Permission issue when writing a .txt file.

Question

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Preface:
This is my first winform application and I am aware of my ignorance on the issue. Please clarify any fundamental flaws I may be propagating.

I have an application that attempts to write a text file to the C: drive of the computer it is installed on. The purpose of this is to be able to read and write to the file at a later point. It works locally on my machine, but access is denied when the application first tries to write the file on a client machine and rightfully so I reckon. I understand that this is not a good idea.

So my question ultimately would be, where is a better place to try and write that file without experiencing permission issues? Or, is there a better way to store readable/writable string data when a database cannot be involved?

Code:

var path = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);

using (StreamWriter clientData = new StreamWriter(path, true))
                       {
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0}, {1},", clientFirstName.Text.ToUpper(), clientLastName.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0},", clientAddress.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0},", clientPhone.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0},", clientEmail.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0},", (cbMonth.Text + "/" + cbDay.Text + "/" + cbYear.Text)));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0},", clientStartDate.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0},", clientProducts.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0},", clientWeight.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {4},", clientChest.Text.ToUpper(), clientBelly.Text.ToUpper(), clientHips.Text.ToUpper(), clientThigh.Text.ToUpper(), clientArm.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}, {6}, {7},", clientBodyFat.Text.ToUpper(), clientHydration.Text.ToUpper(), clientMuscleMass.Text.ToUpper(), clientPhysiqueRating.Text.ToUpper(), clientBMR.Text.ToUpper(), clientMetabolicAge.Text.ToUpper(), clientBoneMass.Text.ToUpper(), clientVisceralFat.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(string.Format("{0}", commentsNotes.Text.ToUpper()));
                           clientData.Write(clientData.NewLine);
                           success = true;
                       }

Posted 2-Oct-13 9:30am

Richard C Bishop

Updated 2-Oct-13 10:52am

v2

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Comments

ZurdoDev 2-Oct-13 15:32pm

If no db then all you have is a text file or the event viewer I suppose.

Richard C Bishop 2-Oct-13 15:38pm

That is what I figured. Do you have a recommendation on a location to write the file to?

ZurdoDev 2-Oct-13 15:40pm

I suppose you could write to the applications folder only because it seems reasonable, to me at least, that a program should have access to that folder.

Richard C Bishop 2-Oct-13 16:46pm

Ok, thank you RyanDev.

Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter 2-Oct-13 17:10pm

Access right does not depends no application but on login identity...

Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter 2-Oct-13 15:33pm

You may write the file to the user's own folder or one of its sub-folder like My Documents...

Richard C Bishop 2-Oct-13 15:39pm

Is there specific code used in order to access that file on any computer? Such as Environment.SpecialFolder or something? I have seen that in my research, but was not sure of its use fully.

Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter 2-Oct-13 17:02pm

Yes, you should use Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments

Richard C Bishop 2-Oct-13 17:18pm

Thank you, I got it to work. I was not indicating the file name and extension along the file path.

2 solutions

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Ravi Bhavnani · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-02T09:37:00

Solution 1

Some suitable locations to save application data are the AppData folder or the user's MyDocuments folder. Environment.GetFolderPath()[^] is your friend.

/ravi

Posted 2-Oct-13 9:37am

Ravi Bhavnani

Comments

ridoy 2-Oct-13 16:05pm

i think it's fair enough,a 5.

Richard C Bishop 2-Oct-13 16:51pm

Thank you Ravi, I tried that and am still getting permission error. I will post the code I am using above in my thread.

Richard C Bishop 2-Oct-13 17:16pm

I got it to work. I was not specifying the file name at the end of the folder, de de deee.

Ravi Bhavnani 2-Oct-13 17:37pm

I was just about to tell you that. :)

/ravi

Ammar4556257 · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-02T18:35:00

Call following method before writing the file.

C#

private bool GrantAccess(string fullPath)
        {
            DirectoryInfo dInfo = new DirectoryInfo(fullPath);
            DirectorySecurity dSecurity = dInfo.GetAccessControl();
            dSecurity.AddAccessRule(new FileSystemAccessRule(new SecurityIdentifier(WellKnownSidType.WorldSid, null), FileSystemRights.Write, InheritanceFlags.ObjectInherit | InheritanceFlags.ContainerInherit, PropagationFlags.NoPropagateInherit, AccessControlType.Allow));
            dInfo.SetAccessControl(dSecurity);
            return true;
        }

When using literal strings for the FileSystemAccessRule, it should be WellKnownSidType.WorldSid instead of "everyone".
The reason is because there are multiple Window languages and Everyone only applies to EN ones, so for Spanish, it might be "Todos" (or something else).
trukin wrote this in his solution and it works.
Following assemblies will be required:
System.IO
System.Security.AccessControl
System.Security.Principal