1tk_getOpenFile(n)            Tk Built-In Commands            tk_getOpenFile(n)
2
3
4
5______________________________________________________________________________
6

NAME

8       tk_getOpenFile,  tk_getSaveFile  -  pop up a dialog box for the user to
9       select a file to open or save.
10

SYNOPSIS

12       tk_getOpenFile ?option value ...?
13       tk_getSaveFile ?option value ...?
14______________________________________________________________________________
15

DESCRIPTION

17       The procedures tk_getOpenFile and tk_getSaveFile pop up  a  dialog  box
18       for  the user to select a file to open or save. The tk_getOpenFile com‐
19       mand is usually associated with the Open command in the File menu.  Its
20       purpose  is  for  the user to select an existing file only. If the user
21       enters a non-existent file, the dialog box  gives  the  user  an  error
22       prompt  and  requires  the user to give an alternative selection. If an
23       application allows the user to create new files, it  should  do  so  by
24       providing a separate New menu command.
25
26       The  tk_getSaveFile command is usually associated with the Save as com‐
27       mand in the File menu. If the user enters a file that  already  exists,
28       the  dialog  box prompts the user for confirmation whether the existing
29       file should be overwritten or not.
30
31       The following option-value pairs are possible as command line arguments
32       to these two commands:
33
34       -command string
35              Specifies  the  prefix  of a Tcl command to invoke when the user
36              closes the dialog after having selected an item.  This  callback
37              is  not called if the user cancelled the dialog. The actual com‐
38              mand consists of string  followed  by  a  space  and  the  value
39              selected  by  the  user in the dialog. This is only available on
40              Mac OS X.
41
42       -confirmoverwrite boolean
43              Configures how the Save dialog reacts  when  the  selected  file
44              already  exists,  and  saving  would overwrite it.  A true value
45              requests a confirmation dialog be  presented  to  the  user.   A
46              false  value requests that the overwrite take place without con‐
47              firmation.  Default value is true.
48
49       -defaultextension extension
50              Specifies a string that will be appended to the filename if  the
51              user  enters  a filename without an extension. The default value
52              is the empty string, which means no extension will  be  appended
53              to the filename in any case. This option is ignored on Mac OS X,
54              which does not require extensions to  filenames,  and  the  UNIX
55              implementation  guesses  reasonable  values  for  this  from the
56              -filetypes option when this is not supplied.
57
58       -filetypes filePatternList
59              If a File types listbox exists in the file dialog on the partic‐
60              ular  platform, this option gives the filetypes in this listbox.
61              When the user choose a filetype in the listbox, only  the  files
62              of that type are listed. If this option is unspecified, or if it
63              is set to the empty list, or if the File types  listbox  is  not
64              supported  by  the particular platform then all files are listed
65              regardless of their types. See the section SPECIFYING FILE  PAT‐
66              TERNS below for a discussion on the contents of filePatternList.
67
68       -initialdir directory
69              Specifies  that  the files in directory should be displayed when
70              the dialog pops up. If this parameter is not specified, the ini‐
71              tial directory defaults to the current working directory on non-
72              Windows systems and on Windows systems prior to Vista.  On Vista
73              and  later  systems,  the initial directory defaults to the last
74              user-selected directory for the application.  If  the  parameter
75              specifies  a  relative  path,  the return value will convert the
76              relative path to an absolute path.
77
78       -initialfile filename
79              Specifies a filename to be displayed in the dialog when it  pops
80              up.
81
82       -message string
83              Specifies a message to include in the client area of the dialog.
84              This is only available on Mac OS X.
85
86       -multiple boolean
87              Allows the user to choose multiple files from the Open dialog.
88
89       -parent window
90              Makes window the logical parent of the  file  dialog.  The  file
91              dialog  is  displayed  on top of its parent window. On Mac OS X,
92              this turns the file dialog into a sheet attached to  the  parent
93              window.
94
95       -title titleString
96              Specifies a string to display as the title of the dialog box. If
97              this option is not specified, then a default title is displayed.
98
99       -typevariable variableName
100              The global variable variableName is used to preselect which fil‐
101              ter is used from filterList when the dialog box is opened and is
102              updated when the dialog box is closed, to the last selected fil‐
103              ter.  The  variable  is read once at the beginning to select the
104              appropriate filter. If the variable does not exist, or its value
105              does not match any filter typename, or is empty ({}), the dialog
106              box will revert to the default behavior of selecting  the  first
107              filter  in  the list. If the dialog is canceled, the variable is
108              not modified.
109
110       If the user selects a  file,  both  tk_getOpenFile  and  tk_getSaveFile
111       return  the  full pathname of this file. If the user cancels the opera‐
112       tion, both commands return the empty string.
113

SPECIFYING FILE PATTERNS

115       The filePatternList value given by the -filetypes option is a  list  of
116       file patterns. Each file pattern is a list of the form
117              typeName {extension ?extension ...?} ?{macType ?macType ...?}?
118       typeName  is  the  name of the file type described by this file pattern
119       and is the text string that appears in the File types  listbox.  exten‐
120       sion  is  a  file  extension for this file pattern.  macType is a four-
121       character Macintosh file type. The list of macTypes is optional and may
122       be  omitted  for applications that do not need to execute on the Macin‐
123       tosh platform.
124
125       Several file patterns may have the same typeName, in  which  case  they
126       refer  to  the  same file type and share the same entry in the listbox.
127       When the user selects an entry in the listbox, all the files that match
128       at  least  one  of  the  file  patterns corresponding to that entry are
129       listed. Usually, each file pattern corresponds to a  distinct  type  of
130       file.  The  use  of  more than one file pattern for one type of file is
131       only necessary on the Macintosh platform.
132
133       On the Macintosh platform, a file matches a file pattern  if  its  name
134       matches at least one of the extension(s) AND it belongs to at least one
135       of the macType(s) of the file pattern. For example, the C Source  Files
136       file  pattern  in  the  sample  code  matches with files that have a .c
137       extension AND belong to the macType TEXT. To use the OR  rule  instead,
138       you  can  use  two  file patterns, one with the extensions only and the
139       other with the macType only. The GIF Files file type in the sample code
140       matches  files  that either have a .gif extension OR belong to the mac‐
141       Type GIFF.
142
143       On the Unix and Windows platforms, a file matches a file pattern if its
144       name  matches at least one of the extension(s) of the file pattern. The
145       macTypes are ignored.
146

SPECIFYING EXTENSIONS

148       On the Unix and Macintosh platforms, extensions are matched using glob-
149       style pattern matching. On the Windows platform, extensions are matched
150       by the underlying operating system. The types  of  possible  extensions
151       are:
152
153       (1)    the special extension “*” matches any file;
154
155       (2)    the  special  extension “” matches any files that do not have an
156              extension (i.e., the filename contains no full stop character);
157
158       (3)    any character string that does not contain any wild card charac‐
159              ters (* and ?).
160
161       Due  to  the different pattern matching rules on the various platforms,
162       to ensure portability, wild card characters  are  not  allowed  in  the
163       extensions, except as in the special extension “*”.  Extensions without
164       a full stop character (e.g.  “~”) are allowed but may not work  on  all
165       platforms.
166

EXAMPLE

168              set types {
169                  {{Text Files}       {.txt}        }
170                  {{TCL Scripts}      {.tcl}        }
171                  {{C Source Files}   {.c}      TEXT}
172                  {{GIF Files}        {.gif}        }
173                  {{GIF Files}        {}        GIFF}
174                  {{All Files}        *             }
175              }
176              set filename [tk_getOpenFile -filetypes $types]
177
178              if {$filename ne ""} {
179                  # Open the file ...
180              }
181

SEE ALSO

183       tk_chooseDirectory
184

KEYWORDS

186       file selection dialog
187
188
189
190Tk                                    4.2                    tk_getOpenFile(n)
Impressum