File picker sample

Shows how to access files and folders by letting the user choose them through the file pickers and how to save a file so that the user can specify the name, file type, and location of a file to save. This sample uses the Windows.Storage.Pickers and Windows.Storage APIs.

Note: This sample is part of a large collection of UWP feature samples. If you are unfamiliar with Git and GitHub, you can download the entire collection as a ZIP file, but be sure to unzip everything to access shared dependencies. For more info on working with the ZIP file, the samples collection, and GitHub, see Get the UWP samples from GitHub. For more samples, see the Samples portal on the Windows Dev Center.

The sample demonstrates these tasks:

1. Let the user pick one file to access

   Uses the FileOpenPicker.PickSingleFileAsync method (or PickSingleFileAndContinue) to call a file picker window and let the user pick a single file. For more info, see Open files and folders with a picker.

2. Let the user pick multiple files to access

   Uses the FileOpenPicker.PickMultipleFilesAsync method (or PickMultipleFilesAndContinue) to call a file picker window and let the user pick multiple files. For more info, see Open files and folders with a picker.

3. Let the user pick one folder to access

   Uses the FolderPicker.PickSingleFolderAsync method (or PickFolderAndContinue) to call a file picker window and let the user pick multiple files. For more info, see Open files and folders with a picker.

4. Let the user save a file and specify the name, file type, and/or save location

   Uses the FileSavePicker.PickSaveFileAsync method (or PickSaveFileAndContinue) to call a file picker window and let the user pick multiple files. For more info, see Save a file with a picker.

5. Let the user pick a locally cached file to access

   The user may choose access a file that is provided by another app (the providing app) that participates in the Cached File Updater contract. Like the first scenario, this scenario uses the FileOpenPicker to access these files and to show how the providing app (the File picker contracts sample) can interact with the user through the file picker if necessary, for example if credentials are required to access the file.

   Note This scenario requires the File picker contracts sample.

6. Let the user save a locally cached file

   The user may choose save a file that was provided by another app (the providing app) that participates in the Cached File Updater contract. This scenario uses the FileSavePicker and the CachedFileManager to let the user save a file to another app (the File picker contracts sample) and how the providing app can interact with the user through the file picker if necessary, for example if there is a version conflict.

   Note This scenario requires the File picker contracts sample.

To learn more about accessing and saving files and folders through file pickers, see Guidelines and checklist for file pickers.

Note The Windows universal samples require Visual Studio 2015 to build and Windows 10 to execute.

To obtain information about Windows 10 development, go to the Windows Dev Center

To obtain information about Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 and the tools for developing Windows apps, go to Visual Studio 2015

Related topics

Samples

File access sample
Using a Blob to save and load content sample
File and folder thumbnail sample
File picker contracts sample

Reference

Windows.Storage.Pickers namespace

System requirements

Client: Windows 10

Server: Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview

Phone: Windows 10

Build the sample

1. If you download the samples ZIP, be sure to unzip the entire archive, not just the folder with the sample you want to build.
2. Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 and select File > Open > Project/Solution.
3. Starting in the folder where you unzipped the samples, go to the Samples subfolder, then the subfolder for this specific sample, then the subfolder for your preferred language (C++, C#, or JavaScript). Double-click the Visual Studio 2015 Solution (.sln) file.
4. Press Ctrl+Shift+B, or select Build > Build Solution.

Run the sample

The next steps depend on whether you just want to deploy the sample or you want to both deploy and run it.

Deploying the sample

• Select Build > Deploy Solution.

Deploying and running the sample

• To debug the sample and then run it, press F5 or select Debug > Start Debugging. To run the sample without debugging, press Ctrl+F5 or select Debug > Start Without Debugging.