FileDialog.FileName Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Windows.Forms

Assembly:

System.Windows.Forms.dll

Source:

FileDialog.cs

Gets or sets a string containing the file name selected in the file dialog box.

C#

public string FileName { get; set; }

Property Value

String

The file name selected in the file dialog box. The default value is an empty string ("").

Examples

The following code example demonstrates using the RichTextBox.SaveFile and RichTextBox.LoadFile methods with streams. It also demonstrates using the FileName, DefaultExt, SaveFileDialog.CreatePrompt, and SaveFileDialog.OverwritePrompt members.

This is a complete example that is ready to run when you copy it to your project.

C#

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public partial class Form1: Form
{
    internal RichTextBox RichTextBox1;
    internal Button Button1;
    internal RichTextBox RichTextBox2;
    internal Button Button2;
    internal SaveFileDialog SaveFileDialog1;

    public Form1() : base()
    {   
        this.RichTextBox1 = new RichTextBox();
        this.Button1 = new Button();
        this.RichTextBox2 = new RichTextBox();
        this.Button2 = new Button();
        this.SaveFileDialog1 = new SaveFileDialog();
        this.SuspendLayout();
        this.RichTextBox1.Location = new Point(24, 64);
        this.RichTextBox1.Name = "RichTextBox1";
        this.RichTextBox1.TabIndex = 0;
        this.RichTextBox1.Text = "Type something here.";
        this.Button1.Location = new Point(96, 16);
        this.Button1.Name = "Button1";
        this.Button1.Size = new Size(96, 24);
        this.Button1.TabIndex = 1;
        this.Button1.Text = "Save To Stream";
        this.Button1.Click += new EventHandler(Button1_Click);
        this.RichTextBox2.Location = new Point(152, 64);
        this.RichTextBox2.Name = "RichTextBox2";
        this.RichTextBox2.TabIndex = 3;
        this.RichTextBox2.Text = 
            "It will be added to the stream and appear here.";
        this.Button2.Location = new Point(104, 200);
        this.Button2.Name = "Button2";
        this.Button2.Size = new Size(88, 32);
        this.Button2.TabIndex = 4;
        this.Button2.Text = "Save Stream To File";
        this.Button2.Click += new EventHandler(Button2_Click);
        this.ClientSize = new Size(292, 266);
        this.Controls.Add(this.Button2);
        this.Controls.Add(this.RichTextBox2);
        this.Controls.Add(this.Button1);
        this.Controls.Add(this.RichTextBox1);
        this.Name = "Form1";
        this.Text = "Form1";
        this.ResumeLayout(false);
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }

    // Declare a new memory stream.
    MemoryStream userInput = new MemoryStream();

    // Save the content of RichTextBox1 to the memory stream, 
    // appending a LineFeed character.  
    private void Button1_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        RichTextBox1.SaveFile(userInput, RichTextBoxStreamType.PlainText);
        userInput.WriteByte(13);

        // Display the entire contents of the stream,
        // by setting its position to 0, to RichTextBox2.
        userInput.Position = 0;
        RichTextBox2.LoadFile(userInput, RichTextBoxStreamType.PlainText);
    }

    // Shows the use of a SaveFileDialog to save a MemoryStream to a file.
    private void Button2_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Set the properties on SaveFileDialog1 so the user is 
        // prompted to create the file if it doesn't exist 
        // or overwrite the file if it does exist.
        SaveFileDialog1.CreatePrompt = true;
        SaveFileDialog1.OverwritePrompt = true;

        // Set the file name to myText.txt, set the type filter
        // to text files, and set the initial directory to the 
        // MyDocuments folder.
        SaveFileDialog1.FileName = "myText";
        // DefaultExt is only used when "All files" is selected from 
        // the filter box and no extension is specified by the user.
        SaveFileDialog1.DefaultExt = "txt";
        SaveFileDialog1.Filter = 
            "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*";
        SaveFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = 
            Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);

        // Call ShowDialog and check for a return value of DialogResult.OK,
        // which indicates that the file was saved. 
        DialogResult result = SaveFileDialog1.ShowDialog();
        Stream fileStream;

        if (result == DialogResult.OK)
        {
            // Open the file, copy the contents of memoryStream to fileStream,
            // and close fileStream. Set the memoryStream.Position value to 0 
            // to copy the entire stream. 
            fileStream = SaveFileDialog1.OpenFile();
            userInput.Position = 0;
            userInput.WriteTo(fileStream);
            fileStream.Close();
        }
    }
}

Remarks

The file name includes both the file path and the extension. If no files are selected, this method returns an empty string ("").

When used from the SaveFileDialog class, this property represents the file being saved; when used from the OpenFileDialog class, it represents the file being opened.

This property can only be the name of one selected file. If you want to return an array containing the names of all selected files in a multiple-selection dialog box, use FileNames.

Applies to

See also

• FileNames
• SaveFileDialog
• OpenFileDialog