I am trying to set a specific directory for my code which is a MFC project. A code for a dialog has been written(in visual studio c++) and now I am going to use .exe file of this code in different OS, and replace this file in those directory that I want. To arrive at this goal, I used GetModuleFileName function.Therefore, by following these suggestions I included this piece of code to OnInitDialog() function of my code:
//function that gets the directory without the file name:
TCHAR szFilePath[_MAX_PATH];
TCHAR driveLetter[3];
TCHAR directory[MAX_PATH];
TCHAR FinalPath[MAX_PATH];
::GetModuleFileName(NULL, szFilePath, _MAX_PATH);//Retrieves the current directory for the current process.
// Add all the files and directories in the windows directory.
//VERIFY(0 < ::GetWindowsDirectory(lpszWinPath, MAX_PATH));
// Make the windows directory the current directory.
::GetCurrentDirectory(MAX_PATH, lpszOldPath);
//::SetCurrentDirectory(lpszWinPath);
::SetCurrentDirectory("C:\\Program Files");
However, now I don't get any error message but I don't know why I can't see any output. As an example I expect a .exe file in specified directory be created.
The code above doesn't create any files whatsoever, so it won't create an EXE file. Assuming that it tried to create .\Foo.EXE it would effectively create C:\Program Files\Foo.EXE. This is not correct for a number of reasons. For starters, don't hardcode the path, as it differs from system to system. Call SHGetKnownFolderPath(FOLDERID_ProgramFiles, ...) to get that path.
Next, create a subdirectory there. Don't put executables there directly.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, realize that this is the task of an installer running elevated. In normal use, Program Files is read-only. then normal programs don't create executables either.