ASP.NET Schedule deletion of temporary files

Question

Question: I have an ASP.NET application which creates temporary PDF files (for the user to download). Now, many users over many days can create many PDFs, which take much di

Answer 1

For each temporary file that you need to create, make a note of the filename in the session:

// create temporary file:
string fileName = System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName();
Session[string.Concat("temporaryFile", Guid.NewGuid().ToString("d"))] = fileName;
// TODO: write to file

Next, add the following cleanup code to global.asax:

<%@ Application Language="C#" %>

UPDATE: I'm now accually using a new (improved) method than the one described above. The new one involves HttpRuntime.Cache and checking that the files are older than 8 hours. I'll post it here if anyones interested. Here's my new global.asax.cs:

using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using System.Web.Caching;

public partial class global : System.Web.HttpApplication {
    protected void Application_Start() {
        RemoveTemporaryFiles();
        RemoveTemporaryFilesSchedule();
    }

    public void RemoveTemporaryFiles() {
        string pathTemp = "d:\\uploads\\";
        if ((pathTemp.Length > 0) && (Directory.Exists(pathTemp))) {
            foreach (string file in Directory.GetFiles(pathTemp)) {
                try {
                    FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(file);
                    if (fi.CreationTime < DateTime.Now.AddHours(-8)) {
                        File.Delete(file);
                    }
                } catch (Exception) { }
            }
        }
    }

    public void RemoveTemporaryFilesSchedule() {
        HttpRuntime.Cache.Insert("RemoveTemporaryFiles", string.Empty, null, DateTime.Now.AddHours(1), Cache.NoSlidingExpiration, CacheItemPriority.NotRemovable, delegate(string id, object o, CacheItemRemovedReason cirr) {
            if (id.Equals("RemoveTemporaryFiles", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) {
                RemoveTemporaryFiles();
                RemoveTemporaryFilesSchedule();
            }
        });
    }
}