JavaFX Filechooser Examples

Continue your JavaFX Components learning via this tutorial.

Example 1: Filechooser

Let us look at the code

Step 1: Create Project

1. Open your favorite Java IDE.
2. In the menu go to File --> Create New Project.

Step 2: Dependencies

No dependencies are needed for this project.

Step 3: Write Code

Our code will comprise the following java files:

• FileChooserExample.java

1. In your editor or IDE, create a file known as FileChooserExample.java.
2. Then add the following code:

(a). FileChooserExample.java

Our class will do with some imports. Let’s go ahead and add them:

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.FileChooser;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

Our class will do with some imports. Let’s go ahead and add them:

import java.io.File;

Extend the class as shown below:

public class FileChooserExample extends Application {

Our class will have the following methods:

• void main(String[] args)
• void start(Stage primaryStage)

The starting point of our Java app will be main method which we create as follows:

    public static void main(String[] args) {

In this particular class we will be overriding our void start(Stage primaryStage) method.
Prepend the code>@Override</code modifier to your method. Then add implementation code as follows:

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
        primaryStage.setTitle("JavaFX App");

        FileChooser fileChooser = new FileChooser();
        fileChooser.setInitialDirectory(new File("src"));
        fileChooser.setInitialFileName("myfile.txt");
        /*
        fileChooser.getExtensionFilters().addAll(
                 new FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("Text Files", "*.txt")
                ,new FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("HTML Files", "*.htm")
        );
        */

        Button button = new Button("Select File");
        button.setOnAction(e -> {
            File selectedFile = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(primaryStage);

            System.out.println(selectedFile.getAbsolutePath());
        });

        VBox vBox = new VBox(button);
        //HBox hBox = new HBox(button1, button2);
        Scene scene = new Scene(vBox, 960, 600);

        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        primaryStage.show();
    }

Here is the full code:

package com.jenkov.javafx.filechooser;

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.FileChooser;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

import java.io.File;

public class FileChooserExample extends Application {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
        primaryStage.setTitle("JavaFX App");

        FileChooser fileChooser = new FileChooser();
        fileChooser.setInitialDirectory(new File("src"));
        fileChooser.setInitialFileName("myfile.txt");
        /*
        fileChooser.getExtensionFilters().addAll(
                 new FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("Text Files", "*.txt")
                ,new FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("HTML Files", "*.htm")
        );
        */

        Button button = new Button("Select File");
        button.setOnAction(e -> {
            File selectedFile = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(primaryStage);

            System.out.println(selectedFile.getAbsolutePath());
        });

        VBox vBox = new VBox(button);
        //HBox hBox = new HBox(button1, button2);
        Scene scene = new Scene(vBox, 960, 600);

        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        primaryStage.show();
    }

}

Download

Download the code using the below links: