First Solution
I developed this as a cleaned up version of .NET Win 7-style folder select dialog by Bill Seddon of lyquidity.com (I have no affiliation). (I learned of his code from another answer on this page). I wrote my own because his solution requires an additional Reflection class that isn't needed for this focused purpose, uses exception-based flow control, doesn't cache the results of its reflection calls. Note that the nested static VistaDialog class is so that its static reflection variables don't try to get populated if the Show method is never called. It falls back to the pre-Vista dialog if not in a high enough Windows version. Should work in Windows 7, 8, 9, 10 and higher (theoretically).
using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace ErikE.Shuriken {
/// <summary>
/// Present the Windows Vista-style open file dialog to select a folder. Fall back for older Windows Versions
/// </summary>
public class FolderSelectDialog {
private string _initialDirectory;
private string _title;
private string _fileName = "";
public string InitialDirectory {
get { return string.IsNullOrEmpty(_initialDirectory) ? Environment.CurrentDirectory : _initialDirectory; }
set { _initialDirectory = value; }
}
public string Title {
get { return _title ?? "Select a folder"; }
set { _title = value; }
}
public string FileName { get { return _fileName; } }
public bool Show() { return Show(IntPtr.Zero); }
/// <param name="hWndOwner">Handle of the control or window to be the parent of the file dialog</param>
/// <returns>true if the user clicks OK</returns>
public bool Show(IntPtr hWndOwner) {
var result = Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major >= 6
? VistaDialog.Show(hWndOwner, InitialDirectory, Title)
: ShowXpDialog(hWndOwner, InitialDirectory, Title);
_fileName = result.FileName;
return result.Result;
}
private struct ShowDialogResult {
public bool Result { get; set; }
public string FileName { get; set; }
}
private static ShowDialogResult ShowXpDialog(IntPtr ownerHandle, string initialDirectory, string title) {
var folderBrowserDialog = new FolderBrowserDialog {
Description = title,
SelectedPath = initialDirectory,
ShowNewFolderButton = false
};
var dialogResult = new ShowDialogResult();
if (folderBrowserDialog.ShowDialog(new WindowWrapper(ownerHandle)) == DialogResult.OK) {
dialogResult.Result = true;
dialogResult.FileName = folderBrowserDialog.SelectedPath;
}
return dialogResult;
}
private static class VistaDialog {
private const string c_foldersFilter = "Folders|\n";
private const BindingFlags c_flags = BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic;
private readonly static Assembly s_windowsFormsAssembly = typeof(FileDialog).Assembly;
private readonly static Type s_iFileDialogType = s_windowsFormsAssembly.GetType("System.Windows.Forms.FileDialogNative+IFileDialog");
private readonly static MethodInfo s_createVistaDialogMethodInfo = typeof(OpenFileDialog).GetMethod("CreateVistaDialog", c_flags);
private readonly static MethodInfo s_onBeforeVistaDialogMethodInfo = typeof(OpenFileDialog).GetMethod("OnBeforeVistaDialog", c_flags);
private readonly static MethodInfo s_getOptionsMethodInfo = typeof(FileDialog).GetMethod("GetOptions", c_flags);
private readonly static MethodInfo s_setOptionsMethodInfo = s_iFileDialogType.GetMethod("SetOptions", c_flags);
private readonly static uint s_fosPickFoldersBitFlag = (uint) s_windowsFormsAssembly
.GetType("System.Windows.Forms.FileDialogNative+FOS")
.GetField("FOS_PICKFOLDERS")
.GetValue(null);
private readonly static ConstructorInfo s_vistaDialogEventsConstructorInfo = s_windowsFormsAssembly
.GetType("System.Windows.Forms.FileDialog+VistaDialogEvents")
.GetConstructor(c_flags, null, new[] { typeof(FileDialog) }, null);
private readonly static MethodInfo s_adviseMethodInfo = s_iFileDialogType.GetMethod("Advise");
private readonly static MethodInfo s_unAdviseMethodInfo = s_iFileDialogType.GetMethod("Unadvise");
private readonly static MethodInfo s_showMethodInfo = s_iFileDialogType.GetMethod("Show");
public static ShowDialogResult Show(IntPtr ownerHandle, string initialDirectory, string title) {
var openFileDialog = new OpenFileDialog {
AddExtension = false,
CheckFileExists = false,
DereferenceLinks = true,
Filter = c_foldersFilter,
InitialDirectory = initialDirectory,
Multiselect = false,
Title = title
};
var iFileDialog = s_createVistaDialogMethodInfo.Invoke(openFileDialog, new object[] { });
s_onBeforeVistaDialogMethodInfo.Invoke(openFileDialog, new[] { iFileDialog });
s_setOptionsMethodInfo.Invoke(iFileDialog, new object[] { (uint) s_getOptionsMethodInfo.Invoke(openFileDialog, new object[] { }) | s_fosPickFoldersBitFlag });
var adviseParametersWithOutputConnectionToken = new[] { s_vistaDialogEventsConstructorInfo.Invoke(new object[] { openFileDialog }), 0U };
s_adviseMethodInfo.Invoke(iFileDialog, adviseParametersWithOutputConnectionToken);
try {
int retVal = (int) s_showMethodInfo.Invoke(iFileDialog, new object[] { ownerHandle });
return new ShowDialogResult {
Result = retVal == 0,
FileName = openFileDialog.FileName
};
}
finally {
s_unAdviseMethodInfo.Invoke(iFileDialog, new[] { adviseParametersWithOutputConnectionToken[1] });
}
}
}
// Wrap an IWin32Window around an IntPtr
private class WindowWrapper : IWin32Window {
private readonly IntPtr _handle;
public WindowWrapper(IntPtr handle) { _handle = handle; }
public IntPtr Handle { get { return _handle; } }
}
}
}
It is used like so in a Windows Form:
var dialog = new FolderSelectDialog {
InitialDirectory = musicFolderTextBox.Text,
Title = "Select a folder to import music from"
};
if (dialog.Show(Handle)) {
musicFolderTextBox.Text = dialog.FileName;
}
You can of course play around with its options and what properties it exposes. For example, it allows multiselect in the Vista-style dialog.
Second Solution
Simon Mourier gave an answer that shows how to do the exact same job using interop against the Windows API directly, though his version would have to be supplemented to use the older style dialog if in an older version of Windows. Unfortunately, I hadn't found his post yet when I worked up my solution. Name your poison!
