tk_getOpenFile(n)                                              Tk Built-In Commands                                              tk_getOpenFile(n)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

       tk_getOpenFile ?option value ...?
       tk_getSaveFile ?option value ...?
_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       The procedures tk_getOpenFile and tk_getSaveFile pop up a dialog box for the user to select a file to open or save. The tk_getOpenFile com-
       mand is usually associated with the Open command in the File menu. Its purpose is for the user to select an existing file only. If the user
       enters  a  non-existent  file,  the dialog box gives the user an error prompt and requires the user to give an alternative selection. If an
       application allows the user to create new files, it should do so by providing a separate New menu command.

       The tk_getSaveFile command is usually associated with the Save as command in the File menu. If the user enters a file that already  exists,
       the dialog box prompts the user for confirmation whether the existing file should be overwritten or not.

       The following option-value pairs are possible as command line arguments to these two commands:

       -defaultextension extension
              Specifies  a  string  that will be appended to the filename if the user enters a filename without an extension. The default value is
              the empty string, which means no extension will be appended to the filename in any case. This option is ignored on Mac OS  X,  which
              does  not require extensions to filenames, and the UNIX implementation guesses reasonable values for this from the -filetypes option
              when this is not supplied.

       -filetypes filePatternList
              If a File types listbox exists in the file dialog on the particular platform, this option gives the filetypes in this listbox.  When
              the user choose a filetype in the listbox, only the files of that type are listed. If this option is unspecified, or if it is set to
              the empty list, or if the File types listbox is not supported by the particular platform then all files  are  listed  regardless  of
              their types. See the section SPECIFYING FILE PATTERNS below for a discussion on the contents of filePatternList.

       -initialdir directory
              Specifies  that  the  files  in  directory should be displayed when the dialog pops up. If this parameter is not specified, then the
              files in the current working directory are displayed. If the parameter specifies a relative path, the return value will convert  the
              relative path to an absolute path.

       -initialfile filename
              Specifies a filename to be displayed in the dialog when it pops up.

       -message string
              Specifies a message to include in the client area of the dialog.  This is only available on Mac OS X.

       -multiple boolean
              Allows the user to choose multiple files from the Open dialog.

       -parent window
              Makes  window  the  logical  parent  of the file dialog. The file dialog is displayed on top of its parent window. On Mac OS X, this
              turns the file dialog into a sheet attached to the parent window.

       -title titleString
              Specifies a string to display as the title of the dialog box. If this option is not specified, then a default title is displayed.

       -typevariable variableName
              The global variable variableName is used to preselect which filter is used from filterList when the dialog  box  is  opened  and  is
              updated  when the dialog box is closed, to the last selected filter. The variable is read once at the beginning to select the appro-
              priate filter. If the variable does not exist, or its value does not match any filter typename, or is empty  ({}),  the  dialog  box
              will  revert to the default behavior of selecting the first filter in the list. If the dialog is canceled, the variable is not modi-
              fied.

       If the user selects a file, both tk_getOpenFile and tk_getSaveFile return the full pathname of this file. If the user  cancels  the  opera-
       tion, both commands return the empty string.

SPECIFYING FILE PATTERNS

       The filePatternList value given by the -filetypes option is a list of file patterns. Each file pattern is a list of the form
              typeName {extension ?extension ...?} ?{macType ?macType ...?}?
       typeName  is the name of the file type described by this file pattern and is the text string that appears in the File types listbox. exten-
       sion is a file extension for this file pattern.  macType is a four-character Macintosh file type. The list of macTypes is optional and  may
       be omitted for applications that do not need to execute on the Macintosh platform.

       Several  file  patterns may have the same typeName, in which case they refer to the same file type and share the same entry in the listbox.
       When the user selects an entry in the listbox, all the files that match at least one of the file patterns corresponding to that  entry  are
       listed.  Usually,  each  file pattern corresponds to a distinct type of file. The use of more than one file pattern for one type of file is
       only necessary on the Macintosh platform.

       On the Macintosh platform, a file matches a file pattern if its name matches at least one of the extension(s) AND it belongs  to  at  least
       one  of  the macType(s) of the file pattern. For example, the C Source Files file pattern in the sample code matches with files that have a
       .c extension AND belong to the macType TEXT. To use the OR rule instead, you can use two file patterns, one with the  extensions  only  and
       the  other  with  the macType only. The GIF Files file type in the sample code matches files that either have a .gif extension OR belong to
       the macType GIFF.

       On the Unix and Windows platforms, a file matches a file pattern if its name matches at least one of the extension(s) of the file  pattern.
       The macTypes are ignored.

SPECIFYING EXTENSIONS

       On  the  Unix  and  Macintosh  platforms, extensions are matched using glob-style pattern matching. On the Windows platform, extensions are
       matched by the underlying operating system. The types of possible extensions are:

       (1)    the special extension "*" matches any file;

       (2)    the special extension matches any files that do not have an extension (i.e., the filename contains no full stop character);

       (3)    any character string that does not contain any wild card characters (* and ?).

       Due to the different pattern matching rules on the various platforms, to ensure portability, wild card characters are not  allowed  in  the
       extensions,  except  as in the special extension "*".  Extensions without a full stop character (e.g.  "~") are allowed but may not work on
       all platforms.

EXAMPLE

              set types {
                  {{Text Files}       {.txt}        }
                  {{TCL Scripts}      {.tcl}        }
                  {{C Source Files}   {.c}      TEXT}
                  {{GIF Files}        {.gif}        }
                  {{GIF Files}        {}        GIFF}
                  {{All Files}        *             }
              }
              set filename [tk_getOpenFile -filetypes $types]

              if {$filename != ""} {
                  # Open the file ...
              }

SEE ALSO

       tk_chooseDirectory

KEYWORDS

       file selection dialog

Tk                                                                      4.2                                                      tk_getOpenFile(n)