Where to write my temporary files to?

Question

I have numerous byte[] representing pdf's. Each byte array needs to be loaded at the start of the application and shown as a thumbnail on my gui. So far I have managed to write the files to a temp location using:

System.IO.Path.GetTempPath();

Then using this path I get all pdf files, write them using

System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(fileName, arrayOfPdfs[i]);

and then navigate to that directory, get all pdf files and turn them in to thumbnails in my app.

The thing is I only want the pdfs I have just put in the temp location only, so how else can I store the pdfs, or even where else can I store them so I know when I come to turn them in to thumbnails, the files I am reading are the ones I have just written? This is so I can be sure the user is only looking at the relevant pdfs that relate to their search on my system.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Build a randomly named directory in the base temporary directory:

string directoryName = Path.GetRandomFileName();
Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), directoryName));

Store your files in there.

Answer 2

I would recommend in your users ApplicationData/LocalApplicationData folder provided by the OS for your app..

Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);

Of course if the storage doesn't need to persist very long (really temporary) then you could just use the temp folder and create a folder inside of it to isolate your files.