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ASP.NET MVC - Find Absolute Path to the App_Data folder from Controller

ASP.NET MVC1 -> MVC3

string path = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/somedata.xml");

ASP.NET MVC4

string path = Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/somedata.xml");


MSDN Reference:

HttpServerUtility.MapPath Method


string path = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetData("DataDirectory").ToString();

This is probably a more "correct" way of getting it.


I try to get in the habit of using HostingEnvironment instead of Server as it works within the context of WCF services too.

 HostingEnvironment.MapPath(@"~/App_Data/PriceModels.xml");

The most correct way is to use HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data");. This means you can only retrieve the path from a method where the HttpContext is available. It makes sense: the App_Data directory is a web project folder structure [1].

If you need the path to ~/App_Data from a class where you don't have access to the HttpContext you can always inject a provider interface using your IoC container:

public interface IAppDataPathProvider
{
    string GetAppDataPath();
}

Implement it using your HttpApplication:

public class AppDataPathProvider : IAppDataPathProvider
{
    public string GetAppDataPath()
    {
        return MyHttpApplication.GetAppDataPath();
    }
}

Where MyHttpApplication.GetAppDataPath looks like:

public class MyHttpApplication : HttpApplication
{
    // of course you can fetch&store the value at Application_Start
    public static string GetAppDataPath()
    {
        return HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data");
    }
}

[1] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ex526337%28v=vs.100%29.aspx


Phil Haak has an example that I think is a bit more stable when dealing with paths with crazy "\" style directory separators. It also safely handles path concatenation. It comes for free in System.IO

var fileName = Path.GetFileName(file.FileName);
var path = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/uploads"), fileName);

However, you could also try "AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirector" instead of "Server.MapPath".