FileDialog.InitialDirectory Property

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.Windows.Forms

Assembly:: System.Windows.Forms.dll

Important

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

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, set

Public Property InitialDirectory As String

Property Value

String

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.

Applies to

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