What's OpenFileDialog.FilterIndex? 2

[IlyaRabyy]

Colleagues,
I guess many things have changed since I used Common Dialog/FileOpen control in VB (ver. 6) last time (in 2006).
For instance, I do not remember having there FilterIndex property... so, when I tried to use it in VS 2012's VB .NET, I followed the sample on the

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/do...filedialog.filterindex?view=netframework-4.8,

e.g. made my Dialog.FilterIndex = 2.
Got index out of range exception.
Since I had just one extension listed in the Filter property, changed it to 1 - same thing, see the screenshot.

Could anybody explain to me (coz MS Docs' description is incomprehensible for yours truly) what's this FilterIndex property does?

TIA!

Regards,

Ilya

 

[strongm]

Er, you need to have shown the dialog to select a file before you try opening a file ...

(By the way, it would be a LOT easier for us if you copied and pasted your code here, rather than just providing screenshots)

 

[IlyaRabyy]

Like I've said many a times: old senile sclerotic me! Forgot about Dialog.ShowDialog method!
To my defense, ShowDialog method wasn't listedon the treeview menu on the page

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/do...ledialog.filterindex?view=netframework-4.8...

Moreover: if after ShowDialog the User clicks on "Cancel" without selecting any file - this error pops up again.
Now, per your request, the code here:

Dim lcPath2SrcXML As String = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location)
Dim lcRetFilNam As String = "", lcSrcXML_Hdr As String = "", lcSrcXML_Body As String = "", lcSrcXML_Ftr As String = ""
Dim llGoOn As Boolean = True

lcPath2SrcXML = lcPath2SrcXML.Replace("\bin\Debug", "\")

Try
   Using loFileDlg As New OpenFileDialog()
      loFileDlg.InitialDirectory = lcPath2SrcXML
      loFileDlg.Filter = "XML Files|*.XML"
      loFileDlg.RestoreDirectory = True
      loFileDlg.ShowDialog()
'      loFileDlg.FilterIndex = 0 ' 1
      loFileDlg.OpenFile()
      lcPath2SrcXML = loFileDlg.FileName
      lcPath2SrcXML = Path.GetDirectoryName(lcPath2SrcXML) & "\"

   End Using
Catch loErr As Exception
   MsgBox("Error " & Chr(34) & loErr.Message & Chr(34) & " occurred")
   llGoOn = False
End Try

If Not llGoOn Then End

Now, what's that "array" that error's talking about?

Regards,

Ilya

 

[Andrzejek]

>if after ShowDialog the User clicks on "Cancel" without selecting any file - this error pops up again.

How about:

...
loFileDlg.ShowDialog()
[blue]
If loFileDlg.FileName.Length = 0 Then
    MessageBox.Show("Select a file, or we are not going anywhere...")
    Exit Sub
End If
[/blue]
loFileDlg.OpenFile()
...

---- Andy

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

 

[IlyaRabyy]

Works!
Thank you!

Regards,

Ilya

 

[strongm]

Yes, you can do it that way - or consider that ShowDialog returns a result ...


>To my defense, ShowDialog method wasn't listedon the treeview menu
Very true - because it is an inherited method from FileDialog which in turn inherits from CommonDialog, but does not override it - so it is ultimately documented under CommonDialog ...

>Now, what's that "array" that error's talking about?
Filenames

Ok, so although not explicitly documented, OpenFile is frankly just a convenience, and tries to use the first element of OpenFileDialog's FileNames array. Which, if you've cancelled, clearly does not exist ...

You can replicate the effect with a simple:

MsgBox(loFileDlg.FileNames(0))

>the code here:
Much better! Thanks.