Can I use reflection to find the bin/[Configuration] folder in ASP.NET instead of the asp temporary folder

Question

I have an ASP.NET website and I want to find the /bin/[Configuration] folder to use an external tool (an exe file). When I use reflection to get calling assemblies location it returns something similar to:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\\...\Temporary ASP.NET Files\a1388a5e\\...\my.dll

Since each dll has its own directory under the temp ASP.NET Files this fails for me.

How can I get the location of the compiled binary folder where the dll's and the .exe is (i.e. bin/) instead of asp.net's temporary cache?

Notes

• This code is in a supporting library that can be called from ASP.NET websites or other console/windows apps.

Answer 1

You could try (taken from How to: Get the Application Directory):

Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase);

I set up a quick test with:

• A Web Application project running under the VS dev server (compiled site, /bin directory, etc).
• A class library project, referenced by the WA.

• In the web application I created a page that called the following method from the library project:

  using System.IO;
  using System.Reflection;
  
  namespace TestHelpers {
    public class ClassHelpers {
      public static string PathToBin() {
        return Path.GetDirectoryName(
                 Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase);
      }
    }
  }
  

This resulted in the following output on the page:

file:\C:\Users\ UserName \Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Websites\ Solution \ Project \bin

Which is what I'd expect.