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96

answers:

2

I want to determine the absolute path of files used by a known process by reading the command line. Currently, the process is started with relative paths in the command line that point to various files such as config files. The problem is that if the paths are not relative to the folder containing the executable, I have no way of converting the relative paths provided at the command line, well I can't be 100% sure.

For example two batch files:

BATCH 1 CD c:\test\bin test.exe ..\config\config.ini

BATCH 2 CD c:\test bin\test.exe config\config.ini

For batch file one, the command line I get is "c:\test\bin\test.exe ..\config\config.ini" and for batch file two I get "c:\test\bin\test.exe config\config.ini". So, see this I can't resolve the paths.

Anyway for starters, I got the command line from a WMI query using ManagementObjectSearcher. Now I need to get the working directory the process was started from to resolve the paths passed at the command line but how?

EDIT: I forgot one key detail. I want to get the working directory of another process. Basically, my main program gathers info from another program. I'm able to determine the process ID because I know the name of the executable. I can also determine the command line. I must now find the working directory or current directory the executable was started in so I can resolve the relative paths of command line. I hope I made the question clearer.

+3  A: 

I think Environment.CurrentDirectory should give you the directory the executable was started in. It is only reliable at the start of the process, because it can change later.

Or maybe try Process.GetCurrentProcess().StartInfo.WorkingDirectory. I didn't try it myself, just looked it up on MSDN

chris166
I tried all this in a console app, and Environment.CurrentDirectory came out with the directory the app started in, as you thought it would. But Process.GetCurrentProcess().StartInfo.WorkingDirectory came out as an empty string. Which surprised me -- I thought it would have been the same. A little further testing showed that if I created a shortcut to the executable, then modified the "Start In" property of the shortcut to something (like "C:\"), then that is what was then in the StartInfo.WorkingDirectory.
Cyberherbalist
A: 

Have you tried Application.ExecutablePath?

Alternatively, there are numerous Paths that can be retrieve from Application

Eric