Folder Browsing Dialog

Description

CFolderDialog is an MFC based class that encapsulates the Windows Shell function for browsing folders, ::ShBrowseForFolder.

To use it, you create an instance of CFolderDialog and call the DoModal method. Upon return, the method GetPathName can be used to retrieve the path to the user selected folder.

The constructor allows you to specify an optional initial folder, flags specific to the shell function (see the description of the ulFlags field of the BROWSEINFO structure in the help for Visual Studio or the Windows Shell API) and a pointer to the parent window’s CWnd. All of these arguments are optional.

You may override the two virtual methods OnInitDialog and OnSelChanged in a derived class to customize their behavior. The default behavior of OnInitDialog is to call SetSelection and SetStatusText with the folder name provided in the constructor. The default version of OnSelChanged places the new path into the status text area of the dialog.

The class provides utility functions for 1) enabling or disabling the OK button (EnableOK), 2) setting the status text that appears above the folder list box in the browser folder dialog box (SetStatusText) and 3) setting the current selection (SetSelection). The file MyFolderDialog.h, included in the zip file, shows an example of a derived class which uses SetStatusText.

For advanced users, the BROWSEINFO structure is available via the m_bi member variable. This structure is initialized by the constructor and any changes should be made before the call to DoModal. See the help for Visual Studio or the Windows Shell API for more information on the BROWSEINFO structure.

The zip file also contains the source for CMyFolderDialog, a class derived from CFolderDialog to show how to take advantage of some of the advanced features.

Revisions

December 29, 1998

Added the CMyFolderDialog source code the version available on the codeguru site.

June 23, 1998

Fixed a problem in EnableOK. The documenation for the SHBrowseForFolder call back incorrectly states that it is the wParam on the BFFM_ENABLEOK message which controls the enabling/disabling of the OK button. However, It is actually the lParam.
Thanks to Langis Pitre for finding this one.

April 5, 1998

Changed the way status text is handled:

The constructor now forces the BIF_STATUSTEXT flag to be set
Changed the base OnInitDialog method to display the initial folder in the status text.
Changed the base OnSelChanged method to update the contents of m_strFinalFolderName and display the new folder in the status text area.
Removed the MyFolderDialog.h file from the zip.

Bugs and Suggestions

Please send suggestions and/or bugs to reedk@daneel.mv.com.

Ken Reed