How to reference xml file in Class library project

Question

I have a class library project. In one of the classes I need to access an XML file. How do I reference the path to this file in a class? The file is located in one of the folders of the same project.

Answer 1

If you specify the Xml file to be compiled into your assembly you can read it at runtime using reflection.

Assembly asm = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(asm.GetManifestResourceStream("MyNamespace.MyXmlFile.xml"));
doc.Load(reader);

---

Update

Since the X509Certificate2 constructor will only accept a file path to your certificate file or a byte array you might want to use a configurable path to your certificate file instead of embedding it into your assembly.

Answer 2

Using the link that @Filburt provided:

First change the BuildAction of your XML file to Embedded resource. It will be added to your assembly with the root namespace of your assembly and the filename: For example, if the root namespace of your project is MyNamespace, a resource might be named MyNamespace.MyXmlFile.xml

   Assembly _assembly;
   StreamReader _textStreamReader;
   _assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
   _textStreamReader = new StreamReader(_assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("MyNameSpace.MyXmlFile.xml"));

You could use any number of classes that take a stream as a constructor parameter.