Pass AppData path as an argument

Question

So currently I am making a Minecraft launcher and this is the code.

There is a --gamedir where the use of appdata is required but %appdata% will not work. I need to be able to read and write to it.

ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.FileName = "C:\\Program Files\\Novalis Trust\\Games\\Minecraft\\bin\\java.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = "-XX:HeapDumpPath=MojangTricksIntelDriversForPerformance_javaw.exe_minecraft.exe.heapdump -Xmx1G -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:+CMSIncrementalMode -XX:-UseAdaptiveSizePolicy -Xmn128M -Djava.library.path=C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\versions\\1.12.2\\1.12.2-natives -cp C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\oshi-project\\oshi-core\\1.1\\oshi-core-1.1.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\net\\java\\dev\\jna\\jna\\4.4.0\\jna-4.4.0.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\net\\java\\dev\\jna\\platform\\3.4.0\\platform-3.4.0.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\ibm\\icu\\icu4j-core-mojang\\51.2\\icu4j-core-mojang-51.2.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\net\\sf\\jopt-simple\\jopt-simple\\5.0.3\\jopt-simple-5.0.3.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\paulscode\\codecjorbis\\20101023\\codecjorbis-20101023.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\paulscode\\codecwav\\20101023\\codecwav-20101023.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\paulscode\\libraryjavasound\\20101123\\libraryjavasound-20101123.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\paulscode\\librarylwjglopenal\\20100824\\librarylwjglopenal-20100824.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\paulscode\\soundsystem\\20120107\\soundsystem-20120107.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\io\\netty\\netty-all\\4.1.9.Final\\netty-all-4.1.9.Final.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\google\\guava\\guava\\21.0\\guava-21.0.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\org\\apache\\commons\\commons-lang3\\3.5\\commons-lang3-3.5.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\commons-io\\commons-io\\2.5\\commons-io-2.5.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\commons-codec\\commons-codec\\1.10\\commons-codec-1.10.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\net\\java\\jinput\\jinput\\2.0.5\\jinput-2.0.5.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\net\\java\\jutils\\jutils\\1.0.0\\jutils-1.0.0.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\google\\code\\gson\\gson\\2.8.0\\gson-2.8.0.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\mojang\\authlib\\1.5.25\\authlib-1.5.25.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\mojang\\realms\\1.10.19\\realms-1.10.19.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\org\\apache\\commons\\commons-compress\\1.8.1\\commons-compress-1.8.1.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\org\\apache\\httpcomponents\\httpclient\\4.3.3\\httpclient-4.3.3.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\commons-logging\\commons-logging\\1.1.3\\commons-logging-1.1.3.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\org\\apache\\httpcomponents\\httpcore\\4.3.2\\httpcore-4.3.2.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\it\\unimi\\dsi\\fastutil\\7.1.0\\fastutil-7.1.0.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\org\\apache\\logging\\log4j\\log4j-api\\2.8.1\\log4j-api-2.8.1.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\org\\apache\\logging\\log4j\\log4j-core\\2.8.1\\log4j-core-2.8.1.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\org\\lwjgl\\lwjgl\\lwjgl\\2.9.4-nightly-20150209\\lwjgl-2.9.4-nightly-20150209.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\org\\lwjgl\\lwjgl\\lwjgl_util\\2.9.4-nightly-20150209\\lwjgl_util-2.9.4-nightly-20150209.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\libraries\\com\\mojang\\text2speech\\1.10.3\\text2speech-1.10.3.jar;C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\versions\\1.12.2\\1.12.2.jar net.minecraft.client.main.Main --version 1.12.2 --gameDir appdata --assetsDir C:\\Users\\Jamie\\AppData\\Roaming\\.minecraft\\assets --assetIndex 1.12 --uuid %GUID% --accessToken %GUID% --userType legacy --versionType ${Cotswold-Chine}"

Answer 1

You can use Environment.GetFolderPath

Console.WriteLine("GetFolderPath: {0}",                  
 Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData));

more info here and here

Answer 2

If you need your process you are starting to run with elevated privileges, you need to set the runas verb:

ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.Verb = "runas";
//... Other initialization

If you need your application to have elevated privileges, you need to put that in your app.manifest:

Add an app.manifest file, and then set the <requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" flag.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
<asmv1:assembly manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" 

    xmlns:asmv1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" 

    xmlns:asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" 

    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0" name="MyApplication" />
    <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
        <security>
            <requestedPrivileges xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
                <requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" 

        uiAccess="false" />
            </requestedPrivileges>
        </security>
    </trustInfo>
</asmv1:assembly> 

This will cause an UAC dialog to pop-up when your application is run.