Folder browser dialog like open file dialog

Question

Please see the snapshot below. This was taken from "New project creation" workflow in Visual Studio 2008.

This window is used for selecting a folder in which the project will be stored. How do I create a similar window in my c# application?

enter image description here

See [this question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1250991/visual-studio-2008-folder-browser-dialog?rq=1). Basically they seem to subclass the standard file open dialg. — Uwe Keim, Jun 12 '12 at 04:51
@UweKeim: Where is the subclassing explained in that question thread? He has replied that he ended up using VistaBridge — Rockstart, Jun 12 '12 at 05:14
Some time back I downloaded VistaBride and examined the sources on how they did it. IIRC it was subclassing of the standard file open dialog. — Uwe Keim, Jun 12 '12 at 05:19
+1 for asking a question that actually got answered with the exact solution you requested. — Alex Essilfie, Jun 09 '13 at 14:46
As a solution I used the `SaveFileDialog` with the [zero-width space symbol](http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/200B/index.htm) inserted as a filename. Then I just stripped off the path with `Path.GetFullPath`. — Hi-Angel, Aug 19 '15 at 13:48
Note: above is really hacky as you still leave the user with a Filename and Extension prompt. — stigzler, Apr 24 '23 at 16:04

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 11 '15 at 08:01

It is something similar in Office, a dialog which allows to select a folder. The only difference is that the Select folder button is named "OK" instead of "Select folder".

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application app = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application();
Microsoft.Office.Core.FileDialog fileDialog = app.get_FileDialog(Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoFileDialogType.msoFileDialogFolderPicker);
fileDialog.InitialFileName = "c:\\Temp\\"; //something you want
int nres = fileDialog.Show();
if (nres == -1) //ok
{
    Microsoft.Office.Core.FileDialogSelectedItems selectedItems = fileDialog.SelectedItems;

    string[] selectedFolders = selectedItems.Cast<string>().ToArray();

    if (selectedFolders.Length > 0)
    {
        string selectedFolder = selectedFolders[0];
    }
}

Of course, you need to add references to Microsoft.Office.Core (Microsoft Office 14.0 Object Library) and Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel (Microsoft Excel 14.0 Object Library).

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 08 '14 at 18:49

I found a good article about the default FolderBrowserDialog and its limitations: http://www.ssware.com/articles/folderbrowserdialog-unmasked-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-folder-browser-component-from-dotnet-framework.htm

There is a third party compoment "Shell MegaPack" (http://www.ssware.com/megapack.htm) from ssware which offers windows explorer like file and folder browser-controls for WinForms, ASP.net and WPF.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 03 '18 at 18:33

If you are ok with adding a nuget package, Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell has a CommonOpenFileDialog that can be used in "folder mode" which should match your desired usage.

var directoryDialog = new CommonOpenFileDialog
  {
     IsFolderPicker = true,
     Title = "Select Folder"
  };

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 02 '15 at 19:45

I modified the code from C# to VB, and my env is VS2015 + Office 2010. My code is slightly different than Daniel's, as some function from Daniel's code supports to only Office 2003/2007

By using a new excel instance, it will be slower than just opening a OpenFileDialog or OpenFolderDialog, but is it way more user friendly. My program is only calling this code once, so trading off the performance for user-friendliness is not a concern in my case.

Imports Microsoft.Office
Imports Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel

Private Sub Button_select_raw_dir_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button_select_raw_dir.Click
    Dim raw_app As Excel.Application = New Excel.Application
    Dim raw_data_open_folder_dialog As Microsoft.Office.Core.FileDialog
    raw_data_open_folder_dialog = raw_app.FileDialog(Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoFileDialogType.msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
    raw_data_open_folder_dialog.AllowMultiSelect = False
    raw_data_open_folder_dialog.Title = "Please select the raw data's dir "
    Dim nres As Integer = raw_data_open_folder_dialog.Show()
    Dim sz_SelectedPath As String = Nothing
    If nres = -1 Then '-1 means open... lol
        For Each selectedItems As Object In raw_data_open_folder_dialog.SelectedItems
            sz_SelectedPath = selectedItems.ToString()
        Next
        TextBox_raw_data_dir.Text = sz_SelectedPath
    End If

    raw_app.Quit()
    ReleaseComObject(raw_app)
    GC.Collect()
    GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
End Sub

' Release excel objects to avoid memory leak
Public Sub ReleaseComObject(ByRef obj As Object)
    Try
        System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(obj)
        obj = Nothing
    Catch ex As Exception
        obj = Nothing
        MsgBox("Exception! Failed to release com obj, debug your code.")
    End Try
End Sub

If you want a C# version, I believe you are smart enough to port it to C# :)

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 24 '20 at 17:08

Kindly check out BetterFolderBrowser. It provides just what you need and so much more.

BetterFolderBrowser is a .NET component library that was written to help developers provide a better folder-browsing and selection experience to users by employing a similar browser dialog as the standard OpenFileDialog in place of the current FolderBrowserDialog which only allows for single-folder selections with its tree-view display format. This allows for a much easier viewing, modification, searching and selection experience using the standard Windows Explorer dialog.

Folder browser dialog like open file dialog

5 Answers5

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