How to convert a relative path to an absolute path in a Windows application?

Question

How do I convert a relative path to an absolute path in a Windows application?

I know we can use server.MapPath() in ASP.NET. But what can we do in a Windows applica

Answer 1

It's a bit older topic, but it might be useful for someone. I have solved a similar problem, but in my case, the path was not at the beginning of the text.

So here is my solution:

public static class StringExtension
{
    private const string parentSymbol = "..\\";
    private const string absoluteSymbol = ".\\";
    public static String AbsolutePath(this string relativePath)
    {
        string replacePath = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
        int parentStart = relativePath.IndexOf(parentSymbol);
        int absoluteStart = relativePath.IndexOf(absoluteSymbol);
        if (parentStart >= 0)
        {
            int parentLength = 0;
            while (relativePath.Substring(parentStart + parentLength).Contains(parentSymbol))
            {
                replacePath = new DirectoryInfo(replacePath).Parent.FullName;
                parentLength = parentLength + parentSymbol.Length;
            };
            relativePath = relativePath.Replace(relativePath.Substring(parentStart, parentLength), string.Format("{0}\\", replacePath));
        }
        else if (absoluteStart >= 0)
        {
            relativePath = relativePath.Replace(".\\", replacePath);
        }
        return relativePath;
    }
}

Example:

Data Source=.\Data\Data.sdf;Persist Security Info=False;
Data Source=..\..\bin\Debug\Data\Data.sdf;Persist Security Info=False;