The FileNameEditor class lets you provide your users with a standard open file dialog box or save file dialog box from the CodeSmith property grid. To use this class, you must include a reference to the CodeSmith.CustomProperties assembly in your template. You'll make the code simpler if you import the namespace as well: <script runat="template"> set {_userFileName= value;}
<%@ Assembly Name="CodeSmith.CustomProperties" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="CodeSmith.CustomProperties" %>
After you include the appropriate assembly reference, you can define a property in a script block that uses the FileNameEditor:
private string _userFileName = @"c:\temp\test.txt";
[Editor(typeof(FileNameEditor), typeof(System.Drawing.Design.UITypeEditor)),
Category("Custom"), Description("User selected file.")]
public string UserFileName
{
get
}
</script>
When the user executes the template, the specified property will display a builder button on the property sheet:
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Clicking the builder button will open the specified file dialog box:
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You can customize the appearance of the file dialog box by applying the FileDialogAttribute to the property. For example, consider this property definition: private string _openFileName = @"c:\temp\test.txt"; set {_openFileName= value;}
[Editor(typeof(FileNameEditor), typeof(System.Drawing.Design.UITypeEditor)),
FileDialogAttribute(FileDialogType.Open, Title="Select Input File"),
Category("Custom"), Description("User selected file.")]
public string OpenFileName
{
get
}
The resulting file dialog box looks like this:
You can specify these properties in the FileDialogAttribute:
Property |
Meaning |
Default |
|
Save or Open |
FileDialogType.Save |
|
Filter string for file extensions |
All Files (.)|*.* |
|
Dialog box title |
Select propertyname |
|
Default file extensions |
None |
|
True to only allow selecting existing files |
False |
|
True to only allow using existing paths |
False |
To select a folder name instead of a file name, use the FolderNameEditor class from the .NET Framework instead:
<%@ Assembly Name="System.Design" %>
<script runat="template">
private string _outputDirectory = @"c:\temp";
[Editor(typeof(System.Windows.Forms.Design.FolderNameEditor), typeof(System.Drawing.Design.UITypeEditor)),
Category("Custom"), Description("Output directory.")]
public string OutputDirectory
{
get
set {_outputDirectory= value;}
}
</script>