Delete Folders and Containing Files

Question

I have a really quick question. My program actually downloads a zip file then extracts it onto their desktop. But I need an uninstall feature for it, which is basically deleting multiple folders and containing files. How can I do this in vb.net?

Answer 1

If all of your folders are contained in a single folder, it should be pretty straight forward.

Dim path As String = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) & "\YOURPATH"
System.IO.Directory.Delete(path, True)

That will delete your root directory, and all the directories and files below it. You could just call this several times over if your files and directories are not all in a single root directory like "YOURPATH" in the example. This will spare you from having to remove each file individually.

Answer 2

The .NET IO unit has a two commands that should let you do the trick:

System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories("C:\\Program Files\\Your Directory\\*.*");
System.IO.Directory.GetFiles("C:\\Program Files\\Your Directory\\*.*");

I would write a method that takes the name of a directory and uses the "GetFiles" routine to get all of the files and to delete them using System.IO.File.Delete(path) in a foreach loop. Then, run a foreach loop on the result of the GetDirectories() command calling the function recursively.

Update: Steve Danner points out that the System.IO.Directory namespace has a Delete method so you don't need to go through the loops I talk about here. His answer is the right one and should be voted up. Mine, at this point, is more of a curiosity (although thank you to the person who gave me an upvote ;0).

Answer 3

Your are looking for DirectoryInfo, use it like this:

Dim di As New IO.DirectoryInfo(path)
di.Delete(True)

Answer 4

Dim path As String = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) & "\YOURPATH"
System.IO.Directory.Delete(path, True)