Getting Started with Windows Forms Folder Browser

11 Oct 20223 minutes to read

Assembly deployment

Refer to the control dependencies section to get the list of assemblies or NuGet package that needs to be added as a reference to use the control in any application.

You can find more details about installing the NuGet package in a Windows Forms application in the following link:

How to install nuget packages

Create a simple application with FolderBrowser

You can create a Windows Forms application with the FolderBrowser control using the following steps:

Create a project

Create a new Windows Forms project in Visual Studio to select the a folder using the FolderBrowser control.

Add control through designer

The FolderBrowser control can be added to an application by dragging it from the toolbox to a designer view. The Syncfusion.Shared.Base assembly reference will be added automatically to the project.

Add control manually in code

To add the control manually in C#, follow the given steps:

1. Add the Syncfusion.Shared.Base assembly reference to the project.

2. Include the FolderBrowser control namespace Syncfusion.Windows.Forms;.

   C#

   using Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools;

   VB.NET

   Imports Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools

3. Create a FolderBrowser control instance, and invoke the FolderBrowser.ShowDialog() method to display the FolderBrowser dialog.

   C#

   //FolderBrowser instance
   FolderBrowser folderBrowser1;
      
   folderBrowser1 = new FolderBrowser();
   // Specify the Start location.
   this.folderBrowser1.StartLocation = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserFolder.MyComputer;
      
   // Specify the styles for the FolderBrowser Dialog.
   this.folderBrowser1.Style = (Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.RestrictToFilesystem | Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.BrowseForComputer);
      
   //Display the folder browser dialog window
   this.folderBrowser1.ShowDialog();

   VB.NET

   'FolderBrowser instance
   Private folderBrowser1 As FolderBrowser
      
   InitializeComponent()
   folderBrowser1 = New FolderBrowser()
      
   ' Specify the Start location.
   Me.folderBrowser1.StartLocation = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserFolder.MyComputer
      
   ' Specify the styles for the FolderBrowser Dialog.
   Me.folderBrowser1.Style = (Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.RestrictToFilesystem Or Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.BrowseForComputer)
      
   'Display the folder browser dialog window
   Me.folderBrowser1.ShowDialog()

Auto complete file path

The FolderBrowser control supports editing folder location and auto-complete, which displays available folder paths in a drop-down list to choose by setting the folder browser Style to ShowTextBox.

C#

this.folderBrowser1.Style = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.ShowTextBox;

VB.NET

Me.folderBrowser1.Style = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.ShowTextBox