OpenFileDialog.OpenFile Method

Opens the file selected by the user, with read-only permission. The file is specified by the FileName property.

Namespace: System.Windows.Forms
Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in system.windows.forms.dll)

public:
Stream^ OpenFile ()
public Stream OpenFile ()
public function OpenFile () : Stream
Not applicable.

Return Value

A Stream that specifies the read-only file selected by the user.

Exception typeCondition

ArgumentNullException

The file name is a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

The OpenFile method is used to provide a facility to quickly open a file from the dialog box. The file is opened in read-only mode for security purposes. To open a file in read/write mode, you must use another method, such as FileStream.

The following code example demonstrates how to use the OpenFile method.

private:
   void button1_Click( Object^ /*sender*/, System::EventArgs^ /*e*/ )
   {
      Stream^ myStream;
      OpenFileDialog^ openFileDialog1 = gcnew OpenFileDialog;

      openFileDialog1->InitialDirectory = "c:\\";
      openFileDialog1->Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*";
      openFileDialog1->FilterIndex = 2;
      openFileDialog1->RestoreDirectory = true;

      if ( openFileDialog1->ShowDialog() == ::DialogResult::OK )
      {
         if ( (myStream = openFileDialog1->OpenFile()) != nullptr )
         {
            // Insert code to read the stream here.
            myStream->Close();
         }
      }
   }

protected void button1_Click(Object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    Stream myStream;
    OpenFileDialog openFileDialog1 = new OpenFileDialog();
    openFileDialog1.set_InitialDirectory("c:\\");
    openFileDialog1.set_Filter(
        "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*");
    openFileDialog1.set_FilterIndex(2);
    openFileDialog1.set_RestoreDirectory(true);
    if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog().Equals(get_DialogResult().OK)) {
        if ((myStream = openFileDialog1.OpenFile()) != null) {
            // Insert code to read the stream here.
            myStream.Close();
        }
    }
} //button1_Click

Windows 98, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows CE, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 is supported on Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP1.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

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