GetDirPro

A folder picker for Visual FoxPro 9, written in VFP: the same call as GETDIR(), with a folder tree that opens at once on any disk, a path the user can type, new folders, and the theme of your application. One .prg.

Install

foxpack add getdirpro

SET PROCEDURE TO getdirpro.prg ADDITIVE

Without FoxPack, copy getdirpro.prg into your project. The tree is the TreeView of the Windows common controls (MSCOMCTL.OCX, installed with VFP 9 and its runtime). Without it, GetDir() falls back to the native GETDIR().

Example

SET PROCEDURE TO getdirpro.prg ADDITIVE
LOCAL loDir, lcFolder
loDir = CREATEOBJECT("GetDirPro")
lcFolder = loDir.GetDir("C:\Projects", "Where should the project go?")
IF EMPTY(lcFolder)
	? "Cancelled"
ELSE
	? lcFolder    && C:\Projects\Billing\  (with the final backslash)
ENDIF

With FoxStyleSheet loaded, the dialog takes the theme of your form:

loDir = CREATEOBJECT("GetDirPro")
loDir.cTheme = FssEngineOf(ThisForm).cTheme    && "dark", "light", "Word"...
lcFolder = loDir.GetDir(ThisForm.txtFolder.Value)

API

GetDirPro.GetDir([cFolder [, cText [, cCaption]]])

Opens the dialog and returns the chosen folder with its final backslash, or "" when the user cancels. cFolder is where it opens (the current folder of VFP when it is empty or does not exist), cText is a line of text above the tree, and cCaption the title of the window. The returned path keeps the case of each folder on disk.

The user can pick a folder in the tree, type a path, or press New folder. A typed path that does not exist is created, with every missing level, when the user accepts.

Properties

Property	Default	What it does
cPath	""	What the last GetDir() returned
lAllowCreate	.T.	.F. lets the user pick only among existing folders and hides New folder
cTheme	""	A FoxStyleSheet theme for the dialog: a built-in name, a .fss file or the text of a theme. It needs foxstylesheet.prg loaded; without it, the dialog keeps its own look
nWarnColor, nErrorColor	orange, red	The colours of the two messages under the path box
cVersion	"2.0.0"

The texts

The dialog is in English. To translate it, change these before GetDir():

Property	Default
cCapTitle	Select folder
cCapFolder	Folder:
cCapDrive	Drive:
cCapAccept	OK
cCapCancel	Cancel
cCapNew	New folder (the button)
cCapNewName	New folder (the name it proposes)
cCapWillCreate	It does not exist yet. It will be created when you accept.
cCapInvalid	That path is not valid.
cCapCreateFail	The folder could not be created. Check the permissions.

loDir.cCapTitle  = "Seleccionar carpeta"
loDir.cCapAccept = "Aceptar"
loDir.cCapCancel = "Cancelar"

GetDirPro.FormReady(oForm)

Called with the dialog after it is built and before it is shown. It is empty: bind to it with BINDEVENT(), or subclass GetDirPro, to style or change the dialog.

BINDEVENT(loDir, "FormReady", ThisForm, "StyleDialog")

GetDirPro.CreateForm([cFolder [, cText]])

The dialog, built and styled but not shown; .NULL. without the common controls. GetDir() calls it and shows the result. Use it to test a screen that opens the picker, or to show the dialog yourself.

GetDirPro.EnsureDir(cPath)

Creates a folder and every level it is missing above it (MD alone does not). Returns .T. when the folder exists at the end.

GetDirPro.IsValidPath(cPath)

Whether a typed path can be a folder: a drive (C:\...) or a UNC share (\\server\...), and none of the characters Windows refuses. Returns .T. or .F..

Pitfalls

• The dialog is modal. GetDir() does not return until the user closes it. In tests, use CreateForm() and drive the dialog without showing it.
• The tree is an ActiveX control. A theme does not reach it, so the tree copies the colours of the path box after the theme is applied: it follows a dark theme. Its scroll bars stay as Windows draws them.
• An empty folder shows a "+". The tree reads one level at a time, and a folder shows its "+" until it is opened. That is what makes it open at once on a big disk.
• The title bar of the dialog stays as VFP draws it. The dialog is a modal window inside your form (ShowWindow = 1), and Windows does not paint a dark title bar there: darkTitleBar of a theme only reaches top-level forms.
• Hidden and system folders are not listed. A typed path still reaches them.
• The path ends with a backslash. JUSTSTEM() of it is empty: use JUSTFNAME(LEFT(lcFolder, LEN(lcFolder) - 1)) for the name of the folder.

Tests

From the repository folder:

foxproof run --prg tests\GetDirProTests.prg

The styling test applies the dark theme when FoxStyleSheet is cloned beside this repository (..\FoxStyleSheet), and skips it otherwise.

History

• 2.0.0 (2026-10-15). Rewritten. The tree is read one level at a time (1.x walked the whole drive when it opened and could hang), folders with a dot in their name are listed, hidden and system folders are not, paths keep their case, a path can be typed, folders can be created, SET SAFETY is left alone, and without the common controls it falls back to GETDIR(). New: cTheme, FormReady(), CreateForm(), EnsureDir(), IsValidPath(), lAllowCreate, the texts as properties. Tests in FoxProof, package for FoxPack, MIT license.
• 1.1 (2019-05-10). First public version.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.