Path of Windows Service

[NeilV]

Hello,

I am creating a windows service that needs to have the ability to read in some information from a text file that will be stored in the same directory as the service. How can I setup the path so it can find the file? In a normal vb.net application I use Application.startuppath but this is not available for a windows service...

Help!

Neil

 

[chiph]

Try ".\Myfile.dat"

The single dot refers to the current directory, which should be the same as where your service started.

Chip H.

 

[NeilV]

Thanks Chip,

I tried that but it didnt work. My service still looks in the Windows\system32 directory for files - both to write to and to read from. I have tried including the full path to the file(s) but this has no effect.

Any ideas?

Neil

 

[upworth]

have you tried using request.applicationpath.tostring?
upworth

 

[upworth]

I forgot to mention that there are other *path* properties of request (i.e. request.physicalpath) that might be useful as well.

upworth

 

[NeilV]

thanks for that but...
when i use request.xyz it gives me an error saying "Name request is not declared"

Neil

 

[upworth]

The name "request" is part of the system.web namespace. Try putting "imports system.web" at the top of your code or making sure that there is a reference pointing to system.web in your project. This "Request" name is also called "HttpRequest".

Hope this helps...

 

[NeilV]

Ok, I've added that bit but I still get the same problem. I have also tried using Httprequest but this does not have any path type methods associated with it, this is the code i am trying:

Dim MyReq As System.Web.HttpRequest()
MyReq.ApplicationPath.ToString

The applicationpath bit doesn't seem to exist. I assume i'm doing something simple wrong!

 

[upworth]

Try the above without the "()" at the end. Then when you type in "MyReq." in the code, IntelliSense should show you the list of available methods, properties, etc.

 

[NeilV]

getting closer...the intellisense bit now displays the correct methods - however, when i actually run my service i get the following error:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Here is my code:

Dim MyReq As System.Web.HttpRequest

filename = MyReq.ApplicationPath.ToString()

Where filename is a string.

Thanks in advance

 

[upworth]

Try this...

******************************************
dim filename as string

' PhysicalPath includes the current file so I need to _
' remove the filename so I'm left with only the _
' directory structure. Ths IIF is there to make sure _
' no error is produced if it doesn't find a "/"
filename = Request.PhysicalPath.Substring(0, _
IIf(Request.PhysicalPath.LastIndexOf("\&quot > 0,_
Request.PhysicalPath.LastIndexOf("\&quot, 0))

' In my app, I needed to make sure that the path _
' included the "/" at the end. So, I added this line to _
' check for it - if it's not there, I add it.
If Not filename.EndsWith("/&quot Then filename &= "/"

' This results in a directory structure that your web _
' server understands. For example, the URL may be _
'

http://www.myweb.com/mysub/,

but the physical path _
' is c:\inetpub\

http://wwwroot\myweb\mysub.

In this case _
' filename = c:\inetpub\

http://wwwroot\myweb\mysub\.

**************************************

In your code above in the previous post, when you created MyReq, you are creating a blank "Request" that you have to supply the info for. To get the path for the current web request, simply access web.request.??? Leave out the "Dim MyReq ..."

upworth

 

[NeilV]

Thanks 4 that, I am creating a windowsservice though - should that make any difference?

 

[upworth]

I haven't tried it with a service, so I can't be too sure, but I would suspect that it's the same.

Basically, by creating a variable, MyReq, that is a web.Request type, then you are saying that you are going to manually populate all the properties. By dynamically accessing web.Request you get whatever the current environment warrants.

I would like to know how this performs for a web service, so I would appreciate you keeping us (me) informed.

I'm no expert, but I'm still plugging...
upworth

 

[kbuc6]

When you install a windows service it writes an entry to the registry. One entry is the path to the executable. Read that entry to get the path. It should be HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\servicename . Look for the value of ImagePath. Here is what I did

Private Function GetDir() As String
Try
Dim Reg As RegistryKey
Dim strResult As String
Dim s As Short
Reg = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\servicename", False)
strResult = Reg.GetValue("ImagePath", "&quot
Reg.Close()
s = InStrRev(strResult, "\", , CompareMethod.Text) - 1
Debug.WriteLine(strResult.Substring(0, s))
Return strResult.Substring(0, s)
Catch ex As Exception
WriteExcp(ex)
Return ""
End Try
End Function

Hope this helps.

K