Call system Explorer/Finder to select files in Compose

[ggoraa]

How does that achievable?

[igordmn]

We can use java.awt.FileDialog:

import androidx.compose.desktop.LocalAppWindow
import androidx.compose.desktop.Window
import androidx.compose.material.Button
import androidx.compose.material.Text
fun main() = Window {
    val window = LocalAppWindow.current!!
    Button(onClick = {
        java.awt.FileDialog(window.window).isVisible = true
    }) {
        Text("Button")
    }
}

[ggoraa]

Thanks!

[pnogas]

Figured I would post what I did to have file open files using the menu bar / keyboard shortcuts in case anyone else arrived here looking to do the same thing

AppManager.setMenu(
    MenuBar(
        Menu(
            name = "File",
                MenuItem(
                    name = "Open",
                    shortcut = KeyStroke(Key.O),
                    onClick = { windowActionManager.handleAction(MenuBarActions.OpenFile) }, // ...more stuff

and that eventually leads to

fun openLogFile() {
    var result: File?
        JFileChooser(System.getProperty("user.home")).apply {
            showOpenDialog(null)
            result = selectedFile
        } // ...more stuff

[v79]

import androidx.compose.desktop.AppWindowAmbient

No longer seems to be available; this is what worked for me:

Button(onClick = {
	java.awt.FileDialog(AppManager.focusedWindow!!.window).isVisible = true
}) {
	Text("File Picker")
}

[igordmn]

import androidx.compose.desktop.AppWindowAmbient

No longer seems to be available; this is what worked for me:

Button(onClick = {
	java.awt.FileDialog(AppManager.focusedWindow!!.window).isVisible = true
}) {
	Text("File Picker")
}

It was renamed to LocalAppWindow (I changed my comment).

Better to use it instead of focusedWindow. focusedWindow works, but probably not in all cases (we can "click" without taking the window into focus, for example in tests)

[jposes22]

Updated:

Button(onClick = {
    java.awt.FileDialog(ComposeWindow()).isVisible = true
}) {
    Text("File Picker")
}

[sebkur]

Updated:

Button(onClick = {
    java.awt.FileDialog(ComposeWindow()).isVisible = true
}) {
    Text("File Picker")
}

If I'm not mistaken, ComposeWindow() doesn't give you the current window, instead it just creates a new one.

@igordmn it seems LocalAppWindow isn't available any longer? Do you have a different solution?

[igordmn]

We should pass the parent window instead of the new Window (so the parent window will be blocked while dialog is opened). In 1.0 we can do that this way:

fun FrameWindowScope.openFileDialog() {
    java.awt.FileDialog(window).isVisible = true
}

FrameWindowScope is the scope provided by Window or singleWindowApplicaion, so you can use openFileDialog only inside them, or passing down FrameWindowScope or ComposeWindow via parameter/receiver/CompositionLocal manually.

There is also Composable way to open a file dialog.

[sebkur]

awesome, thanks for the quick reply!

A small detail I noticed is, you need to actually use FrameWindowScope instead of WindowScope, as the former provides the more specific javax.swing.JFrame while the latter provides java.awt.Window as the window. It matters because FileDialog requires a java.awt.Frame (or Dialog) in its constructor of which JFrame is a subclass but Window isn't.

Anyway, also thanks for the pointer to the Composable way, that's sounds like it is the way one really wants to integrate this.

[igordmn]

use FrameWindowScope instead of WindowScope

Good point, thanks. I changed the comment.

[code-byte-labs]

Updated:

Button(onClick = {
    java.awt.FileDialog(ComposeWindow()).isVisible = true
}) {
    Text("File Picker")
}

I can't select a dir in this way

[sebkur]

wow, indeed, looks like FileDialog doesn't support picking directories (at least not on all operating systems). Probably a disappointing workaround, but you could use JFileChooser:

    val f = JFileChooser()
    f.fileSelectionMode = JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY
    f.showSaveDialog(null)

[sebkur]

probably worth a separate issue

[mahozad]

To get a native look and feel (tested on Windows) I called this at the start of the program:

UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName())

To open directories only, created and showed a dialog like this:

val fileChooser = JFileChooser("/").apply {
    fileSelectionMode = JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY
    dialogTitle = "Select a folder"
    approveButtonText = "Select"
    approveButtonToolTipText = "Select current directory as save destination"
}
fileChooser.showOpenDialog(window.window /* OR null */)
val result = fileChooser.selectedFile

[okushnikov]

Please check the following ticket on YouTrack for follow-ups to this issue. GitHub issues will be closed in the coming weeks.