FileDialog.InitialDirectory Property
Definition
Important
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Gets or sets the initial directory displayed by the file dialog box.
public:
property System::String ^ InitialDirectory { System::String ^ get(); void set(System::String ^ value); };public string InitialDirectory { get; set; }member this.InitialDirectory : string with get, setPublic Property InitialDirectory As StringProperty Value
The initial directory displayed by the file dialog box. The default is an empty string ("").
Examples
The following code example uses the OpenFileDialog implementation of FileDialog and illustrates creating, setting of properties, and showing the dialog box. The example uses the InitialDirectory property to set what the initial directory is when the dialog box is displayed to the user. The example requires a form with a Button placed on it and the System.IO namespace added to it.
private:
void button1_Click( Object^ /*sender*/, System::EventArgs^ /*e*/ )
{
Stream^ myStream;
OpenFileDialog^ openFileDialog1 = gcnew OpenFileDialog;
openFileDialog1->InitialDirectory = "c:\\";
openFileDialog1->Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*";
openFileDialog1->FilterIndex = 2;
openFileDialog1->RestoreDirectory = true;
if ( openFileDialog1->ShowDialog() == System::Windows::Forms::DialogResult::OK )
{
if ( (myStream = openFileDialog1->OpenFile()) != nullptr )
{
// Insert code to read the stream here.
myStream->Close();
}
}
}
var fileContent = string.Empty;
var filePath = string.Empty;
using (OpenFileDialog openFileDialog = new OpenFileDialog())
{
openFileDialog.InitialDirectory = "c:\\";
openFileDialog.Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*";
openFileDialog.FilterIndex = 2;
openFileDialog.RestoreDirectory = true;
if (openFileDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
//Get the path of specified file
filePath = openFileDialog.FileName;
//Read the contents of the file into a stream
var fileStream = openFileDialog.OpenFile();
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(fileStream))
{
fileContent = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
MessageBox.Show(fileContent, "File Content at path: " + filePath, MessageBoxButtons.OK);
Private Sub button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
Dim myStream As Stream = Nothing
Dim openFileDialog1 As New OpenFileDialog()
openFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = "c:\"
openFileDialog1.Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*"
openFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 2
openFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = True
If openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
Try
myStream = openFileDialog1.OpenFile()
If (myStream IsNot Nothing) Then
' Insert code to read the stream here.
End If
Catch Ex As Exception
MessageBox.Show("Cannot read file from disk. Original error: " & Ex.Message)
Finally
' Check this again, since we need to make sure we didn't throw an exception on open.
If (myStream IsNot Nothing) Then
myStream.Close()
End If
End Try
End If
End Sub
Remarks
The InitialDirectory property is typically set using one of the following sources:
A path that was previously used in the program, perhaps retained from the last directory or file operation.
A path read from a persistent source, such as an application setting, a Registry or a string resource in the application.
Standard Windows system and user paths, such as Program Files, MyDocuments, MyMusic, and so on (which you can obtain using the GetFolderPath method)
A path related to the current application, such as its startup directory (which you can obtain using properties on the Application object).
For more information about creating dynamic paths, see the FileDialog class overview.
On Windows Vista, if InitialDirectory is set to a full file name instead of just a directory path, the initial directory will default either to the application path, or to the directory from which the user last selected a file.
