Is there a way to access a special folder path using a special folder name as a string using C#

Question

I have a text value from an App.Config file I read which identifies a special folder to use such as "LocalApplicationData". I would like to use this text value to access an Environment.SpecialFolder value. I have tried the below code statement but it does not work. Can someone please point out what is wrong or is there another way I should try?

object value = typeof(Environment.SpecialFolder).GetProperty("LocalApplicationData").GetValue(null);

Normally a special folder path is returned with a statement like the following:

Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData)

This is fine if I know in advance which special folder to specify. But in this problem case, the special folder name can be several values and is read from a app.config file. This is for a WinForms application not a web application.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Try:

var s = // read value from config.  Store in string
SpecialFolder sf;
if( Enum.TryParse( s, true, out sf))
{
    // success, now let's get the actual path
    var actualPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(sf)
}