What is the difference between Server.MapPath and HostingEnvironment.MapPath?

user_49048 0
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Is there any difference between Server.MapPath() and HostingEnvironment.MapPath()? Does Server.MapPath() have any advantages over HostingEnvironment.MapPath()?

My original problem was mapping the file path on a server when the HttpContext is not present and I cannot pass a Server variable from Global.asax to my method.

I used HostingEnvironment.MapPath() instead since it doesn't need HttpContext. Are there any situations when these two methods will give different results?

asp.net c#
3 Answers

Server.MapPath() eventually calls HostingEnvironment.MapPath(), but it creates a VirtualPath object with specific options:

The VirtualPath object passed to HostingEnvironment.MapPath() is constructed like this:

VirtualPath.Create(path, VirtualPathOptions.AllowAllPath|VirtualPathOptions.AllowNull);

Edit: in reality, the only difference is that you are allowed to pass null to Server.MapPath(), but not to HostingEnvironment.MapPath()

user_1135700

Server.MapPath() requires an HttpContext. HostingEnvironment.MapPath does not.

Mark_Struzinski_12840

Are there any situations when these two methods will give different results?

In WCF service, because of the null HttpContext.Current, you can't get the path by Server.MapPath() and will get a HttpException, but you can get the path by HostingEnvironment.MapPath().

// This will get a Http Exception
string path = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("myPath");
// This will get your path
string path = System.Web.HostingEnvironment.MapPath("~/myPath");

Reference:

user_82579730
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