This post is about how to make a File Browser in C# using ListView to contain the file name with icons.

Step 1

Click New Project, then select Visual C# on the left, then Windows and then select Windows Forms Application. Name your project "FileBrowser" and then click OK
WPF
Step 2

Design your file browser form as below.
  1. <Window
  2. xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
  3. xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  4. xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" x:Class="DocumentIconDemo.MainWindow"
  5. Title="MainWindow" Height="500" Width="1000">
  6. <Grid>
  7. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
  8. <ColumnDefinition Width="1000*"/>
  9. <ColumnDefinition Width="89*"/>
  10. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
  11. <Grid.RowDefinitions>
  12. <RowDefinition Height="31*"/>
  13. <RowDefinition Height="288*"/>
  14. </Grid.RowDefinitions>
  15. <Button Content="Folder..." Grid.Column="1" Click="Button_Click"/>
  16. <ScrollViewer Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Grid.Row="1">
  17. <ListBox x:Name="lstBox" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Grid.Row="1" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Visible" SelectionMode="Multiple" >
  18. <ListBox.Template>
  19. <ControlTemplate>
  20. <DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
  21. <Grid DockPanel.Dock="Top" Height="30">
  22. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
  23. <ColumnDefinition Width="25"/>
  24. <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
  25. <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
  26. <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
  27. <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
  28. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
  30. <Label Grid.Column="1">Path</Label>
  31. <Label Grid.Column="2">Last Creation</Label>
  32. <Label Grid.Column="3">Last Access</Label>
  33. <Label Grid.Column="4">Last Modification</Label>
  34. </Grid>
  35. <ItemsPresenter></ItemsPresenter>
  36. </DockPanel>
  37. </ControlTemplate>
  38. </ListBox.Template>
  39. <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
  40. <DataTemplate>
  41. <Grid d:DesignWidth="372" d:DesignHeight="46" Margin="0,2">
  42. <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
  43. <ColumnDefinition Width="25"/>
  44. <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
  45. <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
  46. <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
  47. <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
  48. </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
  49. <Image Source="{Binding ItemIcon}" />
  50. <Label Content="{Binding ItemText, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged,IsAsync=True}" Grid.Column="1"/>
  51. <Label Content="{Binding LastCreation, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged,IsAsync=True}" Grid.Column="2"/>
  52. <Label Content="{Binding LastAccess, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged,IsAsync=True}" Grid.Column="3"/>
  53. <Label Content="{Binding LastModification, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged,IsAsync=True}" Grid.Column="4"/>
  54. </Grid>
  55. </DataTemplate>
  56. </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
  57. </ListBox>
  58. </ScrollViewer>
  59. <TextBlock x:Name="textField" TextWrapping="Wrap" Height="21" Text="TextBlock"/>
  60. </Grid>
  61. </Window>

Step 3

Add code to handle your form.

  1. using System;
  2. using System.Linq;
  3. using System.Windows;
  4. using System.Windows.Controls;
  5. using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
  6. using System.IO;
  7. using System.Threading;
  8. using System.ComponentModel;
  9. using System.Reflection;
  10. using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
  12. namespace DocumentIconDemo
  13. {
  14. /// <summary>
  15. /// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
  16. /// </summary>
  17. public partial class MainWindow : Window, INotifyPropertyChanged
  18. {
  19. class ListBoxData : INotifyPropertyChanged
  20. {
  21. public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
  22. public void NotifyPropertyChanged(string txt)
  23. {
  25. if (PropertyChanged != null)
  26. {
  27. PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(txt));
  28. PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("DisplayMember"));
  29. }
  30. }
  31. public BitmapSource ItemIcon { get; set; }
  32. private string itemtext;
  33. public string ItemText
  34. {
  35. get { return itemtext; }
  36. set
  37. {
  38. itemtext = value;
  39. NotifyPropertyChanged("ItemText");
  40. }
  41. }
  42. private string lastaccess;
  43. public string LastAccess {
  44. get { return lastaccess; }
  45. set
  46. {
  47. lastaccess = value;
  48. NotifyPropertyChanged("LastAccess");
  49. }
  50. }
  51. private string lastcreation;
  52. public string LastCreation {
  53. get { return lastcreation; }
  54. set
  55. {
  56. lastcreation = value;
  57. NotifyPropertyChanged("LastCreation");
  58. }
  59. }
  60. private string lastmodification;
  61. public string LastModification {
  62. get { return lastmodification; }
  63. set
  64. {
  65. lastmodification = value;
  66. NotifyPropertyChanged("LastModification");
  67. }
  68. }
  69. }
  70. ObservableCollection<ListBoxData> data = new ObservableCollection<ListBoxData>();
  71. public MainWindow()
  72. {
  73. InitializeComponent();
  74. Loaded += MainWindow_Loaded;
  75. }
  77. void MainWindow_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
  78. {
  79. textField.Text = "";
  80. }
  81. private Thread _thread; string[] dir; // List<ListBoxData> data;
  82. private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
  83. {
  84. var dialog = new System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog();
  85. System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult result = dialog.ShowDialog();
  87. if (result == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
  88. {
  89. textField.Text = dialog.SelectedPath;
  91. if (textField.Text == "")
  92. return;
  94. dir = Directory.GetFiles(textField.Text, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
  95. _thread = new Thread(() => showSomePeople(lstBox));
  96. _thread.Start();
  97. }
  98. else
  99. textField.Text = "";
  100. }
  102. private async void showSomePeople(ListBox lstBox)
  103. {
  104. data = GenerateItems();
  105. await Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action(delegate ()
  106. {
  107. lstBox.ItemsSource = data;
  108. }));
  109. }
  110. public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
  111. private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string property)
  112. {
  113. if (PropertyChanged != null)
  114. {
  115. PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(property));
  116. }
  117. }
  118. private ObservableCollection<ListBoxData> GenerateItems()
  119. {
  121. foreach (var filePath in dir)
  122. {
  123. var sysicon = System.Drawing.Icon.ExtractAssociatedIcon(filePath);
  124. var bmpSrc = System.Windows.Interop.Imaging.CreateBitmapSourceFromHIcon(
  125. sysicon.Handle,
  126. System.Windows.Int32Rect.Empty,
  127. System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapSizeOptions.FromEmptyOptions());
  128. if (bmpSrc.CanFreeze)
  129. {
  130. bmpSrc.Freeze(); /*otherwise we get error - Must create DependencySource on same Thread as the DependencyObject*/
  131. }
  132. sysicon.Dispose();
  133. DateTime creation = File.GetCreationTime(filePath);
  134. DateTime access = File.GetLastAccessTime(filePath);
  135. DateTime writeT = File.GetLastWriteTime(filePath);
  136. data.Add(new ListBoxData() { ItemIcon = bmpSrc, ItemText = filePath, LastCreation = creation.ToString(), LastAccess = access.ToString(), LastModification = writeT.ToString() });
  138. }
  139. CreateCSVFromGenericList<ListBoxData>(data, "D:\\s.txt");
  140. return data;
  141. }
  142. public static void CreateCSVFromGenericList<T>(ObservableCollection<T> list, string csvCompletePath)
  143. {
  144. if (list == null || list.Count == 0) return;
  146. //get type from 0th member
  147. Type t = list[0].GetType();
  148. string newLine = Environment.NewLine;
  149. if (!Directory.Exists(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(csvCompletePath))) Directory.CreateDirectory(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(csvCompletePath));
  150. if (!File.Exists(csvCompletePath)) File.Create(csvCompletePath).Close();
  152. using (var sw = new StreamWriter(csvCompletePath))
  153. {
  154. //make a new instance of the class name we figured out to get its props
  155. object o = Activator.CreateInstance(t);
  156. //gets all properties
  157. PropertyInfo[] props = o.GetType().GetProperties();
  158. //foreach of the properties in class above, write out properties
  159. //this is the header row
  160. sw.Write(string.Join(",", props.Where(d => d.Name != "ItemIcon").Select(d => d.Name).ToArray()) + newLine);
  161. //this acts as datarow
  162. foreach (T item in list)
  163. {
  164. //this acts as datacolumn
  165. var row = string.Join("$", props.Where(d => d.Name != "ItemIcon").Select(d => item.GetType()
  166. .GetProperty(d.Name)
  167. .GetValue(item, null)
  168. .ToString())
  169. .ToArray());
  170. sw.Write(row + newLine);
  171. }
  172. }
  173. }
  174. }
  175. }