Discuss "Cannot use a leading .. to exit above the top directory" in the .Net Development forum.

richyrich · #1 June 4th, 2008, 09:52 PM

Is it possible to create a folder outside the root?

At the moment I use:-

Code:

Dim filepath as string = "~/documents/" & user.userref
Directory.CreateDirectory(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(filepath)

which is fine for creating within a sub folder of root.

What I'd like to do is create a folder in:-

Code:

filepath = "../../documents/" user.userref

but it gives an error saying I'm trying to create a folder outside the root.

Any ideas?

jmurrayhead · #2 June 4th, 2008, 10:03 PM

Posting the exact error message is always helpful

richyrich · #3 June 4th, 2008, 10:10 PM

Error message is:-
System.Web.HttpException: Cannot use a leading .. to exit above the top directory. at System.Web.Util.UrlPath.ReduceVirtualPath(String path) at System.Web.Util.UrlPath.Reduce(String path) at System.Web.Util.UrlPath.Combine(String appPath, String basepath, String relative) at System.Web.VirtualPath.Combine(VirtualPath relativePath) at System.Web.HttpRequest.MapPath(VirtualPath virtualPath, VirtualPath baseVirtualDir, Boolean allowCrossAppMapping) at System.Web.HttpServerUtility.MapPath(String path) at xxxxxx.App.BLL.UsersBLL.AddUserDoc(UsersBOL user) in.....

jmurrayhead · #4 June 4th, 2008, 10:23 PM

It appears to be an issue with IIS: http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q226474

The above is for Classic ASP, but sounds like the same thing.

richyrich · #5 June 5th, 2008, 01:02 AM

I came up with this pseudo server.mappath.

Code:

 
Namespace MyCompany.App.BLL
 
  Public Class SiteBLL
 
    Public Shared Function MapPath() as String
 
      Dim filepath as string = string.empty
      Dim x as array = split(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/" , "\")
      Dim i as integer = 0
 
      Do until x(i) = "wwwroot"
         filepath &= x(i) & "\"
          i += 1
      loop
 
      Return filepath
 
    End Function
 
  End Class
 
End Namespace

Code:

Imports MyCompany.App.BLL
.
.
.
.
 
Dim new_folder as String = "My Docs"
 
Dim filepath As String = SiteBLL.MapPath
 
If not string.IsNullOrEmpty(filepath) then
     filepath &= "the_folder_you_want\" & new_folder
     Try
           Directory.CreateDirectory(filepath)
     Catch ex as Exception
           error_var = ex.Message.ToString
     End Try
Else
     error_var = "Could not locate directory"
End If

Within the Do Until loop you just have to change the value to what ever folder you want the path to stop at.

If you just write Server.MapPath("~/") to the screen, you'll see the path structure. This should account for any folder/drive/server changes provided the folder you want to stop at doesn't change.

Obviously to access documents you'll need to repeat the process to build the filepath to use GetFiles etc.

And you need to import the System.IO namespace into your page.

Hope that helps someone...

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Discuss "Cannot use a leading .. to exit above the top directory" in the .Net Development forum.

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