Setting the filter to an OpenFileDialog to allow the typical image formats

Question

I have this code  how can I allow it to accept all typical image formats  PNG  JPEG  JPG  GIF   Here s what I have so far   public void EncryptFile                     OpenFileDialog dialog   new OpenFileDialog        dialog Filter    txt files    txt    txt All files                 dialog InitialDirectory     C         dialog Title    Please select an image file to encrypt         if  dialog ShowDialog      DialogResult OK                  Encrypt the selected file  I ll do this later                            Notice that the filter is set to  txt files  I could change to PNG  but what of the other types

User · Accepted Answer

From the docs  the filter syntax that you need is as follows   Office Files   doc   xls   ppt   i e  separate the multiple extensions with a semicolon -- thus  Image Files   jpg   jpeg   png

User · Answer

For those who don t want to remember the syntax everytime here is a simple encapsulation   public class FileDialogFilter   List lt string gt        public string Explanation   get         public FileDialogFilter string explanation  params string   extensions                Explanation   explanation          AddRange extensions              public string GetFileDialogRepresentation                 if   this Any                          throw new ArgumentException  No file extension is defined                        StringBuilder builder   new StringBuilder             builder Append Explanation            builder Append                builder Append String Join       this            builder Append                builder Append               builder Append String Join      this             return builder ToString             public class FileDialogFilterCollection   List lt FileDialogFilter gt        public string GetFileDialogRepresentation                 return String Join      this Select filter   gt  filter GetFileDialogRepresentation                Usage   FileDialogFilter filterImage   new FileDialogFilter  Image Files      jpeg      bmp    FileDialogFilter filterOffice   new FileDialogFilter  Office Files      doc      xls      ppt     FileDialogFilterCollection filters   new FileDialogFilterCollection       filterImage      filterOffice     OpenFileDialog fileDialog   new OpenFileDialog       Filter   filters GetFileDialogRepresentation       fileDialog ShowDialog

User · Answer

In order to match a list of different categories of file  you can use the filter like this           var dlg   new Microsoft Win32 OpenFileDialog                         DefaultExt     xlsx               Filter    Excel Files    xls    xlsx    xls   xlsx CSV Files    csv    csv

User · Answer

This is extreme  but I built a dynamic  database-driven filter using a 2 column database table named FILE TYPES  with field names EXTENSION and DOCTYPE   ---------------------------------   EXTENSION     DOCTYPE           ---------------------------------      doc        Document               docx       Document               pdf        Document                                                 bmp        Image                  jpg        Image                                               ---------------------------------   Obviously I had many different types and extensions  but I m simplifying it for this example   Here is my function       private static string GetUploadFilter                    Desired format              Document files    doc    docx    pdf    doc   docx   pdf               Image files    bmp    jpg    bmp   jpg            string filter   String Empty          string nameFilter   String Empty          string extFilter   String Empty              Used to get extensions         DataTable dt   new DataTable            dt   DataLayer Get DataTable  SELECT   FROM FILE TYPES ORDER BY EXTENSION                Used to cycle through doctype groupings   Images    Documents   etc           DataTable dtDocTypes   new DataTable            dtDocTypes   DataLayer Get DataTable  SELECT DISTINCT DOCTYPE FROM FILE TYPES ORDER BY DOCTYPE                For each doctype grouping            foreach  DataRow drDocType in dtDocTypes Rows                        nameFilter   drDocType  DOCTYPE   ToString       files                         add its associated extensions             foreach  DataRow dr in dt Rows                                if  dr  DOCTYPE   ToString      drDocType  DOCTYPE   ToString                                          nameFilter          dr  EXTENSION   ToString                               extFilter          dr  EXTENSION   ToString                                                                              Remove endings put in place in case there was another to add  and end them with pipe characters              nameFilter   nameFilter TrimEnd      TrimEnd                   nameFilter                      extFilter   extFilter TrimEnd                   extFilter                         Add the name and its extensions to our main filter             filter    nameFilter   extFilter               extFilter          clear it for next round  nameFilter will be reset to the next DOCTYPE on next pass                    filter   filter TrimEnd               return filter             private void UploadFile string fileType  object sender                            Microsoft Win32 OpenFileDialog dlg   new Microsoft Win32 OpenFileDialog            string filter   GetUploadFilter            dlg Filter   filter           if  dlg ShowDialog   Value    true                        string fileName   dlg FileName               System IO FileStream fs   System IO File OpenRead fileName               byte   array   new byte fs Length                   This will give you just the filename             fileName   fileName Split       fileName Split       Length - 1                     Should yield a filter that looks like this

User · Answer

Follow this pattern if you browsing for image files   dialog Filter     Image files    jpg    jpeg    jpe    jfif    png      jpg    jpeg    jpe    jfif    png

User · Answer

To filter images files  use this code sample     Create a new instance of openFileDialog OpenFileDialog res   new OpenFileDialog       Filter res Filter    Image Files   jpg   jpeg   png   gif   tif          When the user select the file if  res ShowDialog      DialogResult OK         Get the file s path    var filePath   res FileName       Do something

User · Answer

For images  you could get the available codecs from GDI  System Drawing  and build your list from that with a little work  This would be the most flexible way to go   ImageCodecInfo   codecs   ImageCodecInfo GetImageEncoders

User · Answer

Complete solution in C  is here   private void btnSelectImage Click object sender  RoutedEventArgs e           Configure open file dialog box      Microsoft Win32 OpenFileDialog dlg   new Microsoft Win32 OpenFileDialog        dlg Filter            ImageCodecInfo   codecs   ImageCodecInfo GetImageEncoders        string sep   string Empty       foreach  var c in codecs               string codecName   c CodecName Substring 8  Replace  Codec    Files   Trim           dlg Filter   String Format   0  1  2    3    3    dlg Filter  sep  codecName  c FilenameExtension          sep                   dlg Filter   String Format   0  1  2    3    3    dlg Filter  sep   All Files                 dlg DefaultExt     png      Default file extension          Show open file dialog box      Nullable lt bool gt  result   dlg ShowDialog            Process open file dialog box results      if  result    true                  Open document         string fileName    dlg FileName            Do something with fileName

User · Answer

Just a necrocomment for using string Join and LINQ   ImageCodecInfo   codecs   ImageCodecInfo GetImageEncoders    dlgOpenMockImage Filter   string Format   0   All image files   1    1  All files          string Join      codecs Select codec   gt       string Format   0    1    1    codec CodecName  codec FilenameExtension   ToArray         string Join      codecs Select codec   gt  codec FilenameExtension  ToArray

User · Answer

Here s an example of the ImageCodecInfo suggestion  in VB       Imports System Drawing Imaging                                  Dim ofd as new OpenFileDialog           ofd Filter              Dim codecs As ImageCodecInfo     ImageCodecInfo GetImageEncoders           Dim sep As String   String Empty         For Each c As ImageCodecInfo In codecs             Dim codecName As String   c CodecName Substring 8  Replace  Codec    Files   Trim               ofd Filter   String Format   0  1  2    3    3    ofd Filter  sep  codecName  c FilenameExtension              sep               Next         ofd Filter   String Format   0  1  2    3    3    ofd Filter  sep   All Files            And it looks like this

User · Answer

I like Tom Faust s answer the best   Here s a C  version of his solution  but simplifying things a bit   var codecs   ImageCodecInfo GetImageEncoders     var codecFilter    Image Files     foreach  var codec in codecs         codecFilter    codec FilenameExtension            dialog Filter   codecFilter

[c#] Setting the filter to an OpenFileDialog to allow the typical image formats?

Examples related to c#

Examples related to winforms

Examples related to openfiledialog