C# Get path of class library

Question

I have a class library that uses some xml files found in its own directory.

When referencing this library from another project, how do I ensure the library is working from it's own directory?

I tried Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location but that still returns the path of the startup project.

Answer 1

I know this is an old post but in the event someone else stumbles on it from a search, the easiest way I've found to do this is:

Public Class Foo

     Public Shared Function GetMyPath() As String
          Return Path.GetDirectoryName(GetType(Foo).Assembly.Location)
     End Function

End Class

Answer 2

This is happening because your startup project has two options as to loading the library

1. Copy it to it's own folder (what would cause the behaviour you are experimenting)
2. Load it from GAC (what would make impossible to load any XML from it's folder)

So you have two options here:

1. Import the XML files in the project and embed them as "embedded resources" in the class library and load it in memory at runtime
2. Import the XML files in the project and change the "copy to output directory" property of the file to "true".