Using Directory.Exists on a network folder when the network is down

Question

My company\'s code base contains the following C# line:

bool pathExists = Directory.Exists(path);

At runtime, the string path happ

Answer 1

If general network connectivity is your primary problem, you could try testing the network connectivity prior to this:

    [DllImport("WININET", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    static extern bool InternetGetConnectedState(ref int lpdwFlags, int dwReserved);

    public static bool Connected
    {
        get
        {
            int flags = 0;
            return InternetGetConnectedState(ref flags, 0);
        }
    }

Then determine if the path is a UNC path and return false if the network is offline:

    public static bool FolderExists(string directory)
    {
        if (new Uri(directory, UriKind.Absolute).IsUnc && !Connected)
            return false;
        return System.IO.Directory.Exists(directory);
    }

None of this helps when the host you're trying to connect to is offline. In that case you're still in for 2-minute network timeout.