How to dinamically define OpenFileDialog.InitialDirectory path?

[pmhs]

Greetings everyone.

I'm developing a desktop app and I'm trying to show the user an
OpenFileDialog so he/she can open a file of a certain type.
Now I would like to define the initial directory of the OpenFileDialog but
the problem is that the location of the files may vary from user to user.
I mean, I could simply define this:

dlgOpenFile.InitialDirectory = "c://Program Files/someProgram";

But that would not work if some user has his files in C:/someProgram, or
even if his drive's name isn't C:/, right?
So, I need to find out the path to <driveName>:/.../someProgram inside my
program.
I believe this is quite simple, but I'm not getting there.
Can anybody help me?
I would be very grateful...
TIA

sekhmet

 

[johnrbradley]

If you are looking for the path of your executable then you may use:

Path.GetDirectoryName(Application.ExecutablePath);

Clarify if I misunderstood.. you are looking for the location of the running executable?

Regards,
John

 

[pmhs]

Not exactly...
What I mean is I'm building a program to read and edit a file that is created by another application.
For example, let's say I'm building a program that edits a Microsoft Access database's properties (far from that).
When I show the OpenFileDialog I want the initial directory to be the directory where Microsoft Access is installed, wheter it is installed on C:/Program Files/Microsoft Access or C:/Access or whatever directory.
Is this possible? I think so, but I can't seem to figure it out...

sekhmet

 

[seanbo]

1) you could look somewhere less dynamic to find the location. ie, when the other application creates the file, it could make a record, of where the file is, in a known place.

- or -

2) you could search for it - lengthy, slow, useless. don't do this.

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[pmhs]

Hummmm...
Sorry Seanbo, but I didn't quite get it... :S
Sorry, but could you be more specific?

 

[seanbo]

you writing an application to read a file made by another application. what application made the file? is it one you can manipulate? if so, you could make it store a record of files created in a pre-defined place.

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[pmhs]

No. I can't manipulate the application that creates the file I want to edit.
I just know the directory in which the file is created:

<drive:\>somewhere-in-the-hard-drive\program-folder\user data
besides this I have no other information for sure...

sekhmet

 

[seanbo]

try looking at this:

System.Environment.SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles

- i've not used it, but i think it should work; it looks promising

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[pmhs]

Nope.
I've tried it and it returns an empty value...