So im reading info from a file on startup. Ive placed a copy of the file in \Vs\bin\debug\whatever, and during debugging phase it finds and reads it correctly using Application.StartupPath.

However... When I compile the program and run the executable, Application.StartupPath returns this: (i output it to a debug.txt file just to see)

C:\Documents and Settings\Jimbo\Local Settings\Apps\2.0\X7VBCCL2.VJH\BGHK34JX.CK0\tank..tion_0000000000000000_0001.0000_b7d7452a6e1eee43

Whereas it should return:

C:\Documents and Settings\Jimbo\Desktop\Tankz2

Has anyone seen anything like this before? I was on MSDN and it was saying something about a path being different for a "ClickOnce" Application, that's greek to me.

Any help? Thanks!

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com

I've never used Application.StartupPath, but just plain old relative addressing hasn't let me down so far, e.g. "./levels/level1.dat". The dot (.) means "current directory". Two dots (..) means "one directory above the current one".

_________________
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve

Im not sure I understand. How do you use this?

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com

Seems like if your app is a ClickOnce app, it'll be deployed to and started from a cached location in %username%.

Are you using ClickOnce deployment?

_________________
10 PRINT "Bad Monkey ";
20 GOTO 10

That's a terrific question. I have no idea. lol

I thought maybe it was some annoying obscure option somewhere in the IDE, but I haven't found it.

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com

IGTHORN:

Just tried your method. Again, works during Debugging but the compiled EXE fails to find it.

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com

Hmm, not sure what to make of that.

When you compile your project, do you have an .exe being generated in your /bin folder, but when you run that .exe it thinks that it's located somewhere else?

If the .exe is somewhere in the Local Settings\Apps folder, then for a hacky solution, you could perhaps copy it back to where your data files are and run it from there.

_________________
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve

The uncompiled project files get output to somewhere in my Visual Studio folder. When I debug, it executes from there and looks in the bin\x86\Debug\ folder for the text file.

The compiled EXE sits in a folder on my Desktop. When it runs, its looking in

C:\Documents and Settings\Jimbo\Local Settings\Apps\2.0\X7VBCCL2.VJH\BGHK34JX.CK0\tank..tion_0000000000000000_0001.0000_b7d7453372967c03

Which is a folder that does infact exist on my hard drive, strangely enough. But oubviously this is not where i want the app to be looking for the file.

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com

Ok, the problem does seem to be related to ClickOnce.... I think. Im a little fuzzy on what's going on, but from what I can tell, the problem lies in the fact that when the app is being published, it doesnt copy the text file to the wierd folder along with the rest of the files. Im not sure if this has anything to do with an application manifest (which i dont know how to manipulate).

Theres 2 big problems at the moment.

1) I found the "Enable ClickOnce security" box. I disabled it, and it didn't help.

2) Even if the text file DID get copied to that wierd directory, thats still useless because that file is meant to be easily modified by the user - in the game's main folder. It would be retarded to have to go digging into that wierd ClickOnce directory.

Sigh. File I/O used to be so simple.

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com

So far, in addition to the syntax IGTHORN suggested, I've tried all those. And they ALL return the ClickOnce folder. *pulls hair out*

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com

I had a quick dig around earlier, but couldn't find any way of disabling ClickOnce. There must be something in the project properties.

_________________
10 PRINT "Bad Monkey ";
20 GOTO 10

Thanks, I appreciate the effort! Yeah theres some setting in the IDE that has to do with ClickOnce security. Didn't seem to change anything.
Honestly, im not bothered by ClickOnce.. I just wish i could figure out how to programatically determine the ACTUAL directory of the executable that the user is clicking on.

That seems like it should be easy. lol.

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com

This is what I use in my apps when I need the application startup directory:
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory

Just tried it. That also returns the ClickOnce directory. Thanks, though!

_________________
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment." -Jonah Orion
http://tankzgame.blogspot.com