Show simple open file dialog using JFileChooser

Show simple open file dialog using JFileChooser

The steps to create a simple open file dialog using JFileChooser class are as follows:

  1. Add required import statements:
            import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
            import java.io.File;        
            
  2. Create a new instance of

    JFileChooser

    class:

            JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser();
            
  3. Set current directory:
            fileChooser.setCurrentDirectory(new File(System.getProperty("user.home")));
            

    The current directory is initial directory where the dialog looks for files. The above line sets the current directory to user’s home directory.

     

  4. Show up the dialog:
            
            int result = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(parent);

    where

    parent

    is an instance of a

    Component

    such as

    JFrame

    ,

    JDialog

    or

    JPanel

    which is parent of the dialog.

     

  5. Check if the user selects a file or not:
    If the user selects a file, the variable result will hold a value of

    JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION

    . So it’s necessary to check return value of the method

    showOpenDialog()

    :

            
            if (result == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
                // user selects a file
            }
  6. Pick up the selected file:
            
                File selectedFile = fileChooser.getSelectedFile();
  7. And the whole code snippet is as follows:
            
            JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser();
            fileChooser.setCurrentDirectory(new File(System.getProperty("user.home")));
            int result = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(this);
            if (result == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
                File selectedFile = fileChooser.getSelectedFile();
                System.out.println("Selected file: " + selectedFile.getAbsolutePath());
            } 

 

Related Swing File Chooser Tutorials:

 

Other Java Swing Tutorials:

About the Author:

Nam Ha Minh is certified Java programmer (SCJP and SCWCD). He started programming with Java in the time of Java 1.4 and has been falling in love with Java since then. Make friend with him on

is certified Java programmer (SCJP and SCWCD). He started programming with Java in the time of Java 1.4 and has been falling in love with Java since then. Make friend with him on Facebook and watch his Java videos you YouTube.

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