The FileNameEditor class lets you provide your users with a standard open file dialog box or save file dialog box from the CodeSmith Generator 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:

For a full list of available editors please see the following page.

<%@ 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:

<script runat="template">
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 {return _userFileName;}
      set {_userFileName= value;}
}
</script>

When the user executes the template, the specified property will display a builder button on the property sheet (highlighted in green):

Clicking the builder button will open the specified file dialog box:

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";
[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 {return _openFileName;}
      set {_openFileName= value;}
}

The File Dialog title has been updated in this example to "Select Input File" The resulting file dialog box looks like this:

You can specify these properties in the FileDialogAttribute:

Property	Meaning	Default
`FileDialogType`	Save or Open	FileDialogType.Save
`Filter`	Filter string for file extensions	All Files (.)\|.
`Title`	Dialog box title	Select propertyname
`DefaultExtension`	Default file extensions	None
`CheckFileExists`	True to only allow selecting existing files	False
`CheckPathExists`	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 {return _outputDirectory;}
       set {_outputDirectory= value;}
}
</script>

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