How to get appdata folder path in delphi

Question

How can I get the appdata folder path? This is my code:

begin
  Winexec(PAnsichar('%appdata%\TEST.exe'), sw_show);
end;

but not working.

Valuable

Answer 1

You cannot pass environment variables to WinExec(). You have to resolve them first, eg:

uses
  ..., SysUtils;

function GetPathToTestExe: string;
begin
  Result := SysUtils.GetEnvironmentVariable('APPDATA');
  if Result <> '' then
    Result := IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter(Result) + 'TEST.exe';
end;

uses
  ..., Windows;

var
  Path: string;
begin
  Path = GetPathToTestExe;
  if Path <> '' then
    WinExec(PAnsiChar(Path), SW_SHOW);
end;

Alternatively:

uses
  ..., SysUtils, Windows;

function GetPathToTestExe: string;
var
  Path: array[0..MAX_PATH+1] of Char;
begin
  if ExpandEnvironmentStrings('%APPDATA%', Path, Length(Path)) > 1 then
    Result := IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter(Path) + 'TEST.exe'
  else
    Result := '';
end;

A more reliable (and official) way to get the APPDATA folder path is to use SHGetFolderPath() (or SHGetKnownFolderPath() on Vista+) instead, eg:

uses
  ..., SysUtils, Windows, SHFolder;

function GetPathToTestExe: string;
var
  Path: array[0..MAX_PATH] of Char;
begin
  if SHGetFolderPath(0, CSIDL_APPDATA, 0, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, Path) = S_OK then
    Result := IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter(Path) + 'TEST.exe'
  else
    Result := '';
end;

Alternatively:

uses
  ..., SysUtils;

function GetPathToTestExe: string;
var
  Path: string;
begin
  // GetHomePath() uses SHGetFolderPath(CSIDL_APPDATA) internally...
  Path := SysUtils.GetHomePath;
  if Path <> '' then
    Result := IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter(Path) + 'TEST.exe'
  else
    Result := '';
end;

But, in any case, WinExec() has been deprecated since Windows 95, you really should be using CreateProcess() instead, eg:

uses
  ..., Windows;

var
  Path: String;
  si: TStartupInfo;
  pi: TProcessInformation;

Path := GetPathToTestExe;
if Path <> '' then
begin
  ZeroMemory(@si, SizeOf(si));
  si.cb := SizeOf(si);
  si.dwFlags := STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
  si.wShowWindow := SW_SHOW;

  if CreateProcess(nil, PChar(Path), nil, nil, FALSE, 0, nil, nil, @si, pi)
  begin
    //...
    CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
    CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
  end;
end;

Edric

Why not using "System.SysUtils.GetHomePath" ? – Salomie

is not available in delphi 7 – Girasol

Answer 2

The proper way to do it, using System.IOUtils:

function GetAppDataFolder: string;                                       { Returns the path to the current user's AppData folder on Windows and to the current user's home directory on Mac OS X.   Example:  c:\Documents and Settings\Bere\Application Data\AppName\ }
begin
 Assert(System.IOUtils.TPath.HasValidFileNameChars(AppName, FALSE), 'Invalid chars in AppName: '+ AppName);
 Result:= Trail(Trail(System.SysUtils.GetHomePath)+ AppName);
end;

---

Utils:

function ForceAppDataFolder: string;  // Make sure the AppDataFolder exists before you try to write the INI file there!                                      
begin
 Result:= GetAppDataFolder;
 ForceDirectories(Result);
end;

function Trail(CONST Path: string): string;    //ok  Works with UNC paths
begin
 if Path= '' then EXIT('');                                                                        { Encountered when doing something like this:  ExtractLastFolder('c:\'). ExtractLastFolder will return '' }
 Result:= IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter(Path)
end;

Salomie

AppName is my program name? If is i will pass it by parameter – Correia

"AppName is my program name?" Yes. – Salomie

Answer 3

SHGetKnownFolderPath

program Project1;

{$mode objfpc}{$H+}

uses
  {$IFDEF UNIX}
  cthreads,
  {$ENDIF}
  Classes;

function SHGetKnownFolderPath(const rfid: TGuid; dwFlags: DWORD; hToken: THandle; out ppszPath: PWideChar): HRESULT; stdcall; external 'shell32.dll' name 'SHGetKnownFolderPath';

const
  localAppdataGuid: TGuid = '{F1B32785-6FBA-4FCF-9D55-7B8E7F157091}';
var
  ppszPath: PWideChar;
begin
  SHGetKnownFolderPath(localAppdataGuid, 0, 0, ppszPath);
  Writeln(string(ppszPath));
  Readln;
end.   

for another folder guid KNOWNFOLDERID

Chyme