[//]: # (title: File and Class Choosers)

<!-- Copyright 2000-2020 JetBrains s.r.o. and other contributors. Use of this source code is governed by the Apache 2.0 license that can be found in the LICENSE file. -->

## File Choosers

### Via Dialog
To let a user choose a file, directory or multiple files, use the [`FileChooser.chooseFiles()`](upsource:///platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/openapi/fileChooser/FileChooser.java) method.
This method has multiple overloads.
The best method to use is the one which returns void and takes a callback receiving the list of selected files as a parameter.
This is the only overload which will display a native file open dialog on macOS.

The [`FileChooserDescriptor`](upsource:///platform/ide-core/src/com/intellij/openapi/fileChooser/FileChooserDescriptor.java) class allows you to control which files can be selected.
The constructor parameters specify whether files and/or directories can be selected, and whether multiple selection is allowed (see [`FileChooserDescriptorFactory`](upsource:///platform/ide-core/src/com/intellij/openapi/fileChooser/FileChooserDescriptorFactory.java) for common variants).

For more fine-grained control over the allowed selection, you can overload the `isFileSelectable()` method.
You can also customize the presentation of files by overriding `getIcon()`, `getName()` and `getComment()` methods.
Note that the native macOS file chooser does not support most of the customizations, so if you rely on them, you need to use an overload of `chooseFiles()` which displays the standard IntelliJ Platform dialog.

### Via Textfield

A very common way of using file choosers is to use a text field for entering the path with an ellipsis button ("...") for showing the file chooser.
To create such a control, use the [`TextFieldWithBrowseButton`](upsource:///platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/openapi/ui/TextFieldWithBrowseButton.java) component and call the `addBrowseFolderListener()` method on it to set up the file chooser.
As an added bonus, this will enable filename completion when entering paths in the text box.

### Via Tree

An alternative UI for selecting files, which works best when the most common way of selecting a file is by typing its name, is available through the
[`TreeFileChooserFactory`](upsource:///platform/lang-api/src/com/intellij/ide/util/TreeFileChooserFactory.java) class.

The dialog shown by this API has two tabs:

*  One shows the project structure

*  Another shows a list of files similar to the one used by the `Goto File` popup.

To show the dialog, call `showDialog()` on the chooser returned from `createFileChooser()`, and then call `getSelectedFile` to retrieve the user's selection.

## Class and Package Choosers

If you want to offer the user a possibility to select a Java class, you can use the [`TreeClassChooserFactory`](upsource:///java/openapi/src/com/intellij/ide/util/TreeClassChooserFactory.java) class.
Its different methods allow you to specify the scope from which the classes are taken, to restrict the choice to descendants of a specific class or implementations of an interface, and to include or exclude inner classes from the list.

For choosing a Java package, you can use the [`PackageChooserDialog`](upsource:///java/java-impl/src/com/intellij/ide/util/PackageChooserDialog.java) class.