QFileDialog that accepts a single file or a single directory

Question

Is it possible to show a QFileDialog where the user can select a file or a directory, either one?

QFileDialog::getOpenFileName() accepts only files, while QFileDialog::getExistingDirectory() is directories-only, but I need to show a file dialog that can accept both a file or a directory (it makes sense for my program). QFileDialog::​Options didn't have anything promising.

Answer 1

QFileDialog currently does not support this. I think the main problem for you here is that the FileMode is not a Q_FLAGS and the values are not power of 2, either, and so, you cannot write this to solve this issue.

setFileMode(QFileDialog::Directory|QFileDialog::ExistingFiles)

To solve this, you would need quite a bit of fiddling, e.g.:

• Override the open button click operation.

• Get the "treeview" indices properly for both files and directories.

My attempt below demonstrates the former, but I did not really go as far as solving the second because that seems to involve some more fiddling with the selection model.

main.cpp

#include <QFileDialog>
#include <QApplication>
#include <QWidget>
#include <QTreeWidget>
#include <QPushButton>
#include <QStringList>
#include <QModelIndex>
#include <QDir>
#include <QDebug>

class FileDialog : public QFileDialog
{
    Q_OBJECT
    public:
        explicit FileDialog(QWidget *parent = Q_NULLPTR)
            : QFileDialog(parent)
        {
            setOption(QFileDialog::DontUseNativeDialog);
            setFileMode(QFileDialog::Directory);
            // setFileMode(QFileDialog::ExistingFiles);
            for (auto *pushButton : findChildren<QPushButton*>()) {
                qDebug() << pushButton->text();
                if (pushButton->text() == "&Open" || pushButton->text() == "&Choose") {
                    openButton = pushButton;
                    break;
                }
            }
            disconnect(openButton, SIGNAL(clicked(bool)));
            connect(openButton, &QPushButton::clicked, this, &FileDialog::openClicked);
            treeView = findChild<QTreeView*>();
        }

        QStringList selected() const
        {
            return selectedFilePaths;
        }

    public slots:
        void openClicked()
        {
            selectedFilePaths.clear();
            qDebug() << treeView->selectionModel()->selection();
            for (const auto& modelIndex : treeView->selectionModel()->selectedIndexes()) {
                qDebug() << modelIndex.column();
                if (modelIndex.column() == 0)
                    selectedFilePaths.append(directory().absolutePath() + modelIndex.data().toString());
            }
            emit filesSelected(selectedFilePaths);
            hide();
            qDebug() << selectedFilePaths;
       }

    private:
        QTreeView *treeView;
        QPushButton *openButton;
        QStringList selectedFilePaths;
};

#include "main.moc"

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    QApplication application(argc, argv);
    FileDialog fileDialog;
    fileDialog.show();
    return application.exec();
}

main.pro

TEMPLATE = app
TARGET = main
QT += widgets
CONFIG += c++11
SOURCES += main.cpp

Build and Run

qmake && make && ./main