Now before we attempt to create a directory, it is very easy to first validate whether or not the directory we wish to create in fact resides on the server by using the Directory.Exist method. This method accepts a string parameter, such as C:\MyDirectory, and returns a a Boolean value of true if the directory is found; otherwise, false is returned.

Be sure to wrap the code where you are attempting to create a directory within a try-catch block. This way you will know exactly if the class failed or ran successfully. The try-catch block is benefical in many aspects. Within the catch statement you can perform actions such as writing the failure to a flat file event log or the server's event log or even emailing a person or group if a failure occurs. However this is a topic within itself, and I just wanted to touch upon the power of using a try-catch statement.

using System;
using System.IO;


namespace SystemIO
{
 /// <summary>
 /// Summary description for article051604.
 /// </summary>
 public class article051604
 {


  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
   CreateDirectory();
  }



  public static void CreateDirectory()
  {
   string directoryPath = @"c:\MyDirectory";


   try
   {
    if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(directoryPath)) 
    {
     Console.WriteLine("That directory path exists already.");
    }
    else
    {
     System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(directoryPath);
    }
   }
   catch(Exception ex)
   {
    Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
   }
  }


 }
}

As you can see in the code sample above, the Main method calls the CreateDirectory method. The first thing I did was to assign the directory I wish to establish to a string variable. Then I wrap my attempt to create this directory within a try-catch block, as I stated earlier.

Here, utilizing the Directory.Exist method, I first validate that the directory does or doesn't exist. If the directory is found to exist then I write a message to the console stating that "the directory path exists already"; otherwise, if the directory is not found, it is then created within the else statement. Finally, if anything went wrong, the catch statement will write the error message out to the console.