Browsing for a directory on an sftp connection with C# windows forms

Question

I am creating an application to allow a user to upload a file to our sftp server in a similar manner to winscp, filezilla, etc.., but the intent of this application is to filter what folders each user is to see for security purposes. Is there a way to browse the sftp's directories like we are able to browse our own local machines using the FolderBrowserDialog?

Answer 1

In general, you can implement a namespace extension in Explorer (writing namespace extensions in .NET is a bad bad bad idea, see read alert here), which will show directory contents of connected SFTP server. Then you would be able to use normal shell browser dialogs (File Open, Directory Browse).

But it can also appear that implementing your own dialog from scratch is a better idea as it gives you more flexibility at the lower cost (namespace extension writing is tricky, especially in C++).