Getting Application Path - WPF versus Windows Service

Question

I need to know a reliable way I can determine the folder that a windows service was started from. The way of determining this seems to be different than the way you'd determine it in a WPF applciaiton.

More Details (optional reading):

I have an embedded sql database that is used by both a WPF application and a windows service.

During development, the relative path to the database has been different for both projects because they have been running from their own debug directories while accessing this same embedded database.

Now, I'm trying to create an installer. I've moved both the windows service executable and wpf applications executable to the same root directory.

In the wpf applciation, I'm successfully creating a database connection string that points to the embedded database, but in the windows service I am not successfully creating this connection string.

Answer 1

Get your main assembly with Assembly.GetEntryAssembly. There, you'll have the Location property telling where your code is installed.

Note that the current directory of a service is c:\windows\system32 (assuming default install dir).

Answer 2

I think you are attacking the problem from the wrong direction. I would make the path to the database configurable in the config file for both the WPF app and the Windows Service. Then your code would simply build the connection string with the path from the config file.

Alternatively, you might think about using an environment variable and setting that environment variable in your installer.

Answer 3

To get the directory that the windows service was installed in, you can use :

        private string GetExeDir()
    {
        System.Reflection.Assembly ass = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
        string codeBase = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(ass.CodeBase);
        System.Uri uri = new Uri(codeBase);
        return uri.LocalPath;
    }