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'\" Copyright (c) 1996 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

'\"

'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution

'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.

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'\" RCS: @(#) $Id: getOpenFile.n,v 1.1.1.1 2002-01-16 10:25:49 markom Exp $

'\"

.so man.macros

.TH tk_getOpenFile n 4.2 Tk "Tk Built-In Commands"

.BS

'\" Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!

.SH NAME

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

.PP

.PP

.SH SYNOPSIS

\fBtk_getOpenFile \fR?\fIoption value ...\fR?

.br

\fBtk_getSaveFile \fR?\fIoption value ...\fR?

.BE

.SH DESCRIPTION

.PP

The procedures \fBtk_getOpenFile\fR and \fBtk_getSaveFile\fR pop up a

dialog box for the user to select a file to open or save. The

\fBtk_getOpenFile\fR command is usually associated with the \fBOpen\fR

command in the \fBFile\fR menu. Its purpose is for the user to select an

existing file \fIonly\fR. If the user enters an 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 \fBNew\fR menu command.

.PP

The \fBtk_getSaveFile\fR command is usually associated with the \fBSave

as\fR command in the \fBFile\fR 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.

.PP

The following \fIoption\-value\fR pairs are possible as command line

arguments to these two commands:

.TP

\fB\-defaultextension\fR \fIextension\fR

Specifies a string that will be appended to the filename if the user

enters a filename without an extension. The defaut value is the empty

string, which means no extension will be appended to the filename in

any case. This option is ignored on the Macintosh platform, which

does not require extensions to filenames.

.TP

\fB\-filetypes\fR \fIfilePatternList\fR

If a \fBFile types\fR listbox exists in the file dialog on the particular

platform, this option gives the \fIfiletype\fRs 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 \fBFile types\fR 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 \fIfilePatternList\fR.

.TP

\fB\-initialdir\fR \fIdirectory\fR

Specifies that the files in \fIdirectory\fR 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.  This option may not always work on

the Macintosh.  This is not a bug. Rather, the \fIGeneral Controls\fR

control panel on the Mac allows the end user to override the

application default directory.

.TP

\fB\-initialfile\fR \fIfilename\fR

Specifies a filename to be displayed in the dialog when it pops

up. This option is ignored by the \fBtk_getOpenFile\fR command.

.TP

\fB\-parent\fR \fIwindow\fR

Makes \fIwindow\fR the logical parent of the file dialog. The file

dialog is displayed on top of its parent window.

.TP

\fB\-title\fR \fItitleString\fR

Specifies a string to display as the title of the dialog box. If this

option is not specified, then a default title is displayed. This

option is ignored on the Macintosh platform.

.PP

If the user selects a file, both \fBtk_getOpenFile\fR and

\fBtk_getSaveFile\fR return the full pathname of this file. If the

user cancels the operation, both commands return the empty string.

.SH "SPECIFYING FILE PATTERNS"

The \fIfilePatternList\fR value given by the \fB\-filetypes\fR option

is a list of file patterns. Each file pattern is a list of the

form

.CS

\fItypeName\fR {\fIextension\fR ?\fIextension ...\fR?} ?{\fImacType\fR ?\fImacType ...\fR?}?

.CE

\fItypeName\fR is the name of the file type described by this

file pattern and is the text string that appears in the \fBFile types\fR

listbox. \fIextension\fR is a file extension for this file pattern.

\fImacType\fR is a four-character Macintosh file type. The list of

\fImacType\fRs is optional and may be omitted for applications that do

not need to execute on the Macintosh platform.

.PP

Several file patterns may have the same \fItypeName,\fR 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 patterns for one

type of file is necessary on the Macintosh platform only.

.PP

On the Macintosh platform, a file matches a file pattern if its

name matches at least one of the \fIextension\fR(s) AND it

belongs to at least one of the \fImacType\fR(s) of the

file pattern. For example, the \fBC Source Files\fR file pattern in the

sample code matches with files that have a \fB\.c\fR extension AND

belong to the \fImacType\fR \fBTEXT\fR. To use the OR rule instead,

you can use two file patterns, one with the \fIextensions\fR only and

the other with the \fImacType\fR only. The \fBGIF Files\fR file type

in the sample code matches files that EITHER have a \fB\.gif\fR

extension OR belong to the \fImacType\fR \fBGIFF\fR.

.PP

On the Unix and Windows platforms, a file matches a file pattern

if its name matches at at least one of the \fIextension\fR(s) of

the file pattern. The \fImacType\fRs are ignored.

.SH "SPECIFYING EXTENSIONS"

.PP

On the Unix and Macintosh platforms, extensions are matched using

glob-style pattern matching. On the Windows platforms, 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 ?).

.PP

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.

.SH EXAMPLE

.CS

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 ...

}

.CE

.SH KEYWORDS

file selection dialog