How to retrieve Application Data Folder using C# (.NET)

ApplicationData is the directory that serves as a common repository for application-specific data for the current roaming user. It can be retrieved using

current user:

Console.WriteLine("ApplicationData := " +Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData));

This example produces the following results:

GetFolderPath: C:\WINNT\System32

Accessing Application data folder path for all windows users

 MessageBox.Show("ApplicationData := " + 

Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData));

example for Process. WaitForInputIdle and WaitForExit

Causes the Process component to wait indefinitely for the associated process to enter an idle state. This overload applies only to processes with a user interface and, therefore, a message loop.


using System.Runtime.InteropServices;


 [DllImport("user32.dll")]
        static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);
        [DllImportAttribute("User32.dll")]
        private static extern IntPtr FindWindow(String ClassName, String WindowName);






 public void GetMSInfo()
       {


            try
            {


                string strArguments = " /report" + space.ToString() + path + "\\MS32INFO.txt";
                System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
                psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
                psi.UseShellExecute = false;
                psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
                psi.CreateNoWindow = true;
                psi.FileName = "msinfo32.exe";
                psi.Arguments = strArguments;
                
                System.Diagnostics.Process si = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
                si.StartInfo = psi;
                IntPtr hWnd;
                si.Start();
               
               si.WaitForInputIdle();
                hWnd = FindWindow(null, "System Information");
                ShowWindow(hWnd, 0);
                
                si.WaitForExit();
                
              //  string output = si.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
                si.Close();
            }


            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                throw ex;
            }


        }

Get A List Of Installed Applications Using LINQ And C#

To get a list of installed applications we need to look into registry. Microsoft.Win32 namespace contains objects which can be used to work with Windows Registry. In this post I will show you some code where I use the power of LINQ to retrieve and display a list of all applications installed on a machine.

The basic idea is that we iterate through a collection of RegistryKey objects within LocalMachine\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. We then open the sub keys and get the DisplayName.

Here is the code:

static void DisplayInstalledApplications()

{

  string registryKey = 

    @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";

  using (Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey key =

    Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(registryKey))

  {

    var query = from a in

              key.GetSubKeyNames()

              let r = key.OpenSubKey(a)

              select new

              {

                Application = r.GetValue("DisplayName")

              };

    foreach (var item in query)

    {

      if (item.Application != null)

        Console.WriteLine(item.Application);

    }

  }

}

 

I can also make this a bit more LINQed by removing the foreach loop. It just adds a bit more C# 3.0 flavour to the code and does the retrieval and writing to console in one line.

 

static void DisplayInstalledApplications2()

{

  string registryKey =

    @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";

  using (Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey key = 

    Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(registryKey))

  {

    (from a in key.GetSubKeyNames()

    let r = key.OpenSubKey(a)

    select new

    {

      Application = r.GetValue("DisplayName")

    }).ToList()

      .FindAll(c => c.Application != null)

      .ForEach(c => Console.WriteLine(c.Application));

  }

}