CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#winformsfileopenfiledialog
jay_t55
jay_t55

Reputation: 11662

Opening multiple files (OpenFileDialog, C#)

I'm trying to open multiple files at once with the OpenFileDialog, using FileNames instead of FileName. But I cannot see any examples anywhere on how to accomplish this, not even on MSDN. As far as I can tell - there's no documentation on it either. Has anybody done this before?

Upvotes: 40

Views: 90676

Answers (3)

Antonio Corneal
Antonio Corneal

Reputation: 23

I couldn't get the foreach loop to work using the multiselect = true on its own for some reason. But the following worked for me instead. Comments inline explaining the code.

OpenFileDialog dialog = new OpenFileDialog();            //Instantiates a new open file dialog
dialog.Multiselect = true;                               //Allows the user to select multiple files when this is set to true
dialog.Filter = "All files (*.*)|*.*";                   //The file filter determines which file types are displayed in the dialog for selection. This can be tailored for any file type
dialog.Title = "Your Title";                             //The title that will be displayed at the top of the dialog window when it is open
dialog.CheckFileExists = true;                           //Will verify if the file being specified exists when set to true
dialog.CheckPathExists = true;                           //Will verify if the folder path/directory being specified exists when set to true
dialog.InitialDirectory = @"Your Specified Folder Path"; //This is the folder that opens when the dialog is opened

dialog.ShowDialog(); //Show the file selection dialog window

try
{
    //Go through the array of files selected from the dialog, starting from the beginning, and open each of the files in that array
    for (int i = 0; i < dialog.FileNames.Length; i++)    //The ".FileNames" object gets the full file path and file name for all the files that were selected
    {
        Process.Start(dialog.FileNames[i]); //Open all the selected files
        //File.Copy(dialog.FileNames[i].ToString(), loadToFolder + dialog.SafeFileNames[i], true); //Copy all the selected files from one location to another
    }
}
catch (Exception ex) //Safely catch any errors and display it as a message box to the user
{
    MessageBox.Show("Unable to Add File(s) to List.\n" + ex.Message.ToString(), "File Add Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}

Upvotes: 1

Matin
Matin

Reputation: 68

You can use this method for text files:

OpenFileDialog open = new OpenFileDialog();
open.Filter = "All Files *.txt | *.txt";
open.Multiselect = true;
open.Title = "Open Text Files";

if (open.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
    foreach (String file in open.FileNames)
    {    
         string temp = YourRichTextBox.Text;

         YourRichTextBox.LoadFile(file, RichTextBoxStreamType.PlainText);

         YourRichTextBox.Text += temp;
    }
}

Upvotes: 1

RRUZ
RRUZ

Reputation: 136441

You must set the OpenFileDialog.Multiselect Property value to true, and then access the OpenFileDialog.FileNames property.

Check this sample

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    InitializeOpenFileDialog();
}

private void InitializeOpenFileDialog()
{
    // Set the file dialog to filter for graphics files.
    this.openFileDialog1.Filter =
        "Images (*.BMP;*.JPG;*.GIF)|*.BMP;*.JPG;*.GIF|" +
        "All files (*.*)|*.*";

    //  Allow the user to select multiple images.
    this.openFileDialog1.Multiselect = true;
    //                   ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^

    this.openFileDialog1.Title = "My Image Browser";
}

private void selectFilesButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    DialogResult dr = this.openFileDialog1.ShowDialog();
    if (dr == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
    {
        // Read the files
        foreach (String file in openFileDialog1.FileNames) 
        {
            // Create a PictureBox.
            try
            {
                PictureBox pb = new PictureBox();
                Image loadedImage = Image.FromFile(file);
                pb.Height = loadedImage.Height;
                pb.Width = loadedImage.Width;
                pb.Image = loadedImage;
                flowLayoutPanel1.Controls.Add(pb);
            }
            catch (SecurityException ex)
            {
                // The user lacks appropriate permissions to read files, discover paths, etc.
                MessageBox.Show("Security error. Please contact your administrator for details.\n\n" +
                    "Error message: " + ex.Message + "\n\n" +
                    "Details (send to Support):\n\n" + ex.StackTrace
                );
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                // Could not load the image - probably related to Windows file system permissions.
                MessageBox.Show("Cannot display the image: " + file.Substring(file.LastIndexOf('\\'))
                    + ". You may not have permission to read the file, or " +
                    "it may be corrupt.\n\nReported error: " + ex.Message);
            }
        }
    }

Upvotes: 84

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