Getting user temporary folder path in Windows

Question

How I can get the user\'s temp folder path in C++? My program has to run on Windows Vista and XP and they have different temp paths. How I can get it without losing compatib

Answer 1

As VictorV pointed out, GetTempPath returns a collapsed path. You'll need to use both the GetTempPath and GetLongPathName macros to get the fully expanded path.

std::vector collapsed_path;
TCHAR copied = MAX_PATH;
while ( true )
{
    collapsed_path.resize( copied );
    copied = GetTempPath( collapsed_path.size( ), collapsed_path.data( ) );
    if ( copied == 0 ) 
        throw std::exception( "An error occurred while creating temporary path" );
    else if ( copied < collapsed_path.size( ) ) break;
}

std::vector full_path;
copied = MAX_PATH;
while ( true )
{
    full_path.resize( copied );
    copied = GetLongPathName( collapsed_path.data( ), full_path.data( ), full_path.size( ) );
    if ( copied == 0 ) 
        throw std::exception( "An error occurred while creating temporary path" );
    else if ( copied < full_path.size( ) ) break;
}
std::string path( std::begin( full_path ), std::end( full_path ) );