1. JavaFX Tutorial
2. JavaFX Overview
3. Your First JavaFX Application
4. JavaFX Stage
5. JavaFX Scene
6. JavaFX Node
7. JavaFX Properties
8. JavaFX FXML
9. JavaFX CSS Styling
10. JavaFX ImageView
11. JavaFX Text
12. JavaFX Fonts
13. JavaFX Hyperlink
14. JavaFX Label
15. JavaFX Button
16. JavaFX MenuButton
17. JavaFX SplitMenuButton
18. JavaFX ToggleButton
19. JavaFX RadioButton
20. JavaFX CheckBox
21. JavaFX ChoiceBox
22. JavaFX ComboBox
23. JavaFX ListView
24. JavaFX DatePicker
25. JavaFX ColorPicker
26. JavaFX TextField
27. JavaFX PasswordField
28. JavaFX Slider
29. JavaFX TextArea
30. JavaFX ToolBar
31. JavaFX Tooltip
32. JavaFX ProgressBar
33. JavaFX FileChooser
34. JavaFX DirectoryChooser
35. JavaFX Accordion
36. JavaFX TitledPane
37. JavaFX SplitPane
38. JavaFX TabPane
39. JavaFX ScrollPane
40. JavaFX Group
41. JavaFX Region
42. JavaFX Pane
43. JavaFX HBox
44. JavaFX VBox
45. JavaFX Separator
46. JavaFX FlowPane
47. JavaFX TilePane
48. JavaFX GridPane
49. JavaFX MenuBar
50. JavaFX ContexMenu
51. JavaFX WebView
52. JavaFX PieChart
53. JavaFX TableView
54. JavaFX TreeView
55. JavaFX TreeTableView
56. JavaFX HTMLEditor
57. JavaFX Pagination
58. JavaFX BarChart
59. JavaFX StackedBarChart
60. JavaFX ScatterChart
61. JavaFX LineChart
62. JavaFX AreaChart
63. JavaFX StackedAreaChart
64. JavaFX Color
65. JavaFX 2D
66. JavaFX Effects
67. JavaFX 3D
68. JavaFX Transformation
69. JavaFX Animation
70. JavaFX Media - JavaFX Video and Audio Support
71. JavaFX Canvas
72. JavaFX Drag and Drop
73. JavaFX Concurrency

• Creating a FileChooser
• Showing the FileChooser Dialog
• Setting Initial Directory
• Setting Initial File Name
• Adding File Name Filters

A JavaFX FileChooser class (javafx.stage.FileChooser) is a dialog that enables the user to select one or more files via a file explorer from the user's local computer. The JavaFX FileChooser is implemented in the class javafx.stage.FileChooser. In this JavaFX FileChooser tutorial I will show you how to use the JavaFX FileChooser dialog.

Here is an example screenshot of how a JavaFX FileChooser looks:

Creating a FileChooser

In order to use the JavaFX FileChooser dialog you must first create a FileChooser instance. Here is an example of creating a JavaFX FileChooser dialog:

FileChooser fileChooser = new FileChooser();

As you can see, it is pretty easy to create a FileChooser instance.

Showing the FileChooser Dialog

Showing the JavaFX FileChooser dialog is done by calling its showOpenDialog() method. Here is an example of showing a FileChooser dialog:

File selectedFile = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(stage);

The File returned by the showOpenDialog() method is the file the user selected in the FileChooser.

The stage parameter is the JavaFX Stage that should "own" the FileChooser dialog. By "owning" is meant what Stage from which the FileChooser dialog is shown. This will typically be the Stage in which the button sits that initiates the showing of the FileChooser.

Showing a FileChooser is typically done as a result of a click on a button or menu item. Here is a full JavaFX example that shows a button that opens a FileChooser when it is clicked:

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.FileChooser;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class FileChooserExample extends Application {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
        primaryStage.setTitle("JavaFX App");

        FileChooser fileChooser = new FileChooser();

        Button button = new Button("Select File");
        button.setOnAction(e -> {
            File selectedFile = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(primaryStage);
        });

        VBox vBox = new VBox(button);
        Scene scene = new Scene(vBox, 960, 600);

        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        primaryStage.show();
    }
}

This example creates a full JavaFX application with a Button that when clicked opens a FileChooser . Notice how the primary Stage for the JavaFX application is passed as parameter to the FileChooser showOpenDialog() method.

Setting Initial Directory

You can set the initial directory displayed in the JavaFX FileChooser via its setInitialDirectory() method. Here is an example of setting the initial directory of a FileChooser dialog:

fileChooser.setInitialDirectory(new File("data"));

This example sets the initial directory displayed by the FileChooser to data.

Setting Initial File Name

You can set the initial file name to display in the FileChooser . Some platforms (e.g. Windows) may ignore this setting, though. Here is an example of setting the initial file name of a FileChooser:

fileChooser.setInitialFileName("myfile.txt");

This example sets the initial file name to myfile.txt .

Adding File Name Filters

It is possible to add file name filters to a JavaFX FileChooser. File name filters are used to filter out what files are shown in the FileChooser when the user browses around the file system. Here is an example of adding file name filters:

FileChooser fileChooser = new FileChooser();

fileChooser.getExtensionFilters().addAll(
     new FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("Text Files", "*.txt")
    ,new FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("HTML Files", "*.htm")
);

This examples adds two file name filters to the FileChooser. The user can choose between these file name filters inside the FileChooser dialog.