http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=15422

Buckaroo Buddha has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question: ⭐ (gui programming)

Because my perl application is going to be used by lusers, I'd like it to be runnable "standalone", with a graphical user interface.

One thing I need help with is simplifying the "choose a file" interface, for operations such as opening and saving files.

This program will be running only on Windows, if that helps. I think it might, since Windows has a native file browser functionality. However, I don't know how to get at these Windows native calls, such as GetOpenFileName or GetSaveasFileName (as they're known in VB).

Can anybody help with something like this?

Originally posted as a Categorized Question.

  • Comment on How do I make Open and Save As file dialogs? (Win32)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: How do I make Open and Save As file dialogs? (Win32)⭐
by ase (Monk) on Jun 12, 2000 at 02:17 UTC

    While I haven't any experience with Win32::GUI, I've used Perl/Tk successfully for this exact problem. The key methods are getOpenFile and getSaveFile Here's a short example: 

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w

use Tk 8.0;
use strict; 

my $mw = MainWindow->new( -title => 'File Test' );
my $menu_bar = $mw->Menu;
$mw->configure( -menu => $menu_bar );

my $file_mb = $menu_bar->cascade( -label => '~File', -tearoff => 0 );

$file_mb->command( -label => 'Open', -underline => 0, -command => \&f_
+open );
$file_mb->command( -label => 'Save', -underline => 0, -command => \&f_
+save );
$file_mb->separator;
$file_mb->command( -label => 'Exit', -underline => 1, -command => sub{
+exit} );

MainLoop;

sub f_open {
  my $filename = $mw->getOpenFile( -title => 'Open File:',
    -defaultextension => '.txt', -initialdir => '.' );
  ### do something with $filename
  warn "Opened $filename\n";
}

sub f_save {
  my $filename = $mw->getSaveFile( -title => 'Save File:',
    -defaultextension => '.txt', -initialdir => '.' );
  ### do something with $filename
  warn "Saved $filename\n";
}

#

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    Note that Question 16.2. - Is there a file selector? of the (somewhat stale) Perl/Tk FAQ lists several alternatives. Which, if any, of these is what got built into the Tk of ActiveState Perl, I don't know...

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[d/l]
Re: How do I make Open and Save As file dialogs? (Win32)⭐
by mdillon (Priest) on May 30, 2000 at 20:34 UTC

    In the ActivePerl FAQ: Is there a way to do GUI programming with ActivePerl?

    It refers to Win32::GUI, which seems to be the module's author's page; it also has a lot of useful info about other Win32 modules, as well as links to precompiled versions for the compiler impaired.

    Below is some (untested) code based on a message from the Win32::GUI mailing list: 

    use Cwd;

# returns selected file name; undef if Cancel
sub file_open_dialog {
  my $file_spec = "*.bmp\0" . " " x 256; # init a C-friendly buffer
  my $dir = cwd;

  GUI::GetOpenFileName(
    -title => 'Load/Save File',
    -owner => $Win,
    -directory => $dir,
    -file => $file_spec,
  )
}

    [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: How do I make Open and Save As file dialogs? (Win32)⭐
by perlcgi (Hermit) on May 30, 2000 at 21:21 UTC

    Win32::GUI Installation Tip:

    If you don't have a C compiler to build the Win32::GUI module and you have ActivePerl, do: 

      
PPM install --location http://Jenda.Krynicky.cz/perl/ Win32-GUI

    [download]
    at a command prompt.

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[d/l]
Re: How do I open and save files in a GUI environment?
by perlcgi (Hermit) on May 31, 2000 at 21:23 UTC
    Check out this utility by Hydro Pretty cool, and some actual Win32::GUI code to get your teeth into.

    Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.

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Re: How do I make Open and Save As file dialogs? (Win32)
by jdporter (Chancellor) on Dec 21, 2006 at 22:11 UTC

    The Tk in ActiveState Perl includes a Tk::FileSelect module which provides a generic file selection dialog.

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Re: How do I make Open and Save As file dialogs? (Win32)
by heatblazer (Scribe) on Apr 05, 2013 at 09:57 UTC

    A question: I can`t seem to open a filehandle in the functions for writing to a file?

    Opening for reading is OK, writing fails.

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