VS2022 set working folder

Many applications use their executable folder for creating and accessing various forms of files while an alternative is to use a folder devoid of the folder where the executable resides or any sub folder, this project show how to create a working folder using MS-Build task.

• First decide on the folder to perform work e.g. read/write to files or open a database
• Next create a variable in a PropertyGroup as shown below WorkingFolder as we need it in to places
• Create a Target for creating the folder indicated above before the build process takes place which uses MakeDir task to create the folder
• Create a PropertyGroup to set the working forlder using RunWorkingDirectory. The RunWorkingDirectory property defines the working directory for the application process to be started in. It can be an absolute path or a path that's relative to the project directory. If you don't specify a directory, OutDir is used as the working directory.

Example First decide on the folder to perform work e.g. read/write to files or open a database

• Next create a variable in a PropertyGroup as shown below WorkingFolder as we need it in to places
• Create a Target for creating the folder indicated above before the build process takes place which uses MakeDir task to create the folder
• Create a PropertyGroup to set the working forlder using RunWorkingDirectory. The RunWorkingDirectory property defines the working directory for the application process to be started in. It can be an absolute path or a path that's relative to the project directory. If you don't specify a directory, OutDir is used as the working directory.

Example for file operations

Set the working folder to C:\Work. Open the project file by clicking on the project name in Solution Explorer. Add the following.

<PropertyGroup>
    <WorkFolder>C:\Work</WorkFolder>
</PropertyGroup>

<Target Name="MakeWorkFolder" BeforeTargets="Build">
    <MakeDir Directories="$(WorkFolder)" />
</Target>

<PropertyGroup>
    <RunWorkingDirectory>$(WorkFolder)</RunWorkingDirectory>
</PropertyGroup>

Now use the following to create a new text file

File.WriteAllText("test.txt", "hello");

Without added the task to the project file the code above would write to the application folder but with the MS-Build Task the file is created under C:\Work.

Example working with EF Core SqlLite

The following defines the DbContext which normally creates file.db in the application folder but since we set the working folder to C:\Work this is where the database is created.

public class Context : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<FileContainer> FileContainers { get; set; }
    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
        => optionsBuilder.UseSqlite("Data Source=files.db");
}

On a similar note, suppose there are unit test that send messages to a specific folder? When working by yourself simply create the folder under the application folder e.g. call it MailDrop. But when working with a team of developers they must manually create the needed folder. A better idea is to use a MS-Build task.

<Target Name="MakeMailDir" AfterTargets="Build">
    <MakeDir Directories="$(OutDir)MailDrop" />
</Target>

Source code

See the following GitHub repository, project MsBuildWorkingDirApp

Requires

Microsoft Visual Studio 2022