the program if the connection string changes and it needs to be encrypted. Somehow my web application and win application needs to know where this file is located. I have a sub system that allows you to create this file but I'm unsure where to store it. How can I solve this issue and make this file available to both the win apps and web apps?

[Dave Kreskowiak]

Each app is going to have it's own app.config for web.config. Class libraries don't get to use their own app.config. They use the config of the application that loads the .DLL. Since the web app is going to be the most restricted in navigating the file system, the connection string should go in it's web.config file. The other apps can have their own app.config file that has the file path to the web app and can retrieve the connection string from that. I don't know your situation entirely, but I would consider putting the connection string in each config file. I'm just thinking about production and test environments when you might want one or more app(s) might have a different connection string from the others for testing.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP Visual Developer - Visual Basic
     2006, 2007, 2008

[Jacobus01]

What about encryption? I dont want my client to see the connection string (or any other party for that matter).

[Dave Kreskowiak]

Your encrypting it now, right? It doesn't change. If your not, then Google for "encrypt connection string" for a ton of examples.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP Visual Developer - Visual Basic
     2006, 2007, 2008