How to give user an options to save file in there desired location in C#?

Question

I know how to create and save a file in C# console application but what if i want the user to choose the location of where they want to save it? i have no idea on how i can make this possible.

edit- ive realised that would be very hard to input the location the user wants to save the file to however is it possible to save the file as you would do when creating a windows word document, so the user would be able to see where they want to save the file Example

Answer 1

If you want a full console application, that is no windows being created, then there's only one proper thing to do: require the user to specify the save location on the command line.*

Given the fact that you have a console application, you probably already do some checking of the command line, but if not, then the command line can be read from the args argument to your Program.Main :

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    ...
}

There are examples on the internet to handle the command line, if you get stuck, or a new question can be asked specifically for the issue you are having.

---

*) Now, for the reason why this is the only proper way:

If the user needs to pass it on the command line, then the user has all the usual niceties such as tab completion available. The user can also use dir and cd before calling your program to find the proper directory.

On the other hand, if you ask the user to input it, then the user will not have tab completion, will not be able to use dir or cd , and as such will have to type it out manually all the way. Typo's or mistakes are almost guaranteed.

From a user experience point of view, this is very annoying. Programmers should therefore not ask the user to manually type out file paths during program execution. Hence, it must be specified on the command line.

Answer 2

Read about SaveFileDialog

private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
     Stream myStream ;
     SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog1 = new SaveFileDialog();

     saveFileDialog1.Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*"  ;
     saveFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 2 ;
     saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = true ;

     if(saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
     {
         if((myStream = saveFileDialog1.OpenFile()) != null)
         {
             // Code to write the stream goes here.
             myStream.Close();
         }
     }
}

And ready to test example from msdn example

if you want to play with something like >cd (ChDir) then look at

Environment.CurrentDirectory

or/and force user to write good directory by himselft and use @Carl aswere :) but remember we leave in 21 century people are lazy

Answer 3

It is not hard. You need a console to read user's input with string path = Console.ReadLine(); . User will input prefered path and it will store into path variable. Now you should check if this path exits if(Directory.Exists(path)) it will return true if path exists false if path does not exist.

Code example:

Console.WriteLine("Insert a path: ");
string path = Console.ReadLine();

if(Directory.Exists(path)){
//save logic
}
else{
//path does not exist handler
}

Note: if you want to access Directory class you should use System.IO namespace.

Answer 4

You can use the SaveFileDialog as Taumantis said but you have to add the

System.Windows.Froms

namespace and you must mark your main method as a single apartment thread

 class Program
{
    [STAThread]
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
  SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog1 = new SaveFileDialog();

        saveFileDialog1.Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*";
        saveFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 2;
        saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = true;

        if (saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
        {

        }


        Console.ReadKey();
    }