Computer System administrators put a lot of restrictions on accessing storage media such as disks with the proliferation of viruses and spyware around computer networks. It is now necessary to accommodate requirements to store data in a new way. As a result, isolated storage was implemented. Isolated storage allows storing data without resorting to checking for access rights and security privileges.

IsolatedStorageFile class provides functionality to create file and folders in isolated storage.

Static Methods

 

Name	Description
GetMachineStoreForApplication	Gets a machine-level store for the Click-Once app.
GetMachineStoreForAssembly	Gets a machine-level store for the assembly.
GetMachineStoreForDomain	Gets a machine-level store for the AppDomain.
GetStore	Gets stores based on the IsolatedStorageScope.
GetUserStoreForApplication	Gets a user-level store for the Click-Once app.
GetUserStoreForAssembly	Gets a user-level store for the assembly.
GetUserStoreForDomain	Gets a user-level store for the AppDomain.

Properties

 

Name	Description
ApplicationIdentity	The Click-Once application's identity.
AssemblyIdentity	The assembly's identity.
CurrentSize	The current size of the data in the storage.
DomainIdentity	The identity of the AppDomain.
MaximumSize	The maximum storage size.
Scope	The IsolatedStorageScope enumeration value.

Methods

 

Name	Description
Close	Closes an instance of a store.
CreateDirectory	Creates a directory.
DeleteDirectory	Deletes a directory.
DeleteFile	Deletes a file.
GetDirectoryNames	Gets a list of directory names.
GetFileNames	Gets a list of file names.
Remove	Removes the entire store.

In order to store data we need to determine first the scope of data application vs. user. As a result you are required to select one of the two methods: Assembly/User or Assembly/Machine. Creating stores is fairly simple.
IsolatedStorageFile machineStorage = IsolatedStorageFile.GetMachineStoreForAssembly();
IsolatedStorageFile userStorage = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForAssembly();

IsolatedStorageFileStream class encapsulates a stream that is used to create files in such isolated storage. Since this class is derived from FileStream class it possesses the same properties and methods.

Reading or writing data to and from isolated storage is very similar to reading and writing from the file. We need to create file stream in this case it is “UserSetting.set”. Important to note that we don’t require to check for existing file since the way info is stored is totally random unlike with the files/folders on the physical disk. However, we can always find file by employing checking mechanism for the file name.
IsolatedStorageFile myUserStore = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForAssembly();
IsolatedStorageFileStream myUserStream = new IsolatedStorageFileStream("UserSettingsFile.set", FileMode.Create, userStore);
//Check for file name
string[] files = myUserStore.GetFileNames("UserSettingsFile.set");
if (files.Length == 0)
    Console.WriteLine("No Saved Data");
Else
     ///…

Isolated storage allows for the creation of directories and files being stored in those directories. You can also check for existence of directories the same way as for existence of the files inside isolated storage.
myUserStore.CreateDirectory("SomeDirOfMine");
IsolatedStorageFileStream myUserStream = new IsolatedStorageFileStream(@"SomeDirOfMine\UserSettings.set", FileMode.Create, userStore);
string[] directories = myUserStore.GetDirectoryNames("SomeDirOfMine");
if (directories.Length == 0)
    myUserStore.CreateDirectory("SomeDirOfMine");

In order to set permission to access isolated storage we use IsolatedStorageFilePermission class.

Properties

 

Name	Description
UsageAllowed	Gets or sets the types.
UserQuota	Gets or sets the overall size of storage.

[IsolatedStorageFilePermission(SecurityAction.Demand)]
class Program
{
    // ...
}