getopenfile(3)
NAME
getOpenFile, getSaveFile - pop up a dialog box for the
user to select a file to open or save.
SYNOPSIS
$widget->getOpenFile(?-option=>value, ...>?) $widget->getSaveFile(?-option=>value, ...>?)
DESCRIPTION
The methods getOpenFile and getSaveFile pop up a dialog
box for the user to select a file to open or save.
The getOpenFile method is usually associated with the Open
command in the File menu. Its purpose is for the user to
select an existing file only. If the user enters an nonexistent file, the dialog box gives the user an error
prompt and requires the user to give an alternative selec
tion. If an application allows the user to create new
files, it should do so by providing a separate New menu
command.
The getSaveFile method is usually associated with the Save
as command in the File menu. If the user enters a file
that already exists, the dialog box prompts the user for
confirmation whether the existing file should be overwrit
ten or not.
If the user selects a file, both getOpenFile and getSave
File return the full pathname of this file. If the user
cancels the operation, both commands return an undefined
value.
The following option-value pairs are possible as command
line arguments to these two commands:
- -defaultextension => extension
- Specifies a string that will be appended to the file
name if the user enters a filename without an exten
sion. The default value is the empty string, which
means no extension will be appended to the filename in
any case. This option is ignored on the Macintosh
platform, which does not require extensions to file
names. - -filetypes => [filePattern ?, ...?]
- If a File types listbox exists in the file dialog on
the particular platform, this option gives the file_
types in this listbox. When the user choose a filetype
in the listbox, only the files of that type are
listed. If this option is unspecified, or if it is set
to the empty list, or if the File types listbox is not supported by the particular platform then all files
are listed regardless of their types. See "SPECIFYING
FILE PATTERNS" below for a discussion on the contents
of filePatterns. - -initialdir => directory
- Specifies that the files in directory should be dis
played when the dialog pops up. If this parameter is
not specified, then the files in the current working
directory are displayed. This option may not always
work on the Macintosh. This is not a bug. Rather,
the General Controls control panel on the Mac allows the end user to override the application default
directory. - -initialfile => filename
- Specifies a filename to be displayed in the dialog
when it pops up. This option is ignored by the
getOpenFile method. - -title => titleString
- Specifies a string to display as the title of the dia
log box. If this option is not specified, then a
default title is displayed. This option is ignored on
the Macintosh platform.
SPECIFYING FILE PATTERNS
- The filePatterns given by the -filetypes option are a list
of file patterns. Each file pattern is a list of the form
- typeName [extension ?extension ...?] ?[macType ?macType
- ...?]?
- typeName is the name of the file type described by this
file pattern and is the text string that appears in the
File types listbox. extension is a file extension for this file pattern. macType is a four-character Macintosh file type. The list of macTypes is optional and may be omitted for applications that do not need to execute on the Macin
tosh platform. - Several file patterns may have the same typeName, in which
case they refer to the same file type and share the same
entry in the listbox. When the user selects an entry in
the listbox, all the files that match at least one of the
file patterns corresponding to that entry are listed. Usu
ally, each file pattern corresponds to a distinct type of
file. The use of more than one file patterns for one type
of file is necessary on the Macintosh platform only. - On the Macintosh platform, a file matches a file pattern
if its name matches at least one of the extension(s) AND it belongs to at least one of the macType(s) of the file pattern. For example, the C Source Files file pattern in the sample code matches with files that have a.c exten
sion AND belong to the macType TEXT. To use the OR rule instead, you can use two file patterns, one with the
extensions only and the other with the macType only. The GIF Files file type in the sample code matches files that EITHER have a.gif extension OR belong to the macType GIFF. - On the Unix and Windows platforms, a file matches a file
pattern if its name matches at at least one of the exten_
sion(s) of the file pattern. The macTypes are ignored.
SPECIFYING EXTENSIONS
On the Unix and Macintosh platforms, extensions are
matched using glob-style pattern matching. On the Windows
platforms, extensions are matched by the underlying oper
ating system. The types of possible extensions are: (1)
the special extension * matches any file; (2) the special
extension "" matches any files that do not have an exten
sion (i.e., the filename contains no full stop character);
(3) any character string that does not contain any wild
card characters (* and ?).
Due to the different pattern matching rules on the various
platforms, to ensure portability, wild card characters are
not allowed in the extensions, except as in the special
extension *. Extensions without a full stop character
(e.g, ~) are allowed but may not work on all platforms.
EXAMPLE
- my $types = [
- ['Text Files', ['.txt', '.text']],
['TCL Scripts', '.tcl' ],
['C Source Files', '.c', 'TEXT'],
['GIF Files', '.gif', ],
['GIF Files', '', 'GIFF'],
['All Files', '*', ], - ];
my $filename = $widget->getOpenFile(-filetypes=>$types); - if ($filename ne "") {
- # Open the file ...
- }
SEE ALSO
Tk::FBox, Tk::FileSelect
KEYWORDS
- file selection dialog