Browse for a directory in C

Question

How can I present a control to the user that allows him her to select a directory   There doesn t seem to be any native  net controls which do this

User · Answer

Please don t try and roll your own with a TreeView DirectoryInfo class  For one thing there are many nice features you get for free  icons right-click networks  by using SHBrowseForFolder  For another there are a edge cases catches you will likely not be aware of

User · Answer

You could just use the FolderBrowserDialog class from the System Windows Forms namespace

User · Answer

The FolderBrowserDialog class is the best option

User · Answer

Note  there is no guarantee this code will work in future versions of the  Net framework  Using private  Net framework internals as done here through reflection is probably not good overall  Use the interop solution mentioned at the bottom  as the Windows API is less likely to change   If you are looking for a Folder picker that looks more like the Windows 7 dialog  with the ability to copy and paste from a textbox at the bottom and the navigation pane on the left with favorites and common locations  then you can get access to that in a very lightweight way   The FolderBrowserDialog UI is very minimal     But you can have this instead     Here s a class that opens a Vista-style folder picker using the  Net private IFileDialog interface  without directly using interop in the code   Net takes care of that for you   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 MyCoolCompany Shuriken            lt summary gt          Present the Windows Vista-style open file dialog to select a folder  Fall back for older Windows Versions          lt  summary gt      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                   lt param name  hWndOwner  gt Handle of the control or window to be the parent of the file dialog lt  param gt               lt returns gt true if the user clicks OK lt  returns gt          public bool Show IntPtr hWndOwner                var result   Environment OSVersion Version Major  gt   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                          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 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 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   Also  please note that 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

User · Answer

string folderPath       FolderBrowserDialog folderBrowserDialog1   new FolderBrowserDialog    if  folderBrowserDialog1 ShowDialog      DialogResult OK        folderPath   folderBrowserDialog1 SelectedPath

User · Answer

or even more better  you can put this code in a class file  using System  using System IO  using System Runtime CompilerServices  using System Runtime InteropServices  using System Windows Forms   internal class OpenFolderDialog   IDisposable             lt summary gt          Gets sets folder in which dialog will be open           lt  summary gt      public string InitialFolder   get  set              lt summary gt          Gets sets directory in which dialog will be open if there is no recent directory available           lt  summary gt      public string DefaultFolder   get  set              lt summary gt          Gets selected folder           lt  summary gt      public string Folder   get  private set          internal DialogResult ShowDialog IWin32Window owner            if  Environment OSVersion Version Major  gt   6                return ShowVistaDialog owner             else               return ShowLegacyDialog owner                        private DialogResult ShowVistaDialog IWin32Window owner            var frm    NativeMethods IFileDialog  new NativeMethods FileOpenDialogRCW             uint options          frm GetOptions out options           options    NativeMethods FOS PICKFOLDERS   NativeMethods FOS FORCEFILESYSTEM   NativeMethods FOS NOVALIDATE   NativeMethods FOS NOTESTFILECREATE   NativeMethods FOS DONTADDTORECENT          frm SetOptions options           if  this InitialFolder    null                NativeMethods IShellItem directoryShellItem              var riid   new Guid  43826D1E-E718-42EE-BC55-A1E261C37BFE      IShellItem             if  NativeMethods SHCreateItemFromParsingName this InitialFolder  IntPtr Zero  ref riid  out directoryShellItem     NativeMethods S OK                    frm SetFolder directoryShellItem                                   if  this DefaultFolder    null                NativeMethods IShellItem directoryShellItem              var riid   new Guid  43826D1E-E718-42EE-BC55-A1E261C37BFE      IShellItem             if  NativeMethods SHCreateItemFromParsingName this DefaultFolder  IntPtr Zero  ref riid  out directoryShellItem     NativeMethods S OK                    frm SetDefaultFolder directoryShellItem                                    if  frm Show owner Handle     NativeMethods S OK                NativeMethods IShellItem shellItem              if  frm GetResult out shellItem     NativeMethods S OK                    IntPtr pszString                  if  shellItem GetDisplayName NativeMethods SIGDN FILESYSPATH  out pszString     NativeMethods S OK                        if  pszString    IntPtr Zero                            try                               this Folder   Marshal PtrToStringAuto pszString                               return DialogResult OK                            finally                               Marshal FreeCoTaskMem pszString                                                                                                     return DialogResult Cancel             private DialogResult ShowLegacyDialog IWin32Window owner            using  var frm   new SaveFileDialog                  frm CheckFileExists   false              frm CheckPathExists   true              frm CreatePrompt   false              frm Filter         Guid Empty ToString                frm FileName    any               if  this InitialFolder    null    frm InitialDirectory   this InitialFolder                frm OverwritePrompt   false              frm Title    Select Folder               frm ValidateNames   false              if  frm ShowDialog owner     DialogResult OK                    this Folder   Path GetDirectoryName frm FileName                   return DialogResult OK                else                   return DialogResult Cancel                                      public void Dispose         just to have possibility of Using statement      internal static class NativeMethods         region Constants      public const uint FOS PICKFOLDERS   0x00000020      public const uint FOS FORCEFILESYSTEM   0x00000040      public const uint FOS NOVALIDATE   0x00000100      public const uint FOS NOTESTFILECREATE   0x00010000      public const uint FOS DONTADDTORECENT   0x02000000       public const uint S OK   0x0000       public const uint SIGDN FILESYSPATH   0x80058000        endregion        region COM       ComImport  ClassInterface ClassInterfaceType None   TypeLibType TypeLibTypeFlags FCanCreate   Guid  DC1C5A9C-E88A-4DDE-A5A1-60F82A20AEF7        internal class FileOpenDialogRCW            ComImport    Guid  42F85136-DB7E-439C-85F1-E4075D135FC8    InterfaceType ComInterfaceType InterfaceIsIUnknown       internal interface IFileDialog            MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime            PreserveSig            uint Show  In  Optional  IntPtr hwndOwner     IModalWindow             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetFileTypes  In  uint cFileTypes   In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPArray   IntPtr rgFilterSpec             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetFileTypeIndex  In  uint iFileType             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetFileTypeIndex out uint piFileType             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint Advise  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   IntPtr pfde  out uint pdwCookie             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint Unadvise  In  uint dwCookie             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetOptions  In  uint fos             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetOptions out uint fos             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           void SetDefaultFolder  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   IShellItem psi             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetFolder  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   IShellItem psi             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetFolder  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   out IShellItem ppsi             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetCurrentSelection  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   out IShellItem ppsi             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetFileName  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPWStr   string pszName             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetFileName  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPWStr   out string pszName             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetTitle  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPWStr   string pszTitle             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetOkButtonLabel  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPWStr   string pszText             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetFileNameLabel  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPWStr   string pszLabel             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetResult  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   out IShellItem ppsi             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint AddPlace  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   IShellItem psi  uint fdap             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetDefaultExtension  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPWStr   string pszDefaultExtension             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint Close  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Error   uint hr             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetClientGuid  In  ref Guid guid             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint ClearClientData              MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint SetFilter  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   IntPtr pFilter                ComImport  Guid  43826D1E-E718-42EE-BC55-A1E261C37BFE    InterfaceType ComInterfaceType InterfaceIsIUnknown       internal interface IShellItem            MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint BindToHandler  In  IntPtr pbc   In  ref Guid rbhid   In  ref Guid riid   Out  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   out IntPtr ppvOut             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetParent  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   out IShellItem ppsi             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetDisplayName  In  uint sigdnName  out IntPtr ppszName             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint GetAttributes  In  uint sfgaoMask  out uint psfgaoAttribs             MethodImpl MethodImplOptions InternalCall  MethodCodeType   MethodCodeType Runtime           uint Compare  In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   IShellItem psi   In  uint hint  out int piOrder               endregion        DllImport  shell32 dll   CharSet   CharSet Unicode  SetLastError   true       internal static extern int SHCreateItemFromParsingName  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPWStr   string pszPath  IntPtr pbc  ref Guid riid   MarshalAs UnmanagedType Interface   out IShellItem ppv        And use it like this  using  var frm   new OpenFolderDialog                      if  frm ShowDialog this    DialogResult OK                        MessageBox Show this  frm Folder

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