I'm learning C and C#, this question is for C#. I have a app that I want to open files on my C:\ drive. Can I use OpenFileDialog to open any type of file? How is this done?
Here is the code:
case 1:
openSomething();
break;
private static void openSomething()
{
OpenFileDialog open = new OpenFileDialog();
open.Filter = "All Files (*.*)|*.*";
open.ShowDialog();
if (open.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
File.Open(open.FileName); // I want to do something like this
}
}
Is there something like System.Diagnostics.Process.Start on programs for files, so I use openfiledialog to get the filename and then my code opens the file with the default application?
Edit: I answered my own question
private static void openSomething()
{
OpenFileDialog open = new OpenFileDialog();
open.Filter = "All Files (*.*)|*.*";
if (open.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(open.FileName);
}
}
Usually the program tries to limit the kind of files listed by OpenFileDialog using the Filter property, but, if you want to allow the opening of any kind of file you set this property (before calling ShowDialog) with something like this
open.Filter = "All Files (*.*)|*.*";
meaning that every kind of file could be choosen by your user.
Keep in mind that the Filter property is just a facility to give a rapid choice to the end user, by itself the OpenFileDialog can open any kind of files also if you set any specialized filter.
All that your user is required to do is typing the *.* in the filename textbox space and he/she can choose any kind of file (of course only if he/she has the required file/folder access permissions)
After the ShowDialog returns DialogResult.OK you could check if there is something selected in the Filename property, and, if you want to open the file using the default application associated for the file extension then you use Process.Start
if (open.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
if(open.FileName.Trim() != string.Empty)
{
Process.Start(open.FileName);
}
}
Of course this could be problematic if the file choosen has no default program associated (for example what if the user choose a DLL?), so perhaps it is better to apply a filter to select only a subset of well known file types. But this depends on your requirements.
The OpenFileDialog really only serves as a window to let the user select a file or multiple files. It does not open any file. The selected filenames can be retrieved from the FileName or FileNames properties after dialog has been closed. To open and read / edit the file is an independent task.
Related
I know how to create and save a file in C# console application but what if i want the user to choose the location of where they want to save it? i have no idea on how i can make this possible.
edit- ive realised that would be very hard to input the location the user wants to save the file to however is it possible to save the file as you would do when creating a windows word document, so the user would be able to see where they want to save the file Example
If you want a full console application, that is no windows being created, then there's only one proper thing to do: require the user to specify the save location on the command line.*
Given the fact that you have a console application, you probably already do some checking of the command line, but if not, then the command line can be read from the args argument to your Program.Main:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
...
}
There are examples on the internet to handle the command line, if you get stuck, or a new question can be asked specifically for the issue you are having.
*) Now, for the reason why this is the only proper way:
If the user needs to pass it on the command line, then the user has all the usual niceties such as tab completion available. The user can also use dir and cd before calling your program to find the proper directory.
On the other hand, if you ask the user to input it, then the user will not have tab completion, will not be able to use dir or cd, and as such will have to type it out manually all the way. Typo's or mistakes are almost guaranteed.
From a user experience point of view, this is very annoying. Programmers should therefore not ask the user to manually type out file paths during program execution. Hence, it must be specified on the command line.
Read about SaveFileDialog
private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Stream myStream ;
SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog1 = new SaveFileDialog();
saveFileDialog1.Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*" ;
saveFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 2 ;
saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = true ;
if(saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
if((myStream = saveFileDialog1.OpenFile()) != null)
{
// Code to write the stream goes here.
myStream.Close();
}
}
}
And ready to test example from msdn example
if you want to play with something like >cd (ChDir) then look at
Environment.CurrentDirectory
or/and force user to write good directory by himselft and use #Carl aswere :) but remember we leave in 21 century people are lazy
You can use the SaveFileDialog as Taumantis said but you have to add the
System.Windows.Froms
namespace and you must mark your main method as a single apartment thread
class Program
{
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog1 = new SaveFileDialog();
saveFileDialog1.Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*";
saveFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 2;
saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = true;
if (saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
It is not hard. You need a console to read user's input with string path = Console.ReadLine();. User will input prefered path and it will store into path variable. Now you should check if this path exits if(Directory.Exists(path)) it will return true if path exists false if path does not exist.
Code example:
Console.WriteLine("Insert a path: ");
string path = Console.ReadLine();
if(Directory.Exists(path)){
//save logic
}
else{
//path does not exist handler
}
Note: if you want to access Directory class you should use System.IO namespace.
I have an OpenFileDialog and I only want to allow .txt as a valid file for the users.
I know I can add a Filter to the OpenFileDialog like so:
var dialog = new OpenFileDialog();
dialog.DefaultExt = ".txt";
dialog.Filter = "Text Files (*.txt)|*.txt";
var result = dialog.ShowDialog();
// Do something with the result
The problem however, is that I can still directly say something like "test.jpg" in the OpenFileDialog and then it opens this uploads this .jpg file. (Obviously it goes wrong somewhere later, but that doesn't matter for now.) I just want to know how I can restrict the user to only add ".txt" files, nothing else? (By directly validation it inside the OpenFileDialog, instead of doing it somewhere later.)
You cant do that only in OpenFileDialog and even if you could its a bad limitation.
Using the *.txt example there are multiple files extensions that are plain text inside, *.bat or all the codding file extensions *.cs, *.js, etc...
You should not limit the user on what file he can put on it.
For more complex file types if your program cant handle the file passed by the user you should show an error not prevent the user from passing the file.
I have an OpenFileDialog with the filter set to *.wav. However, when I execute the OpenFileDialog it also shows other files that includes .wav but the true extension is not .wav but e.g. png. Why is that and how can I avoid this?
Right now I take care of it when loading the file(s) for processing but I would like to avoid getting them in the OpenFileDialog list in the first place. Is this a bug in the control or is it me?
Background: I had by accident renamed a picture file to TheFile.wav.png - stupid, true, but these kind of things happens also for other users.
Thanks in advance
Try this to set the file type in the dialog:
OpenFileDialog dialog = new OpenFileDialog();
dialog.Filter = "wav files (*.wav)|*.wav";
dialog.InitialDirectory = #"C:\"; // You may not need this.
if (dialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) // Or this; I was just being thorough.
{
// Your code can go here.
}
Just make sure that when using the .Filter property, you follow the pattern I have above, or else it won't work. Also, as was mentioned above, you may want to do some validation after the user selects something.
I've filedialog in winforms.
It is set to read only .xml files.
ofd.DefaultExt="xml";
ofd.Filter="XML Files|*.xml";
but when I run it is allowing to upload .htm file shortcut. whereas it should not show .htm file at all.
You're doing it correctly. Using the Filter property allows you to limit the files displayed in the open dialog to only the specified type(s). In this case, the only files the user will see in the dialog are those with the .xml extension.
But, if they know what they're doing, it's trivial for the user to bypass the filter and select other types of files. For example, they can just type in the complete name (and path, if necessary), or they can type in a new filter (e.g. *.*) and force the dialog to show them all such files.
Therefore, you still need logic to check and make sure that the selected file meets your requirements. Use the System.IO.Path.GetExtension method to get the extension from the selected file path, and do an ordinal case-insensitive comparison to the expected path.
Example:
OpenFileDialog ofd = new OpenFileDialog();
ofd.Filter = "XML Files (*.xml)|*.xml";
ofd.FilterIndex = 0;
ofd.DefaultExt = "xml";
if (ofd.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
if (!String.Equals(Path.GetExtension(ofd.FileName),
".xml",
StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
// Invalid file type selected; display an error.
MessageBox.Show("The type of the selected file is not supported by this application. You must select an XML file.",
"Invalid File Type",
MessageBoxButtons.OK,
MessageBoxIcon.Error);
// Optionally, force the user to select another file.
// ...
}
else
{
// The selected file is good; do something with it.
// ...
}
}
In my silverlight application I would like to be able to select a file from an OpenFileDialog window and upload/copy it to a local folder in my Silverlight project. I am already able to setup a OpenFileDialog window and set some options to it, but unfortunately I can't find a way to create a filestream and then copy it to a local folder.
private void Change_Avatar_Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
OpenFileDialog openfile = new OpenFileDialog();
openfile.Multiselect = false;
openfile.Filter = "Images files (*.bmp, *.png)|*.bmp;*.png";
if ((bool)openfile.ShowDialog())
{
}
}
I've tried looking at many tutorials on the net, but they only seem to send the file directly to the UploadFile method in silverlight what I do not want to do at the moment.
Thank you, Ephismen.
You can't just write files to local folders without prompting the user a second time (e.g. save as dialog http://www.silverlightshow.net/items/Using-the-SaveFileDialog-in-Silverlight-3.aspx)
You could write it to isolated storage instead: http://blogs.silverlight.net/blogs/msnow/archive/2009/05/21/71909.aspx.
If you want specific examples (e.g. going straight from OpenFileDialog to Isolated storage) I strongly recommend you use Google. The first match on "silverlight openfiledialog to isolated storage" is this: http://forums.silverlight.net/forums/t/201362.aspx