C# 2008 SP1
I am using the code below:
dt.ReadXml("%AppData%\\DateLinks.xml");
However, I am getting an exception that points to the location of where my application is running from:
Could not find a part of the path 'D:\Projects\SubVersionProjects\CatDialer\bin\Debug\%AppData%\DateLinks.xml'.
I thought the %AppData% should find the relative path. When I go Start|Run|%AppData% windows explorer takes me to that directory.
I can not put the full path in, as the user is different on each client machine.
Answer
To get the AppData directory, it's best to use the GetFolderPath method:
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData)
(must add using System if not present).
%AppData% is an environment variable, and they are not automatically expanded anywhere in .NET, although you can explicitly use the Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariable method to do so. I would still strongly suggest that you use GetFolderPath however, because as Johannes Rössel points out in the comment, %AppData% may not be set in certain circumstances.
Finally, to create the path as shown in your example:
var fileName = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData), "DateLinks.xml");