How to open a file after clicking the open button in jFileChooser?

Question

Here is my jFileChooser swing code which opens another window after clicking the open button. Then we need to select the corresponding file in the second window in-order to actually open that file. I need to to do all the operations on the first window itself.

import com.opencsv.CSVReader;

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.filechooser.FileNameExtensionFilter;
/*
 * Created by JFormDesigner on Tue Sep 22 13:24:36 IST 2015
 */



/**
 * @author Avinash Raj
 */
public class FileChooser extends JFrame {
    private JFileChooser fileChooser1;
    public FileChooser() {
        initComponents();
    }

    private void fileChooser1ActionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

        int returnVal = fileChooser1.showOpenDialog(FileChooser.this);

        if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
            //File file = fc.getSelectedFile();
            setVisible(false);
            String path=fileChooser1.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath();
            String filename=fileChooser1.getSelectedFile().getName();
            //This is where a real application would open the file.

            System.out.println("Opening: " + path + "\n");
            CSVReader reader = null;
            try {
                reader = new CSVReader(new FileReader(path), ',', '\'', 1);
            } catch (FileNotFoundException e1) {
                e1.printStackTrace();
            }
            String [] nextLine;
            try {
                while ((nextLine = reader.readNext()) != null) {
                    // nextLine[] is an array of values from the line
                    int no_cols = nextLine.length;
                    System.out.println(nextLine[0] + nextLine[1] + nextLine[2] );
                }
            } catch (IOException e1) {
                e1.printStackTrace();
            }

        } else {
            setVisible(false);
            System.out.println("Open command cancelled by user." + "\n");
        }
    }



    private void initComponents() {
      fileChooser1 = new JFileChooser();

        setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        setSize(700,500);

        fileChooser1.addActionListener(e -> fileChooser1ActionPerformed(e));
        fileChooser1.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.FILES_ONLY);
        FileNameExtensionFilter filter = new FileNameExtensionFilter(
                "csv files only", "csv");
        fileChooser1.setFileFilter(filter);
        add(fileChooser1, BorderLayout.CENTER);

       setVisible(true);
        setLocationRelativeTo(getOwner());

    }


    public  static  void main(String args[]) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                //Turn off metal's use of bold fonts
                UIManager.put("swing.boldMetal", Boolean.FALSE);
                FileChooser f = new FileChooser();
            }
        });
    }
}

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/560077/how-to-launch-the-default-native-application-for-a-given-file-from-java — Soley, Sep 22 '15 at 17:51
and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7024031/java-open-a-file-windows-mac — Soley, Sep 22 '15 at 17:52

WillShackleford · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-22T22:37:53.390

I usually don't embed the chooser in the top-level Frame or add an action listener, instead I add a button or menu option to the frame to trigger when to show the chooser, then wait for showOpenDialog() to return and then call getSelectedFile().

What I usually do is this:

public class MyJFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame {

    public MyJFrame() {
        JButton btn = new JButton("open file");
        add(btn);
        btn.addActionListener(e -> {
            selectFile();
        });
        pack();
        setVisible(true);
    }

    public void selectFile() {
        JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
        // optionally set chooser options ...
        if (chooser.showOpenDialog(this) == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
            File f = chooser.getSelectedFile();
            // read  and/or display the file somehow. ....
        } else {
            // user changed their mind
        }
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 22 '15 at 22:45

Well, if you already have the file reference and you are working with Java 1.6 or above, you can use Desktop class:

And you can use the following command to do what you want (of course, your file would be opened with the default application):

Desktop.getDesktop().open(yourSelectedFile);

Remember that "yourSelectedFile" is File type.

Hope it helps and this is what you want to achieve.

Happy coding.

How to open a file after clicking the open button in jFileChooser?

2 Answers2