File Open/Save Dialogs |
the same in nearly all applications; they're common
dialogs, provided by Windows. Strangely, one of the few applications
that doesn't use these common dialogs is Microsoft
Office, which instead employs custom dialogs that actually have more
limited functionality then their standard, common counterparts.The main part of the standard file dialog is really just a folder
window as shown in Figure 3-8; you can even drag
and drop items into and out of this window, as well as display the
contents in the same Details, Icons, and List views found in Windows
Explorer.
Figure 3-10. Standard File
Open, File
Save, and Browse dialogs like this one are used in many applications
left side, called the Places Bar. Here, five (or more)
shortcuts to special
system folders are shown; click an icon to
quickly jump to the corresponding location. However, most of the
default entries will be of little use to the average user, so you may
want to customize this area, a task possible only with the TweakUI
add-on described in Appendix D.Along the top of the window, you'll find the
"Look in" list, and several
buttons. The yellow folder icon with the curved arrow is used to jump
to the parent folder, and the yellow folder icon with the star is
used to create a new subfolder. The last button allows you to choose
the way icons are shown in the main listing. Unfortunately, the full
path of the current folder is not shown anywhere in this window (this
has been a problem with Windows for years), but if you open the
"Look in" list,
you'll see the abbreviated hierarchy that reveals
the location of the folder.You can type any filename below, including the full path desired, to
open or save. Finally, the "Files of
type" list is used to filter the display of files in
the main listing. This is often most confusing part of this window
for new users, since, in most cases, only certain files are shown. If
the file you're looking for does not match the file
type selection, it won't show up at all. Typically,
the last entry in this list is All Files (*.*); choose this item to
turn off the filter and display all files, regardless of type.
Notes
- Like most dialog boxes, File Open/Save dialogs are modal, which means
that they must be closed before you can use another part of the
application. - An alternative to opening an application and then using File
Open is to navigate to
the folder containing your document and then double-click it to open
it in its default application. (This default can be changed by going
to the Tools Folder
Options Files Types tab
in Explorer.) You can also drag-drop a document icon into an open
application window to open the file in that program.