WgFileSelection Procedure

Reference Guide > W Routines > WgFileSelection Procedure

Creates a file selection widget which lets the user display the contents of directories and select files.

Usage

WgFileSelection, path

Input Parameters

path — A named or unnamed variable to be replaced with user input.

Output Parameters

path — A string containing the path and filename of the user's selection. If WgFileSelection is dismissed or canceled before user input is entered, path is set to a null string.

note

wgfileselection_output — A common block internal to WgFileSelection containing one variable, which is the file (and path) selected by the user. When WgFileSelection is called stand-alone, it runs in its own event loop. Once the user finishes choosing their file, control is passed back to the calling routine and the user's choice is accessed through the variable path. However, if WgFileSelection is called from an existing widget application, the tool must use this calling widget's event loop. In this case, WgFileSelection is executed and control is passed back immediately to the calling widget application, before the user can make their selection. To allow the widget application that calls WgFileSelection to have access to the most recent entry by the user, include this common block in the calling widget application

Keywords

Dir — A string specifying the directory path to display. The default is to show the contents of the present working directory.

File — A string specifying the default file selected from the directory.

Parent — The widget ID of the parent widget. If no parent is specified, the toolkit is initialized and WgFileSelection runs in its own event loop.

Pattern — A string specifying the search pattern. Used in combination with the directory in determining the files to be displayed. The default is to show all contents of the directory. Pattern can be a glob (for example, "*.pro") but not a regular expression (for example,
"[w][g].*f+[0-9]\{3\}").

Position — (UNIX only) A two element vector containing the position, in pixels, of WgFileSelection's upper-left corner where [0,0] is the upper-left corner of the display.

Shell — (Output) The id of the newly created WgFileSelection widget.

Title — A string containing the title for the widget.

Background — (UNIX only) The background color (passed to all widgets).

Font — The font to use for widget text.

Foreground — (UNIX only) The foreground color (passed to all widgets).

Example 1

WgFileSelection called from the command line.

; Font choice syntax different for Windows or UNIX...

IF STRMATCH(GETPLATFORM(), 'win') THEN fnt = 'Forte, 10' $

   ELSE fnt='-adobe-*-bold-*-*-*'

WgFileSelection, theFile, Pattern='*.txt', Back='Red', Font=fnt

PM, theFile

Example 2

WgFileSelection called from another widget application.

.RUN

PRO BUTTONSCB, wid, which

   COMMON teststuff, workArea

   COMMON wgfileselection_output, theFile

   CASE which OF

      1: WgFileSelection, junk, Parent=workArea, $

         Pattern='*.pro', File='wgfs_test.pro', $

         Title='Have a nice day', Back='darkgreen', $

         Position=[100,600], Shell=shell

      2: BEGIN

         IF N_ELEMENTS(theFile) GT 0 THEN BEGIN

            PM, theFile, Title="You chose the file:"

         ENDIF ELSE BEGIN

            PRINT, STRING(7B)

            PRINT, 'Nothing has been selected yet'

         ENDELSE

END

   ENDCASE

END

COMMON teststuff, workArea

topShell = WwInit('WgFS_test','WgFS_test', workArea, $

   /Vertical, Position=[256,256], Spacing=5, Height=100,$

   Width=350)

buttons = WwButtonBox(workArea, ['Call wgfileselection', $

   'See result'], 'BUTTONSCB')

status=WwSetValue(topShell, /Display)

WwLoop

Version 2017.1