how to check whether a file exists before creating it - asp.net

I am creating an xml file. I need to check first if the file exists or not. If the file does not exist, create it and add the data cmg from a .cs file.
If the file exists, don't create the file just add the data cmg from a .cs file.
My code looks like this:
string filename="c:\\employee.xml";
XmlTextWriter tw=new XmlTextWriter(filename,null);//null represents
the Encoding Type//
tw.Formatting=Formatting.Indented; //for xml tags to be indented//
tw.WriteStartDocument(); //Indicates the starting of document (Required)//
tw.WriteStartElement("Employees");
tw.WriteStartElement("Employee","Genius");
tw.WriteStartElement("EmpID","1");
tw.WriteAttributeString("Name","krishnan");
tw.WriteElementString("Designation","Software Developer");
tw.WriteElementString("FullName","krishnan Lakshmipuram Narayanan");
tw.WriteEndElement();
tw.WriteEndElement();
tw.WriteEndDocument();
tw.Flush();
tw.Close();
so next time we add data to file we need to check if the file exits and add data to xml file
and as we have made empID as a primary key, if user tries to make duplicate entry we need to avoid
Is this possible to do?

if (!File.Exists(filename))
{
// create your file
}
or
if (File.Exists(filename))
{
File.Delete(filename);
}
// then create your file
File class is in System.IO namespace (add using System.IO; to your file)

You can't append records to an XML file, you have to read the file and then rewrite it.
So, just check if the file exists, and read the records from it. Then write the file including all previous records and the new record.

Have a look at the File.Exists method here

Testing for existance of a file before attempting to create it inherently is subject to a "things change after check" race condition. Who can guarantee you that your application isn't preempted and put to sleep for a moment after you checked, someone else creates/deletes that file, your app gets to run again and does exactly the opposite of what you intended ?
Windows (as well as all UN*X variants) supports file open/create modes that allow to perform that create-if-nonexistant/open-if-existant operation as a single call.
As far as .NET goes, this means for your task (create an XML file) you'd first create a System.IO.FileStream with the appropriate modes, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.filemode.aspx and then pass that stream to the XmlWriter constructor. That's safer than simply performing an "exists" check and hoping for the best.

Related

Overwrite an existing file programmatically

I have a QDialogBox where there is an option to upload a file.
I can upload files and save them to a folder. It works fine.
But if in case there is a file that already exists in the folder, I am not sure how to handle that scenario.
I want to warn the user that the file with same name already exists.
Is there a Windows API that I can use in this case? (because when we manually save an existing file, we get a warning, how can I use that?)
If someone can point me to that documentation, it will be great.
If you are using a QFileDialog, confirmOverwrite is activated by default, so, if getSaveFileName() returned a non-empty QString, then that means the user accepted to overwrite the file. Other way, you get an empty QString.
Then, you can check if the file exists, and remove it in that case, but you know that the user was Ok with that.
There is always a potential race condition when saving files. Checking to see if the file exists first is not safe, because some other process could create a file with the same name in between the check and when you actually write the file.
To avoid problems, the file must be opened with exclusive access, and in such a way that it immediately fails if it already exists.
If you want to do things properly, take a look at these two answers:
How do I create a file in python without overwriting an existing
file
Safely create a file if and only if it does not exist with
python
You can use QDir::entryList() to get the file names in a directory if you're not using a QFileDialog.
QDir dir("/path/to/directory");
QStringList fileNames = dir.entryList();
Then iterating through file names, you can see if there's a file with the same name. If you need it, I can give an example for that too. It'd be C++, but easily adaptable to Python.
Edit: Smasho just suggested that using QDir::exists() method. You can check if the file name exists in the directory with this method instead of iterating like I suggested.
if(dir.exists(uploadedFileName))

Can i get access over file in FileWriter Filter of Directshow

I have read the FileWriter Filter :
" The File Writer filter can be used to write files to disc regardless of format. The filter simply writes to disc whatever it receives on its input pin, so it must be connected upstream to a multiplexer that can format the file correctly. You can create a new output file with the File Writer or specify an existing file; if the file already exists, it will be completely overwritten with the new data. "
So my question is :
I am using the FileWriter filter for writing my audio stream into the disc. Before writing the file in the disc i want to access that file , so can it be possible or should i make my own custom filter.
File writer filter does not not provide you with options to change file sharing mode while the file is being written to. Additionally, in most cases your accessing the file before it is finalized makes no sense: the files are rarely written incrementally, file finalization changes data in the middle of the file and your accessing data before the file is closed might get you bad/incomplete stream.
Roman R is right. Writers are for writing. If you need transform data - write your own Transform filter.
You can ask me directly here.

xml file back up?

I have a asp.net application which reads and updates and xml file in my file system.I do have the options edit and save.As of now it serves my purpose but what if the user edits the values and saves but for some reason he wants to restore the old values to the xml file.I want to
have an option called reset which will get the old values of the xml file incase the user wants to get back to the default values.How do i create a back up to the original file and how do i call that xml file ??? Can any one suggest whether i am in right path or not?
I am using Linq-to xml here .
Keep a copy of the original XML file. Call it xml_file.bk and when the user clicks "reset" delete the current XML file and make a copy of XML_File.bk to the real name with the .xml extension.
You can use File.Move(sourcefile, destinationFile) to make a copy of the original.
File.Move documentation.

How can I rename a file in ASP.NET?

In my project I want to rename the file before it is updating. For example a file in my system like Mycontact.xls. I want to rename it as sasi.xls (it is an excel file). How can I write the code in ASP.NET?
Actually I am using a fileupload control to get the file in and rename the file and upload the renamed file in a folder which is in Solution Explorer.
You can do it with the File.Move method eg:
string oldFileName = "MyOldFile.txt";
string newFileName = "MyNewFile.txt";
File.Move(oldFileName, newFileName);
C# does not provide a file rename function, unfortunately. Anyhow, the idea is to do this:
File.Copy(oldFileName, NewFileName);
File.Delete(oldFileName);
You can also use - File.Move.
Be aware that when that code executes, the owner of the file will turn into the identity you have set on your Application Pool on which the website is running.
That account might not have enough permissions to 'create new' or 'delete' files.
I would advise you to place all read/writable files in a seperate location so you can control the security settings seperately on that part. This will also split off the 'only readable files/executables' (like the aspx and such) from the 'read/writable' files.

Send file using Response.BinaryWrite() and delete it afterwards

As part of a Classic ASP Project the user should be able to download a file - which is dynamicly extracted from a zip archive and sent via Response.BinaryWrite() - by simply calling "document.asp?id=[some id here]".
Extracting and sending is not the problem but I need to delete the extracted file after the download finished. I never did any ASP or VBA before and I guess that's why I stuck here.
I tried deleting the file right after Response.WriteBinary() using FileSystemObject.DeleteFile() but this results in a 404-Error on the client-side.
How can I wait till the download finished and then do additional actions?
Edit: This is how my code looks like:
'Unzip a specified file from an archive and put it's path in *document*
set stream = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
stream.Open
stream.Type = 1 ' binary
stream.LoadFromFile(document)
Response.BinaryWrite(stream.Read)
'Here I want to delete the *document*
I suspect that the point you are calling the DeleteFile method the file you are trying delete is currently locked by something else, the question is what?
Try including:-
stream.Close()
after your BinaryWrite. Also make sure you've done a similar thing to the component you've used to extract the file. If the component doesn't offer any obviouse "close" methods they trying assigning Nothing to the variables referencing them.
Is it not possible to stream the file into memory, then binary write the stream to the browser, this way the file is never created on the server and there is no need to delete it.
I found a solution: The extracted files are saved in a special directory and everytime a user runs the document.asp it checks this directory for files older than one hour and deletes them.
I think it's the simplest way to manage, but furthermore I would prefer a solution where the document is deleted after downloading.

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