Open File Dialog in Visual Studio

We can also implement the same functionality in our applications by using CustomPlaces collection property of FileDialog class. The OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog classes allow you to add folders to the CustomPlaces collection.

openFileDialog.CustomPlaces.Add(@"C:\Users");

You can also specify GUID of Windows Vista known folder. Known Folder GUIDs are not case sensitive and are defined in the KnownFolders.h file in the Windows SDK. If the specified Known Folder is not present on the computer that is running the application, the Known Folder is not shown.

openFileDialog.CustomPlaces.Add(@"C:\Users");
//Desktop Folder
openFileDialog.CustomPlaces.Add(new Guid("B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641"));
//Downloads Folder
openFileDialog.CustomPlaces.Add(new Guid("374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B"));

Open File Dialog with Custom Places

Note: This feature will not have any effect in Windows XP. Also you must set the AutoUpgradeEnabled to True(default) to enable this feature in Vista or Windows 7.

The following table lists few Windows Vista Known Folders and their associated Guid.

1. Contacts : 56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882
2. ControlPanel : 82A74AEB-AEB4-465C-A014-D097EE346D63
3. Desktop : B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641
4. Documents : FDD39AD0-238F-46AF-ADB4-6C85480369C7
5. Downloads : 374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B
6. Favorites : 1777F761-68AD-4D8A-87BD-30B759FA33DD
7. Fonts : FD228CB7-AE11-4AE3-864C-16F3910AB8FE
8. Music : 4BD8D571-6D19-48D3-BE97-422220080E43

I created a Windows Application Project and Added reference of the following libraries

atk-sharp.dll
gdk-sharp.dll
glade-sharp.dll
glib-sharp.dll
gtk-dotnet.dll
gtk-sharp.dll

And I deleted the Form1. And modified the Program.cs; the Program.cs

namespace HelloGtk
{
    using System;
    using Gtk;

    public class Program
    {
        private MainWindow mainWindow = null;

        public Program()
        {
            Application.Init();
            mainWindow = new MainWindow();
            Application.Run();
        }

        static void Main()
        {
            new Program();
            return;
        }
    }
}

And the added a class MainWindow.cs, and wrote the code

namespace HelloGtk
{
    using Gtk;
    using System.IO;

    public class MainWindow : Gtk.Window
    {
        private string title = "Text File Viewer";
        private VBox vbox;
        private MenuBar menubar;
        private Statusbar statusbar;
        private TextView textView;
        private ScrolledWindow scrolledWindow;
        private AccelGroup accelGroup;
        private Toolbar toolbar;
        public MainWindow()
            : base("Text File Viewer")
        {
            this.DefaultSize = new Gdk.Size(600, 500);
            this.DeleteEvent += new DeleteEventHandler(MainWindow_DeleteEvent);
            this.Build();
        }

        private void MainWindow_DeleteEvent(object o, DeleteEventArgs args)
        {
            Application.Quit();
            args.RetVal = true;
        }

        private void Build()
        {
            this.Title = this.title;
            this.vbox = new VBox(false, 0);
            this.CreateMenubar();
            this.vbox.PackStart(this.menubar, false, true, 0);
            this.toolbar = new Toolbar();
            this.CreateToolbar();
            this.vbox.PackStart(this.toolbar, false, true, 0);
            this.textView = new TextView();
            this.textView.Editable = false;
            this.textView.WrapMode = WrapMode.Word;
            this.scrolledWindow = new ScrolledWindow();
            this.scrolledWindow.SetPolicy(PolicyType.Automatic, PolicyType.Automatic);
            this.scrolledWindow.Add(this.textView);
            this.vbox.PackStart(this.scrolledWindow, true, true, 0);
            this.statusbar = new Statusbar();
            this.vbox.PackStart(this.statusbar, false, true, 0);
            this.Add(this.vbox);
            this.ShowAll();
        }
        private void CreateToolbar()
        {
            ToolButton OpenToolBarBtn = new ToolButton("gtk-open");
            OpenToolBarBtn.Clicked += this.openMenu_Activated;
            SeparatorToolItem Sep1 = new SeparatorToolItem();
            ToolButton CopyToolBarBtn = new ToolButton("gtk-copy");
            CopyToolBarBtn.Clicked += this.copyMenu_Activated;
            SeparatorToolItem Sep2 = new SeparatorToolItem();
            ToolButton AboutToolBarBtn = new ToolButton("gtk-about");
            AboutToolBarBtn.Clicked += this.aboutMenu_Activated;

            this.toolbar.Add(OpenToolBarBtn);
            this.toolbar.Add(Sep1);
            this.toolbar.Add(CopyToolBarBtn);
            this.toolbar.Add(Sep2);
            this.toolbar.Add(AboutToolBarBtn);
        }

        private void CreateMenubar()
        {
            this.accelGroup = new AccelGroup();
            this.menubar = new MenuBar();
            MenuItem fileMenu = new MenuItem("_File");
            MenuItem editMenu = new MenuItem("_Edit");
            MenuItem helpMenu = new MenuItem("_Help");
            helpMenu.RightJustified = true;

            Menu fileSubMenu = new Menu();
            TearoffMenuItem fileMenuTearOff = new TearoffMenuItem();
            ImageMenuItem openMenu = new ImageMenuItem("gtk-open", accelGroup);
            openMenu.Activated += new System.EventHandler(openMenu_Activated);
            SeparatorMenuItem fileMenuSep = new SeparatorMenuItem();
            ImageMenuItem exitMenu = new ImageMenuItem("gtk-quit", accelGroup);
            exitMenu.Activated += new System.EventHandler(exitMenu_Activated);
            fileSubMenu.Add(fileMenuTearOff);
            fileSubMenu.Add(openMenu);
            fileSubMenu.Add(fileMenuSep);
            fileSubMenu.Add(exitMenu);
            fileMenu.Submenu = fileSubMenu;

            Menu editSubMenu = new Menu();
            ImageMenuItem copyMenu = new ImageMenuItem("gtk-copy", accelGroup);
            copyMenu.Activated += new System.EventHandler(copyMenu_Activated);
            TearoffMenuItem editMenuTearOff = new TearoffMenuItem();
            editSubMenu.Add(editMenuTearOff);
            editSubMenu.Add(copyMenu);
            editMenu.Submenu = editSubMenu;

            Menu helpSubMenu = new Menu();
            ImageMenuItem aboutMenu = new ImageMenuItem("gtk-about", accelGroup);
            TearoffMenuItem helpMenuTearOff = new TearoffMenuItem();
            helpSubMenu.Add(helpMenuTearOff);
            helpSubMenu.Add(aboutMenu);
            aboutMenu.Activated += new System.EventHandler(aboutMenu_Activated);
            helpMenu.Submenu = helpSubMenu;

            this.menubar.Add(fileMenu);
            this.menubar.Add(editMenu);
            this.menubar.Add(helpMenu);
        }

        void aboutMenu_Activated(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            using (Dialog dialog = new MessageDialog(this,
                                  DialogFlags.Modal | DialogFlags.DestroyWithParent,
                                  MessageType.Info,
                                  ButtonsType.Ok,
                                  "Text File Viewer - A simple text file viewer using gtk#\nDeveloped by Anuraj\nPowered by dotnetthoughts.net\n\nUnder GNU GPL v2."))
            {
                dialog.Title = "About";
                dialog.Run();
                dialog.Hide();
            }
        }

        private void copyMenu_Activated(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            Clipboard clipboad = this.textView.GetClipboard(Gdk.Selection.Clipboard);
            this.textView.Buffer.CopyClipboard(clipboad);
        }

        void exitMenu_Activated(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            Application.Quit();
        }
        FileChooserDialog dlg;
        private void openMenu_Activated(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            dlg =
                new FileChooserDialog("Select Text File", this, FileChooserAction.Open, "");
            dlg.AddButton("Open File", ResponseType.Ok);
            dlg.AddButton("Cancel", ResponseType.Cancel);

            FileFilter filter = new FileFilter();
            filter.AddPattern("*.txt");
            filter.AddPattern("*.*");
            dlg.Filter = filter;

            dlg.TypeHint = Gdk.WindowTypeHint.Dialog;
            dlg.SelectMultiple = false;
            dlg.WindowPosition = WindowPosition.Center;
            dlg.Parent = this;
            dlg.Modal = true;
            dlg.KeepAbove = true;
            dlg.DestroyWithParent = true;
            dlg.State = StateType.Normal;

            dlg.Response += new ResponseHandler(dlg_Response);
            dlg.DeleteEvent += new DeleteEventHandler(dlg_DeleteEvent);

            dlg.Run();
            dlg.Destroy();

        }

        private void dlg_DeleteEvent(object o, DeleteEventArgs args)
        {
            dlg.Destroy();
        }

        private void dlg_Response(object o, ResponseArgs args)
        {
            if (args.ResponseId == ResponseType.Ok)
            {
                this.Title = string.Format("{0} - {1}", this.title, System.IO.Path.GetFileName(dlg.Filename));
                using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(dlg.Filename, true))
                {
                    this.textView.Buffer.Text = reader.ReadToEnd();
                }
            }
            dlg.Destroy();
        }
    }
}

And run the application. Here is the screenshot, Text File Viewer running on my machine.

Text File Viewer using GTK#

Color Dialog. So I thought of implementing a WordPad like color picker. And I think I almost readed my goal. I need to try this in the Toolstrip dropdown too.

//On the Form load I am loading the colors to the Dropdown.
//You can also bind the p to the Dropdown.
Type t = typeof(Color);
PropertyInfo[] p = t.GetProperties();
foreach (PropertyInfo item in p)
{
    if (item.PropertyType.FullName.Equals("System.Drawing.Color", StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase))
    {
        this.comboBox1.Items.Add(item.Name);
    }
}

And I set the Dropdown’s DrawMode property to “OwnerDrawFixed”. And in the DrawItem event of the Dropdown I wrote the code.

if (e.Index != -1)
{
    e.DrawBackground();
    e.Graphics.FillRectangle(GetCurrentBrush(comboBox1.Items[e.Index].ToString()), e.Bounds);
    Font f = comboBox1.Font;
    e.Graphics.DrawString(comboBox1.Items[e.Index].ToString(), f, Brushes.Black, e.Bounds, StringFormat.GenericDefault);
    e.DrawFocusRectangle();
}

And the GetCurrentBrush() function returns the Brush for painting the rectangle. You can write the code in the DrawItem event too, but initialy I thought about setting the font color using the same color. But later that idea changed.

private Brush GetCurrentBrush(string colorName)
{
    return new SolidBrush(Color.FromName(colorName));
}

One issue I found in this code is, for black color, I can’t see the color name. And here is the screenshot of Color Picker Dropdown running on my machine.

Color Picker Dropdown screenshot

using System.Net;

///
/// Checks the file exists or not.
///
/// The URL of the remote file.
/// True : If the file exits, False if file not exists
private bool RemoteFileExists(string url)
{
    try
    {
        //Creating the HttpWebRequest
        HttpWebRequest request = WebRequest.Create(url) as HttpWebRequest;
        //Setting the Request method HEAD, you can also use GET too.
        request.Method = "HEAD";
        //Getting the Web Response.
        HttpWebResponse response = request.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse;
        //Returns TURE if the Status code == 200
        return (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK);
    }
    catch
    {
        //Any exception will returns false.
        return false;
    }
}

You can also use WebClient class for the same purpose. Like this.

using System.Net;

///
/// Checks the file exists or not.
///
/// The URL of the remote file.
/// True : If the file exits, False if file not exists
private bool RemoteFileExists(string url)
{
    bool result = false;
    using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
    {
        try
        {
            Stream stream = client.OpenRead(url);
            if (stream != null)
            {
                result = true;
            }
            else
            {
                result = false;
            }
        }
        catch
        {
            //Any exception will returns false.
            result = false;
        }
    }
    return result;
}

Internally WebClient is using the HttpWebRequest and HttpWebResponse classes, so it is good to use the first method.

For adding a File to FileStream enabled table, we are using a new Data Type, SqlFileStream, which comes with .Net 3.5.

I am using the Table structure as in the Previous post, as the example, that Table contains 3 columns, FileID(PK), FileName and FileContents.
For inserting a File you need to begin a transaction, insert an row in to the Table, without the contents of the File, for reading the Transaction context. Then using FileStream, write the contents of the File to the Row. After writting the stream, need to commit the transaction to update the file to the Database. I am writing the code in VB.Net.

Code for saving the File to the Database

Private Sub AddFile(ByVal fileName As String)
	Dim _Transaction As SqlTransaction
	Dim _Command As SqlCommand
	Dim _DataReader As SqlDataReader
	Dim _Connection As SqlConnection
	Dim _FileId As String
	Dim _FilePath As String
	Dim _FileNameParameter As SqlParameter
	Dim _FileIdParameter As SqlParameter
	Dim _FilePathParameter As SqlParameter

	Dim _SQLFileStream As SqlTypes.SqlFileStream
	Dim _Context As Byte()

	Try
		_Connection = New SqlConnection("Server=.\SQL2008;Integrated Authentication=SSPI;Database=FileSystemExample;")
		_Connection.Open()
		_Transaction = _Connection.BeginTransaction()
		_Command = New SqlCommand("xsp_InsertFile", _Connection, _Transaction)
		_Command.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
		_Command.Parameters.AddRange(New Object() {_FileIdParameter, _FileNameParameter, _FilePath})
		_FileId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString

		_FileIdParameter = New SqlParameter("@FileId", SqlDbType.UniqueIdentifier)
		_FileIdParameter.Value = _FileId

		_FileNameParameter = New SqlParameter("@FileName", SqlDbType.VarChar)
		_FileNameParameter.Value = fileName

		_FilePathParameter = New SqlParameter("@FilePath", SqlDbType.VarChar)
		_FilePathParameter.Direction = ParameterDirection.Output

		_DataReader = _Command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SingleRow)
		If _DataReader.HasRows Then
			_FilePath = _DataReader("FilePath").ToString
		End If
		If Not _DataReader.IsClosed Then
			_DataReader.Close()
		End If

		_Command = New SqlCommand("SELECT GET_FILESTREAM_TRANSACTION_CONTEXT() FROM SQLFileSystem", _Connection, _Transaction)
		_Context = _Command.ExecuteScalar()

		_SQLFileStream = New SqlFileStream(_FilePath, _Context, FileAccess.Write)
		_SQLFileStream.Write(_Context, 0, _Context.Length)
		_SQLFileStream.Close()

		_Transaction.Commit()
	Catch ex As Exception
		If _Transaction IsNot Nothing Then
			_Transaction.Rollback()
		End If
	Finally
		If _Connection IsNot Nothing Then
			_Connection.Close()
		End If
	End Try
End Sub

Code for reading the File from the Database

Private Function ReadFile(ByVal fileId As String) As Byte()
	Dim _Transaction As SqlTransaction
	Dim _Command As SqlCommand
	Dim _DataReader As SqlDataReader
	Dim _Connection As SqlConnection
	Dim _FilePath As String
	Dim _FileIdParameter As SqlParameter

	Dim _SQLFileStream As SqlTypes.SqlFileStream
	Dim _Context As Byte()

	Try
		_Connection = New SqlConnection("Server=.\SQL2008;Integrated Authentication=SSPI;Database=FileSystemExample;")
		_Connection.Open()
		_Transaction = _Connection.BeginTransaction()
		_Command = New SqlCommand("SELECT FileStreamData.PathName() AS [FilePath],GET_FILESTREAM_TRANSACTION_CONTEXT() AS [Context] FROM SQLFileSystem WHERE FileId=@FileId", _Connection, _Transaction)
		_Command.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure

		_FileIdParameter = New SqlParameter("@FileId", SqlDbType.UniqueIdentifier)
		_FileIdParameter.Value = fileId
		_Command.Parameters.Add(_FileIdParameter)

		_DataReader = _Command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SingleRow)
		If _DataReader.HasRows Then
			_FilePath = _DataReader("FilePath").ToString()
			_Context = TryCast(_DataReader("Context"), Byte())
		End If

		_SQLFileStream = New SqlFileStream(_FilePath, _Context, FileAccess.Read)
		_SQLFileStream.Read(_Context, 0, _Context.Length)
		_SQLFileStream.Close()

		_Transaction.Commit()
	Catch ex As Exception
		If _Transaction IsNot Nothing Then
			_Transaction.Rollback()
		End If
	Finally
		If _Connection IsNot Nothing Then
			_Connection.Close()
		End If
	End Try
	Return _Context
End Function

Stored Procedure

CREATE PROCEDURE xsp_InsertFile
(
@FileName VARCHAR(255),
@FileId UNIQUEIDENTIFIER,
@FilePath VARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT OFF
INSERT INTO SQLFileSystem (FileId, FileName) VALUES(@FileId, @FileName)
SELECT @FilePath = SystemFile.PathName() from SQLFileSystem where FileId = @FileId
END

Note: I didn’t tested the code. Please let me know if you found any issues in the implementation.

Example Code

Make sure the background worker WorkerReportProgress Property set to

//BackGround Worker DoWork Event.
private void bgWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
//Do the long running job here
int index = 0;
while(true)
{
	if(index >= 100)
	{
		break;
	}
	index ++;
	Thread.Sleep(100);
	//The second parameter is required only
	//if you want to display some output
	//Here we are updating the Progress.
	this.bgWorker.ReportProgress(index, index);
}
}

//BackGround Worker Progress Changed Event.
private void bgWorker_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
	this.pbStatus.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
	this.lstValues.Items.Add(e.UserState);
}

//BackGround Worker Work completed Event.
private void bgWorker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
	MessageBox.Show("Successfully completed");
}

In this code, I am counting from 0 to 100, also updating a Progress bar and Listbox in Userinterface with the values.

Links :
Back Ground worker in MSDN