In a VB.NET project I have an xml document as an embedded resource. I am accessing it with
Private xmlFile as New XmlDocument()
in the General Declaration area. And then I am loading it in the form load method:
xmlFile.LoadXml(My.Resources.Settings)
In a method I'm finding specific nodes and updating them from user input:
'Dim xmlDoc as XmlDocument
'xmlDoc = xmlFile
Dim settingNodes As XmlNodeList = xmlFile.SelectNodes("//Program/ProgramTitle")
For Each setting As XmlNode In settingNodes
If setting.InnerText = title Then
setting.ParentNode.Item("ProgramSaveFolder").InnerText = programFolder
setting.ParentNode.Item("PrimaryBackupFolder").InnerText = primBackup
setting.ParentNode.Item("SecondaryBackupFolder").InnerText = secBackup
End If
Next
' Neither of these work
xmlFile.Save("Settings.txt")
'xmlDoc.Save("GameSettings.txt")
The xmlDoc code is from when I was led to believe at one point that it's not saving because xmlFile was in use (I've been trying a lot different things!).
But, as noted in the code, neither of those work. This is very similar to what I see all over for examples of how to do this, but when I run the program it doesn't change the file at all.
You cannot modify an embedded resource. You can include the XML file as content and it will appear in your build folder as a normal file that can be loaded and updated using the File.IO namespace or XMLDocument.Load().
One catch to look out for is that a file in the Program Files folder being modified will require administrator rights which a user may not have. If this is the case, it's best to copy the file to the AppData folder.
Related
I found a similar question but it was 5 years 8 months old, had 2 replies and neither worked for me (VB.Net Read txt file from current directory)
My issue is that when I use the following code:
Dim fileReader As String
fileReader = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText(Application.StartupPath & "\Username_And_Password_Raw.txt")
Dim usernameAndPassword = Split(fileReader, ",")
I get an error saying:
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: 'Could not find file 'C:\Users\wubsy\source\repos\NEA Stock Page System\NEA Stock Page System\bin\Debug\net6.0-windows\Username_And_Password_Raw.txt'.'
I have tried using all the different Applications.BLANKPath options I can find (ie; StartupPath, CommonAppDataPath, etc.) and they all return essentially the same error only with a different location.
This is the folder layout of my TXT File - I know it's a terrible, incredibly insecure and generally awful way of storing login information but this is just for a NEA so will never ever actually be used
This is the actual path of the TXT File if it helps
C:\Users\wubsy\source\repos\NEA Stock Page System\NEA Stock Page System\Username_And_Password_Raw.txt
The startup path is where your exe is located. That and all supporting files get copied to a binary directory when you compile in visual studio, in your case
C:\Users\wubsy\source\repos\NEA Stock Page System\NEA Stock Page System\bin\Debug\net6.0-windows
But what you're trying to do, reference the file where it sits in your solution, is probably not the best way to do it, and your code above will work (with a change, will mention later) if you change the properties of the file in the solution.
Right click on the file in the Solution Explorer Username_And_Password_Raw.txt, select Properties. Modify Copy to Output Directory to either Copy always / Copy if newer, depending on your requirement. Now that file will copy to the same directory your exe is in, and the code above should work.
Note, when creating a path, don't use string concatenation because you may have too many or too few \; use Path.Combine:
Dim filePath = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "Username_And_Password_Raw.txt"
Dim fileContents = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText(filePath)
In a VS2013 VB.NET WinForms project I need to include an XML file in the deployed application that will be read from and written to at run time.
I have the file as an embedded resource, and have "Copy Always" selected for output. The file name is "Settings.xml" and the resource name is Settings.
Looking at this example I did the following to reference it in my code:
Private xmlFile as XmlDocument ' In the general declaration area, before the Load event
xmlFile.LoadXml(My.Resources.Settings) ' In the Load event, in a Try/Catch
But I get an "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" on the second line.
In the code I plan on accessing the xml with something like this:
Dim xmlDoc as New XmlDocument
xmlDoc = xmlFile
I'm not sure yet how to save any changes I make, as initial attempts of something like xmlDoc.Save(xmlFile) didn't work.
What am I missing?
First of all, you need to use the constructor for xmlFile:
Private xmlFile As New XmlDocument
Then, all you need to do is use the resource name, i.e. "Settings.xml" if the resource is embedded:
xmlFile.LoadXml("Settings.xml")
You shouldn't even need to set the resource as "CopyAlways".
I wrote a program that reads from text files and can create them to load and save data. I have a few files that are the "default" data that are loaded as soon as the program start. The files are loaded by a static reference. My code runs fine before I publish it, but obviously when I publish it, the static references no longer work. I don't know how to add the default data to the build as distinct text files so that I can still reference it after the build.
I imagine being able to build the program and have some sort of folder that accompanies the executable with the default data files in them that I can easily reference, but I don't know how to do that (or if there is a better way).
Below is the start of the code I use to read from the file. Currently, the default data's file name is passed statically into the sub and is used to identify the file to read from, so I'd like to have a published file that I can do the same thing with.
Try
Dim sr As New IO.StreamReader(FileName)
Dim strLine As String = ""
Do Until sr.EndOfStream
strLine = sr.ReadLine
'Code that interprets the data in the file
Note: I've tried adding the files as "Resources" but I can't seem to reference the file as a text file; I can only retrieve the massive wall of text contained within the document which won't work with the above code (unless of course I'm missing something).
If you could clarify:
How do I add a file to a build so that I can still access it
collectively by a file name?
How will my code reference the files (e.g. by
"My.Resources.filename"?) in the final build?
You can add the file to the build as either a content file or an embedded resource.
For a content file, set the Build Action of the file to 'content', and Copy to Output Directory to 'Copy Always' in the file properties. You can then access the file like this:
FileName = Application.StartupPath() = + FileName
Dim sr As New IO.StreamReader(FileName)
...
To embed the file as a resource you have to set the Build Action of the file to 'Embedded Resource' and Copy to Output Directory to false.
This Microsoft support page has a walkthough about accessing embedded resources. The code would be something like this:
Dim sr As StreamReader
Dim thisAssembly As Assembly
thisAssembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
sr = New StreamReader(thisAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream("NameSpace." + FileName))
Dim strLine As String = ""
Do Until sr.EndOfStream
strLine = sr.ReadLine
'Code that interprets the data in the file
...
Replace NameSpace with the namespace of your application (Project Properties -> Application -> root namespace)
You also have to add Imports System.Reflection at the top of your code file.
Using an embedded resource has the advantage of less files to manage, and you don't have to keep track of paths.
I am working on a GUI for a simulation program. The simulation program is a single .exe which is driven by an input file (File.inp placed in the same directory).
The Original.inp file functions as a template from which the form reads all the values into an array. Then it changes these values reflecting the changes done by the user in the form. After that it writes all the new values to File.inp.
By pushing the "Run" button the Simulation.exe file is executed.
The folder structure looks like this:
root
|
|---input
| |
| |--Original.inp
|
|---GUI.exe
|---Simulation.exe
|---File.inp
Ideally I would supply only the GUI, the user would select the working directory and then the GUI.exe would create an input folder and extract the Original.inp and Simulation.exe in the appropriate locations. So far I have only managed to include Original.inp and Simulation.exe as "EmbeddedResources" in my VB project and I have let my code create an input folder in the working directory chosen by the user.
Can someone please explain to me how I can extract the .inp and .exe file into the correct directories? I've searched on google, tried File.WriteAllBytes and Filestream.WriteByte but did not get the desired results.
The problem with File.WriteAllBytes was that I could not point to the embedded resource ("Simulation.exe is not a member of Resources" and with Filestream.WriteByte I got a 0 kb file.
The question commenters are correct, this is probably a task best left for a setup program. However, that having been stated, in the interest of answering the question as asked I offer the following approach.
Contrary to your supposition in your question comment, you do need to "read" the embedded resource from the GUI's executable file, since it's an embedded resource and not an external resource. It won't magically extract itselt from the executable file. You need to do the manual read from the assembly and write to your specified locations. To do this, you need to read the resource using .Net Reflection, via the currently executing assembly's GetManifestResourceStream method.
The Simulation.exe file is a binary file so it must be handled as such. I assumed that the Orginal.inp file was a text file since it afforded the opportunity to demonstrate different types of file reads and writes. Any error handling (and there should be plenty) is omitted for brevity.
The code could look something like this:
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Reflection
Module Module1
Sub Main()
'Determine where the GUI executable is located and save for later use
Dim thisAssembly As Assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
Dim appFolder As String = Path.GetDirectoryName(thisAssembly.Location)
Dim fileContents As String = String.Empty
'Read the contents of the template file. It was assumed this is in text format so a
'StreamReader, adept at reading text files, was used to read the entire file into a string
'N.B. The namespace that prefixes the file name in the next line is CRITICAL. An embedded resource
'is placed in the executable with the namespace noted in the project file, so it must be
'dereferenced in the same manner.
Using fileStream As Stream = thisAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream("SOQuestion10613051.Original.inp")
If fileStream IsNot Nothing Then
Using textStreamReader As New StreamReader(fileStream)
fileContents = textStreamReader.ReadToEnd()
textStreamReader.Close()
End Using
fileStream.Close()
End If
End Using
'Create the "input" subfolder if it doesn't already exist
Dim inputFolder As String = Path.Combine(appFolder, "input")
If Not Directory.Exists(inputFolder) Then
Directory.CreateDirectory(inputFolder)
End If
'Write the contents of the resource read above to the input sub-folder
Using writer As New StreamWriter(Path.Combine(inputFolder, "Original.inp"))
writer.Write(fileContents)
writer.Close()
End Using
'Now read the simulation executable. The same namespace issues noted above still apply.
'Since this is a binary file we use a file stream to read into a byte buffer
Dim buffer() As Byte = Nothing
Using fileStream As Stream = thisAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream("SOQuestion10613051.Simulation.exe")
If fileStream IsNot Nothing Then
ReDim buffer(fileStream.Length)
fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, fileStream.Length)
fileStream.Close()
End If
End Using
'Now write the byte buffer with the contents of the executable file to the root folder
If buffer IsNot Nothing Then
Using exeStream As New FileStream(Path.Combine(appFolder, "Simulation.exe"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None)
exeStream.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
exeStream.Close()
End Using
End If
End Sub
End Module
You will also have to add logic to determine if the files have been extracted so it doesn't happen every time the GUI is invoked. That's a big reason why an installation program might be the correct answer.
I'm new to Visual Basic, and I'm having issues accessing the resource file for my project.
Dim rm As Resources.ResourceManager = New Resources.ResourceManager("MyProjectName.My.Resources.Resources", [Assembly].GetExecutingAssembly())
Dim myValue = rm.GetString(lookUpKey) 'boom Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
I think the issue is with the string "MyProjectName.My.Resources.Resources".
Would I be better off moving the strings into their own resource file?
I thought it was something similar to:
my.Resource.whateverhere
Is that not the kind of resources you are looking for?
Try
Global.<MyNamespace>.My.Resources.<ResourceStringName>
to access Resource Strings
Try ResourceManager("MyProjectName.Resources", ...), otherwise if it's the application resources you can simply use My.Resources.HD (see here:My.Resources Object)
or
Open Reflector, load your assembly there, go to resources, a list of resources appears, search for the one containg 'HD', copy the name (it's like MyProjectName.Resources.resources), remove the last .resources and try with that.
Refer to the MSDN article Retrieving Resources with the ResourceManager Class for naming convetions:
Dim myManager As New _
System.Resources.ResourceManager("ResourceNamespace.myResources", _
myAssembly)
If you load an external .resx file and want it to show up under intellisense My.Resources then you need to do 2 things.
First the file should be in the root of your project. Simply right click the project and do "Add Existing Item", and give it your .resx file. You should notice that there is no chevron to expand the resx file like your built-in resource file.
The last step is to highlight your resx file and go to the properties window. Under Custom Tool put "ResXFileCodeGenerator" and under the Custom Tool NameSpace put "My.Resources". You should now be able to programmatically access this resource under My.Resources.[name of the resx file].resource_item.
I was unable to access the resource file until I moved the .resx file into its own project and referenced that project from my main one. I also had to create a dummy class in that project so that it would compile into a DLL file.
The code for accessing the resource file is actually located in the generated Resource.resx.vb file.
I was able to access the resource file using the following code.
'Name of Class Library where I moved the resx file
Dim classLibraryName As String = "ResourceProj"
'Name of Resource File without the .resx suffix
Dim resourceFileName As String = "Mappings"
'Finding the assembly of the resx file, ResourceProjClass is a dummy class I created so that the dll would build.
Dim myAssembly As Assembly = GetType(ResourceProj.ResourceProjClass).Assembly
Dim rm As Resources.ResourceManager = Nothing
rm = New Resources.ResourceManager(classLibraryName & "." & resourceFileName, GetType(myAssembly)
Return rm.GetString(lookUpKey)
Simply:
Dim loginMessage As String = Global.Resources.NameOfYourResxFile.NameOFVariable