I know there are plenty of questions about this topic but I reviewed them and I couldn't find what I need.
I need to run an exe in VB.Net but that exe needs some files that are in the exe's folder. When I try to run the exe using Shell or Process.Start() the exe looks for those files in my app folder (and throws an error) instead of the exe original folder. I can't move my app exe nor the external exe.
Have you tried Directory.SetCurrentDirectory Method ? It sets the application's current working directory to the specified directory. change the example below with the path of the application you want to execute prior calling it.
Imports System
Imports System.IO
Directory.SetCurrentDirectory("C:\test")
Console.WriteLine("Current directory: {0}", Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
'Execute an application from C:\test
Output :
Current directory: C:\test
You might be able to use the Windows startup path:
exePath = System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath
Related
I am using c++/winrt within a WinUI3 project and I am trying to have the application pull up a text file where users can select an option from it. The file I am trying to reach is in the project folder and included in the project. Currently, I have the file path set to my device so it pulls the text file from my directory. I want the application to be able to read from the program files instead of the long file path that is currently coded. I tried to change the relative path of the file and used the fstream function to read the file. I also tried just using "Aircrafts/Aircrafts.txt" but that did not work either.
Here is a snippet of the code.
fstream aircraftFile;
string info;
void MainWindow::loadPlatformData()
ifstream aircraftFile; //File Object for list
aircraftFile.open("C:\\Users\\TimmyK\\Documents\\GitHub\\sentinel3\\Sentinel3\\Aircrafts\\Aircrafts.txt", ios::in);
My guess is that you are writing a UWP project which is why the full-path access to your file fails. UWP's have restricted access to the file system per Microsoft Docs.
For a UWP project, you mark the file as Content Yes in the file properties so it's placed into your application's layout package. Normally the 'current working directory' is pointing to your packaged program's installed location. You can get a full path to this directory using:
auto installdir = Windows.ApplicationModel::Current().InstalledLocation();
std::wstring str = installdir.Path().c_str();
For Win32 "classic" desktop applications, there's no specific packaging or installation solution so there's lots of different ways to do it. In Visual Studio when you start the debugger or run a program, the "current working directory" is going to be the project directory but if you run the EXE from the command-line, it will be in a different directory.
To find the running EXE's directory per IInspectable, use GetModuleFileName:
wchar_t exePath[MAX_PATH] = {};
DWORD nc = GetModuleFileNameW(nullptr, exePath, MAX_PATH);
if (nc > MAX_PATH || nc == 0)
{
// Error condition
}
A typical pattern is to look in the EXE folder, then 'walk up' the directory to find asset files. This is what we do a lot in DirectX samples for Win32. See FindMedia.
I'm developed window application from node-webkit, and I make it to .exe file.
i try
copy /b nw.exe+myapp.nw
and i try to build use nw-builder but it same result.
To perform this .exe file, it need some files(nw.pak, some Dlls).
I want to excute this exe file standalone.
Please let me know any method to excute .exe file standalone
[UPDATE]
I solved this issue.
i found packaging program Enigma Vitual Box and this program help packaging .exe file, nw.pak and other files.
You can use Inno Script App to make an installer for the .exe file. I do use it and it makes sense.
i am making a 'simple' program that on button click does this:
Private Sub Button4_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Dim proc As New System.Diagnostics.Process()
proc = Process.Start("resources\navcoder.exe", "")
proc.WaitForExit()
End Sub
all works fine when testing in visual studio but not once i publish and install, even if the resource folder is in the install directory.
if i change it to:
proc = Process.Start("c:\resources\navcoder.exe", "")
it works fine, but i obviuosly needs to have the folder there with the required files in it.
what am i doing wrong?
A lot of people seem not to realise what resources are. The whole point of adding a resource to your project is to have the data it contains compiled into your EXE. The Resources folder in your project is just a place to store the original source files. It doesn't exist as far as the application is concerned, just as your VB source code files don't exist. When you build your project, the data in those resources is compiled into your EXE so they are no longer files and can no longer be used as files.
That's why you don't embed other EXE files as resources. You could extract the resource and save it as a file first but I would recommend against that. Add a new folder to your project and add the EXE file and any dependencies to that folder and set their Build Action to Content. They will then be copied to your output folder as is. You can then execute the EXE file because it is an EXE file. You should also use Application.StartupPath as the root of the file path rather then relying on the current directory being what you think it will be.
You should always check for existance, if its a web app, would do this in the application start in the global asax. If you are running this under a different user account, check the account has permissions. Otherwise even if the directory exists, it will fail if it cant access it or does not have permissions to execute the file.
Might be able to tell you more if you give the actual exception. I.e Unauthorized or does not exist.
I have added some files that I need to be downloaded to the Application start up path. So I set Build Action as content now the files have been copied some where
C:\Documents and Settings\TestUser.ANNAM\Local Settings\Apps\2.0\Data\HVDRBMY5.8AA\858AT9VM.TNP\test..tion_2d7cfc137d9c2c74_0001.0013_432bd4561850d290\Data
How can access file from the application. My problem since it is a dynamic path will it be same folder count so that we can use like ..\..\Data\ Some think like this
Application.UserAppDataPath gets the path for the application data of a user.
Application.StartupPath gives you the path for the executable file that started the application, not including the executable name.
Starting with one of these, you should be able to use System.IO to manipulate the paths until you get the folder where your data files are.
i have created a batch file and have added it to the project using add items. Basically what i am aiming at is to execute this file on a button click action.
I am using System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("hello.bat") command to run this file
i have changed the build action to resource for this batch file.
But when i run this program, it is not able to locate the batch file.
I am required to give a relative path as the path my vary from machine to machine. how can i make this file accessable using a relative path?
Resource puts it inside of your EXE as data. You can google how to write a vb.net resource to a file, use the io tempfilename function to get a tempfile and use that (appending .bat), then run the batchfile from the name you gave it.
If you can ship the .bat with your EXE, this is convenient for debugging and production:
* Put the batchfile in the BIN subdir (debug or release) with your exe. May have to click 'show all files' in project explorer to see these dirs. Right click the .bat and pick 'include in project'. Don't make it a resource.
Run it using application.startuppath & "\" & batfilename. (application.startuppath is only in winforms. You can google 'how to get exe path in vb.net console app' etc. if you need another way).