How to get relative path of a file in visual studio?

Question

I am trying to get the path of an image file which I added in solution explorer in Visual Studio, but I couldn't get the relative path of that image. H is the file structure of my project:

/BulutDepoProject
    /FolderIcon
        Folder.ico
        Main.cs

I can get the image like this :

"C:\\Users\\Tolga\\Desktop\\BulutDepo\\BulutDepoProject\\FolderIcon\\Folder.ico"

But I should be able to get it with something like :

"~\\FolderIcon\\Folder.ico"

I guess I don't know the exact syntax of it so I cant fetch the image. :(

You should check this => http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6895457/how-to-define-relative-paths-in-visual-studio-project — MarcD, Nov 12 '12 at 10:35
http://stackoverflow.com/a/799431/1577396 and also http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.uri.makerelativeuri.aspx — Mr_Green, Nov 12 '12 at 10:36
I had this happen when I had an MVC project with a wwwroot folder and the CSS and Javascript files were outside of the wwwroot directory — Bbb, Jul 19 '21 at 20:54

score 64 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 21 '16 at 00:53

When it is the case that you want to use any kind of external file, there is certainly a way to put them in a folder within your project, but not as valid as getting them from resources. In a regular Visual Studio project, you should have a Resources.resx file under the Properties section, if not, you can easily add your own Resource.resx file. And add any kind of file in it, you can reach the walkthrough for adding resource files to your project here.

After having resource files in your project, calling them is easy as this:

var myIcon = Resources.MyIconFile;

Of course you should add the using Properties statement like this:

using <namespace>.Properties;

@christo8989 The OP is about an *image* file, which is going to be `readonly` anyway, so .... — Jesse Chisholm, Sep 05 '17 at 17:25

score 47 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 21 '15 at 21:30

47

I'm a little late, and I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I thought I'd add it just in case someone else finds it useful.

Suppose this is your file structure:

/BulutDepoProject
    /bin
        Main.exe
    /FolderIcon
        Folder.ico
        Main.cs

You need to write your path relative to the Main.exe file. So, you want to access Folder.ico, in your Main.cs you can use:

String path = "..\\FolderIcon\\Folder.ico"

That seemed to work for me!

answered Nov 21 '15 at 21:30

AdamInTheOculus

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This is a better solution in my case since the file being referenced is managed by another project in the Solution. Doesn't the syntax also support a single dot? `string path = ".\\FileName.txt"` – Christopher J. Grace Feb 28 '18 at 07:50
6

This is an awful solution, Do not use that... this works only because in "Debug" scenario, your current work directory is `/Debug` therefore it works for VS Debug environment. But if you walk out of the IDE... or run the EXE from a different Working Directory, it will surely break. – Tomer W Dec 28 '19 at 19:32

3Dave · Answer 3 · 2016-09-10T19:55:31.993

33

Omit the "~\":

var path = @"FolderIcon\Folder.ico";

~\ doesn't mean anything in terms of the file system. The only place I've seen that correctly used is in a web app, where ASP.NET replaces the tilde with the absolute path to the root of the application.

You can typically assume the paths are relative to the folder where the EXE is located. Also, make sure that the image is specified as "content" and "copy if newer"/"copy always" in the properties tab in Visual Studio.

edited Sep 10 '16 at 19:55

answered Nov 12 '12 at 10:40

3Dave

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In unix/linux, '~' is synonym for "home directory". – Nyerguds Mar 01 '19 at 09:41
2

@Nyerguds yes. However, the slash is the wrong way, and this question is tagged “Visual Studio” which isn’t really compatible with Linux, especially in 2012 when this question was posted. – 3Dave Mar 01 '19 at 22:25
"You can typically assume the paths are relative to the folder where the EXE is located" << Very Not True! when you doubleclick an EXE in Windows, the Working Directory is the User's private location and NOT the Executable location! – Tomer W Dec 28 '19 at 19:35
@TomerW There are many ways to run an executable other than double-clicking it. – 3Dave Dec 29 '19 at 01:09
1

Correct, Yet... an application should work for every way, including Dblclick which is the most common, i think. – Tomer W Dec 29 '19 at 09:52

score 19 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 26 '18 at 20:31

I also met the same problem and I was able to get it through. So let me explain the steps I applied. I shall explain it according to your scenario.

According to my method we need to use 'Path' class and 'Assembly' class in order to get the relative path.

So first Import System.IO and System.Reflection in using statements.

Then type the below given code line.

        var outPutDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(). CodeBase);

Actually above given line stores the path of the output directory of your project.(Here 'output' directory refers to the Debug folder of your project).

Now copy your FolderIcon directory in to the Debug folder. Then type the below given Line.

var iconPath = Path.Combine(outPutDirectory, "FolderIcon\\Folder.ico");

Now this 'iconPath ' variable contains the entire path of your Folder.ico. All you have to do is store it in a string variable. Use the line of code below for that.

string icon_path = new Uri(iconPath ).LocalPath;

Now you can use this icon_path string variable as your relative path to the icon.

Thanks.

@KolobCanyon It is because .NET Assemblies can be run from a variety of URIs and not only from the Disk (COM Objects, RPC, Etc...) You can use `Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location` if you sure you dealing with a file (EXE/DLL) — Tomer W, Dec 28 '19 at 19:37

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 28 '20 at 08:43

In Visual Studio please click 'Folder.ico' file in the Solution Explorer pane. Then you will see Properties pane. Change 'Copy to Output Directory' behavior to 'Copy if newer'. This will make Visual Studio copy the file to the output bin directory.

Now to get the file path using relative path just type:

string pathToIcoFile = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "//FolderIcon//Folder.ico";

Hope that helped.

Photonic · Answer 6 · 2015-10-07T03:53:59.373

I think using this will be the easiest

new Uri("pack://application:,,/FolderIcon/" + youImageICO);

or this code will work on any machine that if your folder is in your root project if you want to change it... just change this section @"..\"

public static string bingPathToAppDir(string localPath)
{
    string currentDir = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
    DirectoryInfo directory = new DirectoryInfo(
        Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(currentDir, @"..\..\" + localPath)));
    return directory.ToString();
}

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Feb 10 '22 at 07:24

1

My folder was at the root of my project and I used this:

string sCurrentDirectory = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;

string sFile = System.IO.Path.Combine(sCurrentDirectory, @"libs\cat");

string sFilePath = Path.GetFullPath(sFile);

edited Feb 10 '22 at 07:24

Syscall

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answered Feb 10 '22 at 06:33

hadi jalilvand

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Feb 10 '22 at 09:06

How to get relative path of a file in visual studio?

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