Pop-Ups and Choosers - The Definitive Guide to Java Swing - page 317

■ Caution Don't confuse the abstract javax.swing.filechooser.FileFilter class with the

java.io.FileFilter interface. Although functionally similar, they're different. The two coexist because
the java.io.FileFilter interface didn't exist in a Java 1.1 runtime. Because the original Swing
JFileChooser needed to run in both Java 1.1 and Java 2 environments, the chooser needed to define a
replacement. Unless otherwise specified, all FileFilter references in this text are to the class in the
javax.swing.filechooser package.

Creating a JFileChooser
There are six constructors for JFileChooser :

public JFileChooser()
JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser();

public JFileChooser(File currentDirectory)
File currentDirectory = new File("."); // starting directory of program
JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser(currentDirectory);

public JFileChooser(File currentDirectory, FileSystemView fileSystemView)
FileSystemView fileSystemView = new SomeFileSystemView(...);
JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser(currentDirectory, fileSystemView);

public JFileChooser(FileSystemView fileSystemView)
JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser(fileSystemView);

public JFileChooser(String currentDirectoryPath)
String currentDirectoryPath = "."; // starting directory of program
JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser(currentDirectoryPath);

public JFileChooser(String currentDirectoryPath, FileSystemView fileSystemView)
JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser(currentDirectoryPath, fileSystemView);

By default, the starting directory displayed is the user's home directory (system property
user.home ). If you want to start the JFileChooser pointing at another directory, the directory
can be specified as either a String or a File object.
You can also specify a FileSystemView to specify a custom representation to the operating
system's top-level directory structure. When the FileSystemView argument is not specified, the
JFileChooser uses a FileSystemView appropriate for the user's operating system.

Using JFileChooser
After creating a JFileChooser from a constructor, you can place it in any Container , because it's
a JComponent . The JFileChooser object looks a little strange in an object that's not a pop-up
window, but this may allow you to do a task without needing to constantly bring up a new file
chooser.