CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#windows
Scott
Scott

Reputation: 999

Correct location to save a temporary file in Windows?

I have a file I need to write to a temp location, what is the best place in Windows? This file needs to not move as I need to read it a couple of times and dispose it when I close the program.

Upvotes: 47

Views: 15010

Answers (5)

Fandango68
Fandango68

Reputation: 4838

If you want to build your own custom temporary filename in reference to a temporary location, I use something like this, to strip off the PATH and apply my own filename ...

string wsPDFfile = Path.GetTempPath() + wsStudentID + "_" + Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(Path.GetTempFileName()) + ".pdf";

Upvotes: 0

EKS
EKS

Reputation: 5623

The others beat me to it regarding 

System.IO.Path.GetTempPath()

But you can also look into application data folder. That will allow you more control over your file, like the ability have 1 shared for all users or 1 per user.

Application.CommonAppDataPath
Application.UserAppDataPath

Upvotes: 11

Anderson Imes
Anderson Imes

Reputation: 25640

If you need your application to write to a temporary location and work in partial trust, you'd need to look into IsolatedStorage.

Upvotes: 0

tanascius
tanascius

Reputation: 53934

use

Path.GetTempPath();

or 

Path.GetTempFileName();

As commentator pointed out, GetTempFileName() is not threadsafe - but you can construct unique file names based on GUIDs.

Upvotes: 43

Mark Pim
Mark Pim

Reputation: 10064

Use the Windows API function GetTempPath() from System.IO.Path (see MSDN)

using System.IO

...

myTempPath = Path.GetTempPath();

You should be aware that the filesystem might well change during your program's execution. Either the Temp path may change (unlikely, granted), or your temporary file might have been moved or deleted by the user.

Be prepared to check for its existence each time you access it and handle the case when it's not found gracefully.

Upvotes: 7

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