How to set the last path as the next default using JFileChooser

Question

I have several dialog boxes which provide a File Chooser. For the first, my coding was like this

JFileChooser chooser= new JFileChooser();
        chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
        int returnVal= chooser.showOpenDialog(this);

        if(returnVal==JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION){
            File f= chooser.getSelectedFile();
            jTextField1.setText(f.getPath());
            chooser.setCurrentDirectory(f);
        }

In my case, i would like to set the last path which is selected as the default path in next selection JFileChooser. Is there any solution for me? Thanks for any response

Answer 1

You will have to "remember" the last path.

This can easily be done by storing the value in a instance variable...

private File lastPath;
//...
lastPath = f.getParentFile();

And simply resetting it when you need to...

//...
if (lastPath != null) {
    chooser.setCurrentDirectory(lastPath);
}

You could also use a single instance of the JFileChooser , so each time you show it, it will be at the last location it was used...

Answer 2

Depending on your requirements, you can use Preferences to store it away and use it again after the program has been restarted.

 Preferences pref = Preferences.userRoot();

// Retrieve the selected path or use
// an empty string if no path has
// previously been selected
String path = pref.get("DEFAULT_PATH", "");

JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);

// Set the path that was saved in preferences
chooser.setCurrentDirectory(new File(path));

int returnVal = chooser.showOpenDialog(null);

if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION)
{
    File f = chooser.getSelectedFile();
    chooser.setCurrentDirectory(f);

    // Save the selected path
    pref.put("DEFAULT_PATH", f.getAbsolutePath());
}