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FILEDIALOGA( [title] ,file [,extensions] [,flag] [,index] )

The FILEDIALOGA procedure displays Windows standard file choice dialogs and returns the file chosen by the user in the file parameter. Any existing value in the file parameter sets the default file choice presented to the user in the file choice dialog.

FILEDIALOGA displays either the standard Open… dialog or the standard Save… dialog. By default, on the Open… dialog, the user is warned if the file they choose does not exist and the file is not opened. On the Save… dialog, the user is warned if the file does exist and the file is not saved.

The extensions parameter string must contain a description followed by the file mask. All elements in the string must be delimited by the vertical bar (|) character. For example, the extensions string:

'All Files | *.* | Clarion Source | *.CLW;*.INC;*.EQU;*.INT | Clarion Templates|*.TPL;*.TPW' 

defines three selections for the “List Files of Type” drop list. The first extension listed in the extensions string is the default. Multiple extensions are separated by a semicolon (;) character.

The flag parameter is a bitmap that indicates the type of file action to perform (see EQUATES.CLW for symbolic constants). For bit number:

The following is a comprehensive sample of these flags simplified to equates (see EQUATES.CLW for the complete list):

Finally, the index parameter is a SIGNED integer used to specify a different default extension other than the first one in the extensions list. For example:

'All Files | *.* | Clarion Source | *.CLW;*.INC;*.EQU;*.INT | Clarion Templates|*.TPL;*.TPW'

The extensions string consists of pairs: <;description>|<;mask>, and the index parameter references such pairs. Therefore, in the example above, an index value of 2 will display the 'Clarion Source' description and associated extensions; an index value of 3 will display 'Clarion Templates', etc.

If FILEDIALOGA returns a non-zero value (i.e., the dialog is completed with Open or Save button), the index parameter is set to the index of the extension pair that was used for file selection.

FILEDIALOGA returns zero (0) if the user pressed the Cancel button, or one (1) if the user pressed the Ok button on the file choice dialog. If the user changes directories using the file dialog, your application's current directory also changes (unless you set FILE:KeepDir). This is a feature of the Windows operating system. If you do not want users to change your application's current directory but do want them to be able look in other directories, either save the current directory with the PATH() procedure before calling FILEDIALOGA then restore it with the SETPATH() statement, or set FILE:KeepDir.

Example:

ViewTextFile PROCEDURE
ViewQue QUEUE                   !LIST control display queue
        STRING(255)
       END
 
FileName   STRING(64),STATIC    !Filename variable
 
ViewFile  FILE,DRIVER('ASCII'),NAME(FileName),PRE(Vew)
Record     RECORD
           STRING(255)
          END
         END
 
MDIChild1 WINDOW('View Text File'),AT(0,0,320,200),SYSTEM,HVSCROLL
          LIST,AT(0,0,320,200),USE(?L1),FROM(ViewQue),HVSCROLL
         END
Fxt   SIGNED(2) !File Extension
CODE
IF NOT FILEDIALOGA('Choose File to View',FileName,'Text|*.TXT|Source|*.CLW',FILE:LongName,Fxt)
 RETURN                        !Return if no file chosen
END
OPEN(ViewFile)                 !Open the file
IF ERRORCODE() THEN RETURN END!aborting on any error
SET(ViewFile)                  !Start at top of file
LOOP
 NEXT(ViewFile)                !Reading each line of text
 IF ERRORCODE() THEN BREAK END !Break loop at end of file
 ViewQue = Vew:Record          !Assign text to queue
 ADD(ViewQue)                  !and add a queue entry
END
CLOSE(ViewFile)                !Close the file
OPEN(MDIChild1)                !and open the window
ACCEPT                         !Allow the user to read the text and
END                            !break out of ACCEPT loop only from
                               !system menu close option
FREE(ViewQue)                  !Free the queue memory
RETURN                         !and return to caller
 
!************************************************************
!This example shows using FILEDIALOGA for multi-file selection:
   PROGRAM
   MAP
   END
 
FN             STRING(260)
ExtPickInOut   SIGNED,AUTO
ExtFound       SIGNED,AUTO
   CODE
   ExtPickInOut = 2  !default to CSV
   IF ~FILEDIALOGA('Pick file to save',fn,'Text|*.TXT|Comma Delimited     |
   (*.CSV)|*.CSV|Tab Delimited (*.TSV)|*.TSV', FILE:Save+ FILE:LongName,  | 
   ExtPickInOut)
       RETURN
   END
   ExtFound = INLIST(UPPER(SUB(CLIP(FN),-4,4)),'.TXT','.CSV','.TSV')
   IF ~ExtFound    !No extension so add one based on selected file type
       ExtFound=ExtPick
       fn=clip(fn) & CHOOSE(ExtPickInOut,'.TXT','.CSV','.TSV','')
   END
 
!This code assumes a 3 byte extension. There are a other possible ways to test !for an extension.

See Also:

FILEDIALOG

SETPATH

SHORTPATH

LONGPATH

DIRECTORY

GETFONT

SETFONT

PROP:FontDialogHook