Getting current directory in .NET web application

Question

So I have a web project, and I'm trying to get the root directory of the website using the c# method Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(). I don't want to be using a static path as the file locations will be changing in the future. This method is running in my imageProcess.aspx.cs file, but where I thought it would return:

C:\Users\tcbl\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\ModelMonitoring\ModelMonitoring\imageProcess.aspx.cs

I'm instead getting:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DevServer\10.0\

Can anyone explain why this is happening and what a possible solution might be? Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

The current directory is a system-level feature; it returns the directory that the server was launched from. It has nothing to do with the website.

You want HttpRuntime.AppDomainAppPath.

If you're in an HTTP request, you can also call Server.MapPath("~/Whatever").

Answer 2

Use this code:

 HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~")

Detailed Reference:

Server.MapPath specifies the relative or virtual path to map to a physical directory.

• Server.MapPath(".") returns the current physical directory of the file (e.g. aspx) being executed
• Server.MapPath("..") returns the parent directory
• Server.MapPath("~") returns the physical path to the root of the application
• Server.MapPath("/") returns the physical path to the root of the domain name (is not necessarily the same as the root of the application)

An example:

Let's say you pointed a web site application (http://www.example.com/) to

C:\Inetpub\wwwroot

and installed your shop application (sub web as virtual directory in IIS, marked as application) in

D:\WebApps\shop

For example, if you call Server.MapPath in following request:

http://www.example.com/shop/products/GetProduct.aspx?id=2342

then:

Server.MapPath(".") returns D:\WebApps\shop\products
Server.MapPath("..") returns D:\WebApps\shop
Server.MapPath("~") returns D:\WebApps\shop
Server.MapPath("/") returns C:\Inetpub\wwwroot
Server.MapPath("/shop") returns D:\WebApps\shop

If Path starts with either a forward (/) or backward slash (), the MapPath method returns a path as if Path were a full, virtual path.

If Path doesn't start with a slash, the MapPath method returns a path relative to the directory of the request being processed.

Note: in C#, @ is the verbatim literal string operator meaning that the string should be used "as is" and not be processed for escape sequences.

Footnotes

Server.MapPath(null) and Server.MapPath("") will produce this effect too.