Brainfart? or ASP.NET madness

November 19, 2003 12:45 AM Comments [4] Posted in ASP.NET

I need a function from ASP.NET that gives me, reliably and guaranteed, without a config file, the base virtual directory of the current website.  So if I'm in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\web (ne http://localhost/web) then I want “/web/.” 

But (here's the fart part) I can't seem to find a way that gives it to me INDEPENDANT of the current Context's path.  Meaning, if the VERY FIRST (app start) page hit on the site is http://localhost/web/balances/balances.aspx then I still need “/web/“ not “/web/balances/.“

This is the closest I've got:

return HttpRuntime.AppDomainAppVirtualPath + "/";

However, this appears to occasionally (read: flaky) return a different path like /web/images/ or /web/someotherpagedirectory. 

What am I missing?

Comments [4]
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Wednesday, November 19, 2003 12:59:04 AM UTC
So you need the highest level directory of a web request? Or do you need the base directory of a web application?

For the former, you can do something with the Request.ServerVariables["PATH_INFO"] value, like splitting it on '/' and grabbind the first element.

The latter is easier, and you can use Page.ResolveUrl("~/").
Kurt Mackey
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 1:15:27 AM UTC
The base dir of the web app can also be gotten from Request.ApplicationPath. Though as Kurt points out, that isn't necessarily the left-most directory in the URL.
Kevin Dente
Thursday, November 20, 2003 4:26:23 AM UTC
How about HttpRequest's ApplicationPath property?
Vimal Subramanian
Friday, November 21, 2003 10:57:12 PM UTC
I use

System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory

Because you don't have to add a ref to System.Web from other libraries.. I usually do, but using this lets you get away with not having to. No reliance on an HttpRequest object
Sean
Comments are closed.
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