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How to: Open files with the OpenFileDialog

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The System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog component opens the Windows dialog box for browsing and selecting files. To open and read the selected files, you can use the OpenFileDialog.OpenFile method, or create an instance of the System.IO.StreamReader class. The following examples show both approaches.

In .NET Framework, to get or set the FileName property requires a privilege level granted by the System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermission class. The examples run a FileIOPermission permission check, and can throw an exception due to insufficient privileges if run in a partial-trust context. For more information, see Code access security basics.

You can build and run these examples as .NET Framework apps from the C# or Visual Basic command line. For more information, see Command-line building with csc.exe or Build from the command line.

Starting with .NET Core 3.0, you can also build and run the examples as Windows .NET Core apps from a folder that has a .NET Core Windows Forms <folder name>.csproj project file.

Example: Read a file as a stream with StreamReader

The following example uses the Windows Forms Button control's Click event handler to open the OpenFileDialog with the ShowDialog method. After the user chooses a file and selects OK, an instance of the StreamReader class reads the file and displays its contents in the form's text box. For more information about reading from file streams, see FileStream.BeginRead and FileStream.Read.

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Security;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class OpenFileDialogForm : Form
{
    [STAThread]
    public static void Main()
    {
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.Run(new OpenFileDialogForm());
    }

    private Button selectButton;
    private OpenFileDialog openFileDialog1;
    private TextBox textBox1;

    public OpenFileDialogForm()
    {
        openFileDialog1 = new OpenFileDialog();
        selectButton = new Button
        {
            Size = new Size(100, 20),
            Location = new Point(15, 15),
            Text = "Select file"
        };
        selectButton.Click += new EventHandler(SelectButton_Click);
        textBox1 = new TextBox
        {
            Size = new Size(300, 300),
            Location = new Point(15, 40),
            Multiline = true,
            ScrollBars = ScrollBars.Vertical
        };
        ClientSize = new Size(330, 360);
        Controls.Add(selectButton);
        Controls.Add(textBox1);
    }
    private void SetText(string text)
    {
        textBox1.Text = text;
    }
    private void SelectButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
        {
            try
            {
                var sr = new StreamReader(openFileDialog1.FileName);
                SetText(sr.ReadToEnd());
            }
            catch (SecurityException ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show($"Security error.\n\nError message: {ex.Message}\n\n" +
                $"Details:\n\n{ex.StackTrace}");
            }
        }
    }
}

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Security
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class OpenFileDialogForm : Inherits Form

    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(False)
        Application.EnableVisualStyles()
        Dim frm As New OpenFileDialogForm()
        Application.Run(frm)
    End Sub

    Dim WithEvents SelectButton As Button
    Dim openFileDialog1 As OpenFileDialog
    Dim TextBox1 As TextBox

    Private Sub New()
        ClientSize = New Size(400, 400)
        openFileDialog1 = New OpenFileDialog()
        SelectButton = New Button()
        With SelectButton
            .Text = "Select file"
            .Location = New Point(15, 15)
            .Size = New Size(100, 25)
        End With
        TextBox1 = New TextBox()
        With TextBox1
            .Size = New Size(300, 300)
            .Location = New Point(15, 50)
            .Multiline = True
            .ScrollBars = ScrollBars.Vertical
        End With
        Controls.Add(SelectButton)
        Controls.Add(TextBox1)
    End Sub

    Private Sub SetText(text)
        TextBox1.Text = text
    End Sub

    Public Sub SelectButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
              Handles SelectButton.Click
        If openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
            Try
                Dim sr As New StreamReader(openFileDialog1.FileName)
                SetText(sr.ReadToEnd())
            Catch SecEx As SecurityException
                MessageBox.Show($"Security error:{vbCrLf}{vbCrLf}{SecEx.Message}{vbCrLf}{vbCrLf}" &
                $"Details:{vbCrLf}{vbCrLf}{SecEx.StackTrace}")
            End Try
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

Example: Open a file from a filtered selection with OpenFile

The following example uses the Button control's Click event handler to open the OpenFileDialog with a filter that shows only text files. After the user chooses a text file and selects OK, the OpenFile method is used to open the file in Notepad.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Security;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class OpenFileDialogForm : Form
{
    [STAThread]
    public static void Main()
    {
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.Run(new OpenFileDialogForm());
    }

    private Button selectButton;
    private OpenFileDialog openFileDialog1;

    public OpenFileDialogForm()
    {
        openFileDialog1 = new OpenFileDialog()
        {
            FileName = "Select a text file",
            Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt",
            Title = "Open text file"
        };

        selectButton = new Button()
        {
            Size = new Size(100, 20),
            Location = new Point(15, 15),
            Text = "Select file"
        };
        selectButton.Click += new EventHandler(selectButton_Click);
        Controls.Add(selectButton);
    }

    private void selectButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
        {
            try
            {
                var filePath = openFileDialog1.FileName;
                using (Stream str = openFileDialog1.OpenFile())
                {
                    Process.Start("notepad.exe", filePath);
                }
            }
            catch (SecurityException ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show($"Security error.\n\nError message: {ex.Message}\n\n" +
                $"Details:\n\n{ex.StackTrace}");
            }
        }
    }
}

Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Security
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class OpenFileDialogForm : Inherits Form
    Dim WithEvents selectButton As Button
    Dim openFileDialog1 As OpenFileDialog

    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false)
        Application.EnableVisualStyles()
        Dim frm As New OpenFileDialogForm()
        Application.Run(frm)
    End Sub

    Private Sub New()
        openFileDialog1 = New OpenFileDialog() With
        {
           .FileName = "Select a text file",
           .Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt",
           .Title = "Open text file"
        }

        selectButton = New Button() With {.Text = "Select file"}
        Controls.Add(selectButton)
    End Sub

    Public Sub selectButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
            Handles selectButton.Click
        If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
            Try
                Dim filePath = OpenFileDialog1.FileName
                Using str = openFileDialog1.OpenFile()
                    Process.Start("notepad.exe", filePath)
                End Using
            Catch SecEx As SecurityException
                MessageBox.Show($"Security error:{vbCrLf}{vbCrLf}{SecEx.Message}{vbCrLf}{vbCrLf}" &
                $"Details:{vbCrLf}{vbCrLf}{SecEx.StackTrace}")
            End Try
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

See also