Show simple open file dialog using JFileChooser

The steps to create a simple open file dialog using JFileChooser class are as follows:

1. Add required import statements:

           import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
           import java.io.File;        
           

2. Create a new instance ofJFileChooser class:

           JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser();
           

3. Set current directory:

           fileChooser.setCurrentDirectory(new File(System.getProperty("user.home")));
           

   The current directory is initial directory where the dialog looks for files. The above line sets the current directory to user’s home directory.

    

4. Show up the dialog:

           
           int result = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(parent);

   where parent is an instance of a Component such as JFrame, JDialog or JPanelwhich is parent of the dialog.

    

5. Check if the user selects a file or not:
   If the user selects a file, the variable result will hold a value of JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION. So it’s necessary to check return value of the method showOpenDialog():

           
           if (result == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
               // user selects a file
           }

6. Pick up the selected file:

           
               File selectedFile = fileChooser.getSelectedFile();

7. And the whole code snippet is as follows:

           
           JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser();
           fileChooser.setCurrentDirectory(new File(System.getProperty("user.home")));
           int result = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(this);
           if (result == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
               File selectedFile = fileChooser.getSelectedFile();
               System.out.println("Selected file: " + selectedFile.getAbsolutePath());
           } 

Related Swing File Chooser Tutorials:

• File picker component in Swing
• Add file filter for JFileChooser dialog
• Show save file dialog using JFileChooser

Other Java Swing Tutorials:

• Java Swing Hello World Tutorial for Beginners Using Text Editor
• JFrame basic tutorial and examples
• JPanel basic tutorial and examples
• JLabel basic tutorial and examples
• JTextField basic tutorial and examples
• JButton basic tutorial and examples

About the Author:

Nam Ha Minh is certified Java programmer (SCJP and SCWCD). He began programming with Java back in the days of Java 1.4 and has been passionate about it ever since. You can connect with him on Facebook and watch his Java videos on YouTube.