File location best practices?

[Dana]

I was surprised not to find any discussion on this unless I'm just not using the right search terms...

Is there a "best practices" for file locations?  Like everything there should be a general solution but this is where I'm at:

My program analyzes .gpx format track files from a GPS receiver.  The user either manually downloads the files from the GPS and copies or moves the files into a data directory, or has the program download the file and save it as "temp.gpx".  If the latter, I'm using FileInstall to provide a secondary .exe that does the actual communications.  There are also one or two additional database files that the user can download from a website.

Executable location:  I presume in C:\program files(x86)\something\myprogram\myprogram.exe, though there's only a single file (two if the FileInstall is invoked).

Data files:  Presumably @MyDocumentsDir\myprogram\trackfiles for the gpx files and @MyDocumentsDir\myprogram\apdata for the others.

Or just put the program into its own directory off the c-drive root and make a data folder underneath that?

 

[Earthshine]

You can do it however you want. i would not go putting things under Program Files or Program Files (x86) unless you are putting your app in using a proper installer. I mean, you CAN certainly do that if you want, I just would not for your use case.

 

You could make a proper installer for your app if you want. Your idea for organizing it is fine. And the exe would go in the 32 bit Program Files location as you mentioned.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Earthshine

[Jon]

Section 10

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/win_cert/certification-requirements-for-windows-desktop-apps#10-apps-must-install-to-the-correct-folders-by-default