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How to Set Filters for OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog in C#

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Hi friends! In this article, we’ll be discussing about how you can easily set filters for OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog in C# and see some simple examples.

 

What are Filters?

Filters are used in OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog in C# to specify the type of files that can be opened or saved.

A filter is a string that indicates which file types should be displayed in the dialog box and contains one or more file types, separated by the pipe symbol “|”.

For instance, you can set the filter to “.txt|.csv” if you only want the user to be able to access or save.txt and.csv files.

 

How to Set a Filter for OpenFileDialog?

To set a filter for OpenFileDialog, you can use the Filter property.

Here is a simple example:

OpenFileDialog openFileDialog = new OpenFileDialog();
openFileDialog.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt|CSV files (*.csv)|*.csv";

In this example, the filter allows the user to choose to open either a text file or a CSV file.

 

How to Set a Filter for SaveFileDialog?

Similarly, to set a filter for SaveFileDialog, you can use the Filter property.

Here’s a simple example:

SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog = new SaveFileDialog();
saveFileDialog.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt|CSV files (*.csv)|*.csv";

In this example, the filter allows the user to save either a text file or a CSV file.

 

 

Let’s see a Full Example on Using Filters

Based on all the above, let’s see a full example on how we can easily use file filters in the OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialogs in C#:

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace FileFiltersExample
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        // Event handling code for when opening a file
        private void btnOpenFile_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            OpenFileDialog openFileDialog = new OpenFileDialog();
            openFileDialog.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt|CSV files (*.csv)|*.csv";

            if (openFileDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("You selected file: " + openFileDialog.FileName);

                // add file handling code here...
            }
        }

        // Event handling code for when saving a file
        private void btnSaveFile_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog = new SaveFileDialog();
            saveFileDialog.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt|CSV files (*.csv)|*.csv";

            if (saveFileDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("You selected file: " + saveFileDialog.FileName);
             
                // add file handling code here...
            }
        }
    }
}

 

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