.netwpfdialogfilesystems

Open directory dialog


I want the user to select a directory where a file that I will then generate will be saved. I know that in WPF I should use the OpenFileDialog from Win32, but unfortunately the dialog requires file(s) to be selected - it stays open if I simply click OK without choosing one. I could "hack up" the functionality by letting the user pick a file and then strip the path to figure out which directory it belongs to but that's unintuitive at best. Has anyone seen this done before?


Solution

  • UPDATE 2023: Finally, with .NET 8, WPF gets a native, modern OpenFolderDialog:

    var folderDialog = new OpenFolderDialog
    {
        // Set options here
    };
    
    if (folderDialog.ShowDialog() == true)
    {
        var folderName = folderDialog.FolderName;
        // Do something with the result
    }
    

    Does this mean that Microsoft finally invests resources in adding missing functionality to WPF? Of course not! Microsoft employees are busy enabling you to build cloud-native AI-based <insert more buzzwords here> Teams chat bots. Mundane tasks like fixing WPF to solve real-live, boring business needs are left to community volunteers like Jan, who added this folder browser dialog to .NET.


    Old answer for .NET Framework 4.8:

    You can use the built-in FolderBrowserDialog class for this. Don't mind that it's in the System.Windows.Forms namespace.

    using (var dialog = new System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog())
    {
        System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult result = dialog.ShowDialog();
    }
    

    If you want the window to be modal over some WPF window, see the question How to use a FolderBrowserDialog from a WPF application.

    If you want something a bit more fancy than the plain, ugly Windows Forms FolderBrowserDialog, there are some alternatives that allow you to use the Vista dialog instead: