How to create and save an XML file containing complete hierarchy of files and folders for a specified folder?

Question

this is my first post here on the site :)

So basically I need a gui application that can create and save XML file containing complete hierarchy of files and folders

Answer 1

Your question is - can u do my application for me - but anyway.

I will give you some hints to get started with your Project.

First of all - Check out MVVM here. This will help you - to handle WPF.

1. Pick the starting folder

Then you will need a FolderPicker to start your Search

  public static string PickFolder()
    {
        var dialog = new System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog();
        System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult result = dialog.ShowDialog();

        string folder = string.Empty;
        switch (result)
        {
            case System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK: return dialog.SelectedPath;
            case System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Cancel: return string.Empty;
            default: return string.Empty;
        }
    }

U will need the System.Windows.Forms Assembly for this. (Project -> Add reference -> Assembly)

2. folders and files

Then you want to itterate through all folders.

Check out System.IO.Directory here

3. file information

Check out System.IO.File here - this will give you some file data and to get the file size check this out

Answer 2

Try following code. Fully tested. Start with small Directory. Very large folders may take time. I updated code to speed up loading the treeview.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication29
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        XDocument doc = null;
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath = @"c:\temp";

        }

        private void buttonBrowseForFolder_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            folderBrowserDialog1.ShowDialog();
            textBoxFolderName.Text = folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath;
        }

        private void buttonCreateXml_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if(Directory.Exists(textBoxFolderName.Text))
            {
                string header = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><Directory></Directory> ";
                doc = XDocument.Parse(header);
                XElement root = doc.Root;

                CreateXmlRecursive(textBoxFolderName.Text, root);
            }
        }
        private float CreateXmlRecursive(string folder, XElement folderElement)
        {
            folderElement.SetValue(folder);

            DirectoryInfo dInfo = new DirectoryInfo(folder);

            int numberOfFiles = 0;
            float size = 0.0f;

            foreach(FileInfo fInfo in dInfo.GetFiles())
            {
                try
                {
                    float fSize = fInfo.Length;
                    size += fSize;
                    folderElement.Add(new XElement("File", new object[] {
                        new XAttribute("size",fSize),
                        new XAttribute("creationDate", fInfo.CreationTime.ToShortDateString()),
                        new XAttribute("lastAccessDate", fInfo.LastAccessTime.ToShortDateString()),
                        new XAttribute("lastModifiedDate", fInfo.LastWriteTime.ToShortDateString()),
                        fInfo.Name
                    }));
                    numberOfFiles += 1;
                }
                catch(Exception e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Error : CAnnot Access File '{0}'", fInfo.Name);
                }
            }
            foreach(string subFolder in Directory.GetDirectories(folder))
            {
                XElement childDirectory = new XElement("Directory");
                folderElement.Add(childDirectory);
                float dSize =  CreateXmlRecursive(subFolder, childDirectory);
                size += dSize;
            }
            folderElement.Add(new XAttribute[] {
                new XAttribute("size", size),
                new XAttribute("numberOfFiles", numberOfFiles)
            });

            return size;
        }

        private void buttonCreateTree_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (doc != null)
            {
                TreeNode rootNode = new TreeNode(doc.Root.FirstNode.ToString());
                AddNode(doc.Root, rootNode);
                treeView1.Nodes.Add(rootNode);
                treeView1.ExpandAll();
            }

        }
        private void AddNode(XElement xElement, TreeNode inTreeNode)
        {

            // An element.  Display element name + attribute names & values.
            foreach (var att in xElement.Attributes())
            {
                inTreeNode.Text = inTreeNode.Text + " " + att.Name.LocalName + ": " + att.Value;
            }
            // Add children
            foreach (XElement childElement in xElement.Elements())
            {
                TreeNode tNode = inTreeNode.Nodes[inTreeNode.Nodes.Add(new TreeNode(childElement.Value))];
                AddNode(childElement, tNode);
            }
        }

    }
}