Show save file dialog using JFileChooser

Show save file dialog using JFileChooser

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Swing provides class javax.swing.JFileChooser that can be used to present a dialog for user to choose a location and type a file name to be saved, using showSaveDialog() method. Syntax of this method is as follows:

public int showSaveDialog(Component parent)

where parent is the parent component of the dialog, such as a JFrame. Once the user typed a file name and select OK or Cancel, the method returns one of the following value:

- JFileChooser.CANCEL_OPTION : the user cancels file selection.
- JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION: the user accepts file selection.
- JFileChooser.ERROR_OPTION: if there’s an error or the user closes the dialog by clicking on X button.

After the dialog is dismissed and the user approved a selection, use the following methods to get the selected file:

- File getSelectedFile()

Before calling showSaveDialog() method, you may want to set some options for the dialog:

- setDialogTitle(String) sets a custom title text for the dialog.
- setCurrentDirectory(File) sets the directory where will be saved.

Following is an example code:

// parent component of the dialog
JFrame parentFrame = new JFrame();

JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser();
fileChooser.setDialogTitle("Specify a file to save");    

int userSelection = fileChooser.showSaveDialog(parentFrame);

if (userSelection == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
    File fileToSave = fileChooser.getSelectedFile();
    System.out.println("Save as file: " + fileToSave.getAbsolutePath());
}

And following is a screenshot of the dialog:

save file dialog