Environment Class in C#

 Background

 

In this article we will learn about the Environment  class of C#,which provides the machine configuration details,Program execution Environment details as well as some properties which is used to break the one line into new line which is written in the program for output.

Let us learn the definition of array so beginners can also understand.

 

What is Environment class ?

 

Environment class is static class which Provides the system configuration,Current program execution Environment as wel some properties for string manipulation such as news line,System Namespace represents the Environment Class.

Environment class is a combination of functions and Properties which represent the Environment variable details using IDictionary in the form of key,value pairs.

we can also loop through  Dictionary to get all Environment variable details,before introducing all Environment variable,let us go through some frequently used Environment variable details.

as we Environment class is the static class because of this we directly access the methods and properties with help of class name itself without creating object.

Let us see

As explained above defination ,Environment class is the static class which provides the some properties and function as you can see in the above Image.

You can access the particular property or function as

 

 Example

       Environment.OSVersion.ToString(); //Operating system Details
       Environment.NewLine.ToString(); //string will split into New line
       Environment.MachineName.ToString();//Machine Name
       Environment.Is64BitProcess.ToString();//checkes whether the system is 64 bit
       Environment.ProcessorCount.ToString();//gets the number of process currently running on current machine
       Environment.UserDomainName.ToString();//gets the network domain name which is currently associated with current User Computer
       Environment.UserName.ToString();//gets the username of person who currently logged on  the windows operating System system
       Environment.WorkingSet.ToString();//gets the Amount of physical memory mapped to the process contex
       Environment.Exit(12);//terminates the process and gives the underlying operating system the Specified exit code
       Environment.CurrentDirectory.ToString();//gets the full path of current working directory.
       Environment.HasShutdownStarted.ToString();//Gets the Value whether  CLR is shutting down
       Environment.SystemPageSize.ToString();//gets the Amount of memory for an operating system's Page file.

To demonstrate the  above properties lets us create the one console application,as

using System;
using System.Collections;

namespace UsingEnvironmentClass
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            ArrayList ar = new ArrayList();

            ar.Add("OSVersion: " + Environment.OSVersion.ToString()); //Operating system Details
            ar.Add("OSVersion Platform: " + Environment.OSVersion.Platform.ToString()); //Operating system Platform Details
            ar.Add("OS Version: " + Environment.OSVersion.Version.ToString()); //Operating system version Details
            ar.Add("NewLine :" + Environment.NewLine.ToString()); //string will spilt into New line
            ar.Add("MachineName :" + Environment.MachineName.ToString());//Machine Name of the current computer
            ar.Add("Is64BitProcess : " + Environment.Is64BitProcess.ToString());//Checks whether the OS has 64 bit process
            ar.Add("UserDomainName: " + Environment.UserDomainName.ToString());//gets the network domain name which is currently associated with current User Computer
            ar.Add("UserName :  " + Environment.UserName.ToString());//gets the username of person who currenlty logged on  the windows operating Sytem system
            ar.Add("WorkingSet :" + Environment.WorkingSet.ToString());//gets the Amount of physical memory mapped to the process contex
            ar.Add("CurrentDirectory: " + Environment.CurrentDirectory.ToString());//gets the full path of current working directory.
            ar.Add("HasShutdownStarted:" + Environment.HasShutdownStarted.ToString());//Gets the Value whether  CLR is shutting down
            ar.Add("SystemPageSize:" + Environment.SystemPageSize.ToString());//gets the Amount of memory for an operating system's Page file.


            Console.WriteLine(Environment.NewLine+"Environment Class Details"+Environment.NewLine+"---------------------------");
            foreach (var item in ar)
            {

                Console.WriteLine(item);

            }
            Console.ReadLine();

        }
    }
}

Now run the  above  console application,the output will be as 

 

 

 

You can also loop through the  Environment class variable as

IDictionary id;
id = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariables();
foreach (DictionaryEntry DE in id)
{

    string VariableName =DE.Key.ToString();
    VariableName += "  =    ";
    VariableName += DE.Value.ToString();
    Response.Write("<li>" + VariableName +',' +"</li>");

}

The output of the above program will be as

 

 

From the above output its also clear that Environment Variables details contains in the form of key -value pairs.

 

Note:

• Download the Zip file from the attachment for the full source code of the application.

Summary

In the preceding article, I have briefly explained the use of a Environment class to make them understandable to beginners and newcomers. If you have any suggestion regarding this article then please contact me.