How do I return label value from application window in C#?

Question

So I have written windows application in C#.

I want to select a file folder and do some searching in that directory. The problem is that I can't extract this path to a string variable.

This is method for retrieving folderPath from my browse folders window. (in public partial class Form1 : Form )

    private void folderPath_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (folderBrowserDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
        {
            this.labelPath.Text = folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath;
            // this piece of code works fine
        }
    }

this.labelPath.Text is my path to directory.

Now I tried creating method:

    public static string getLabelPath()
    {
        return this.labelPath.Text;
    }

And in my main program:

    string basePath = Form1.getLabelPath();

But I cannot do this, because of Keyword 'this' is not valid in a static property, static method, or static field initializer ...\\Form1.cs 37

How do I return this labelPath.Text value? I believe I could call something like myform.labelpath; if only I had reference to Form1 object, but in my program Windows Application is initialized using:

    static void Main()
    {
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }

Just new Form1(); , not Form1 myform= Form1(); . I don't know how to do this the right way.

Answer 1

I think you should remove the static keyword:

public string getLabelPath()
{
    return this.labelPath.Text;
}  

And use a Form instance:

static void Main()
{
    Application.EnableVisualStyles();
    Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
    Form1 form = new Form1();
    Application.Run(form);
}

or you create a static instance:

static Form1 form;
static void Main()
{
    Application.EnableVisualStyles();
    Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
    form = new Form1();
    Application.Run(form);
}

Then you can call string basePath = form.getLabelPath();

Answer 2

Have you considered just directly using OpenFileDialog from Main()?

    static void Main()
    {
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);

        using (OpenFileDialog ofd = new OpenFileDialog())
        {
            ofd.Title = "Please select a File to Blah blah bleh...";
            if (ofd.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            {
                string fileName = ofd.FileName;

                // ... now do something with "fileName"? ...        
                Application.Run(new Form1(fileName));
            }
        }
    }