What you should do is store the file somewhere other than IN the application folders.

The first time a user runs our app, we create a folder under LocalApplicationData with our company name, and copy the file over there that we want to start with. Updates are made to the file in the new location.

When updates come through, we check to see if the folder and file are in LocalApplicationData, and if they are, we don't do anything to it.

In C# you can get the folder this way:

string userFilePath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData);

In VB there is probably a property for it in the MY namespace.

The other advantage to this is that if the user has a probem and has to uninstall and reinstall, his data is still there.

Note that you do NOT want to display that XML file as a Data file, but just mark it as Required in the Application Files dialog. Files deployed as Data are placed in the ApplicationData folder, not in the same folder as System.Windwos.Forms.StartupPath.

RobinS.

GoldMail.com

Try setting the file to be a "Data" file, I think it will be in the Application Files dialog.

What you should do is store the file somewhere other than IN the application folders.

The first time a user runs our app, we create a folder under LocalApplicationData with our company name, and copy the file over there that we want to start with. Updates are made to the file in the new location.

When updates come through, we check to see if the folder and file are in LocalApplicationData, and if they are, we don't do anything to it.

In C# you can get the folder this way:

string userFilePath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData);

In VB there is probably a property for it in the MY namespace.

The other advantage to this is that if the user has a probem and has to uninstall and reinstall, his data is still there.

Note that you do NOT want to display that XML file as a Data file, but just mark it as Required in the Application Files dialog. Files deployed as Data are placed in the ApplicationData folder, not in the same folder as System.Windwos.Forms.StartupPath.

RobinS.

GoldMail.com

You need to check if these files or foldersare existed first. Then use the method to copy or move files to your destination folder.

The data files are only copied into the .\pre folder if they are different than they were in the last version. Otherwise you can get at them via the ApplicationDeployment.DataDirectory property.

What happens is files designated as "Data(Include)" in the Application Files dialog are copied to the location defined as ApplicationDeployment.DataDirectory.

When a new version is published, the deployment checks to see if the included data file has changed. If it has, it copies the prior version to the .\pre folder. If it hasn't, it does not.

When deploying a database, this gives you the opportunity to check and see if there is a previous version, and copy all of the data forward if there is.

So your best bet is still to just include the xml file and not mark it as data, and just copy it from System.Windows.Forms.StartupPath to the destination folder when you need to. This is less complicated.

RobinS.

GoldMail.com

In C# you can get the folder this way:

string userFilePath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData);"

Put it in the startup of your application. If you only want it copied the first time, check to see if it exists and only copy it if it doesn't. Something like this:

string userfilepath = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData, "mycompanyname");
if (!DirectoryExists(userfilepath))
Directory.Create(userfilepath);
if (!File.Exists(Path.Combine(userfilepath, "myfilename.txt")))
File.Copy(Path.Combine(System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath, "myfilename.txt"), userfilepath);

RobinDotNet