Provided by: tk8.5-doc_8.5.19-3_all bug

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 command 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:

       -confirmoverwrite boolean
              Configures how the Save dialog reacts when the selected file  already  exists,  and
              saving  would  overwrite  it.   A  true  value  requests  a  confirmation dialog be
              presented to the user.  A false  value  requests  that  the  overwrite  take  place
              without confirmation.  Default value is true.

       -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 appropriate 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 modified.

       If  the  user  selects  a  file,  both  tk_getOpenFile  and tk_getSaveFile return the full
       pathname of this file. If the user cancels the operation, 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. extension 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