showOpenDialog and showOpenDialogSync in Electron Js

• The dialog.showOpenDialog and dialog.showOpenDialogSync functions in Electron.js are used to display native operating system file selection dialogs to the user.

• dialog.showOpenDialog: This is an asynchronous method that displays a file selection dialog to the user. It returns a promise that resolves to an object containing information about the selected files or directories. It allows for non-blocking behavior, which is useful when you want to perform other tasks while waiting for the user's selection. You can handle the result using the promise's `.then()` and `.catch()` methods.

• dialog.showOpenDialogSync: This is a synchronous version of `showOpenDialog`. It blocks the execution of your code until the user makes a selection or cancels the dialog. It returns an object containing information about the selected files or directories directly. It is simpler to use but should be used with caution since it can freeze the application's user interface until the dialog is closed.

• Both functions take an options object as a parameter, allowing you to customize the behavior and appearance of the dialog. The options can include properties such as the dialog's title, button labels, default paths, file filters, and more.

• By utilizing these functions, you can integrate file selection functionality into your Electron application and provide a familiar and consistent user experience across different operating systems.

• The dialog.showOpenDialog function is part of Electron's dialog module, which provides various methods for displaying different types of native dialogs. The showOpenDialog function specifically opens a dialog for selecting one or more files or directories, depending on the options provided.

    const { dialog } = require('electron');

    dialog.showOpenDialog({

        title: "Select to open",

        defaultPath: "C:\\Users\\gagan\\OneDrive\\Pictures\\Screenshots",

        buttonLabel: "Open Files",

        filters: [

            { name: 'Images', extensions: ['jpg', 'png', 'gif'] },

            { name: 'Movies', extensions: ['mkv', 'avi', 'mp4'] },

            { name: 'Custom File Type', extensions: ['as'] },

            { name: 'All Files', extensions: ['*'] }

        ],

        properties: [

            'openFile',

            // 'dontAddToRecent',

            // 'openDirectory',

            // 'multiSelections',

            // 'showHiddenFiles'

        ]

    }).then(res => {

        console.log("res", res)

    }).catch(err => {

        console.log("err", err)

    })

• In the above example, the showOpenDialog method is called with the specified options. The dialog will be displayed with the given title, button label, and filters for file types. The properties array determines the behavior of the dialog. In this case, the openFile property allows selecting files, and the multiSelections property enables multiple file selection.

• Once the user selects the file(s) and confirms the selection, the promise returned by showOpenDialog will be resolved with an object containing the filePaths property, which is an array of selected file paths. You can then use this information in your application as needed.

• On Windows and Linux, the file selection dialog in Electron.js cannot function as both a file selector and a directory selector simultaneously. When `properties` is set to `['openFile', 'openDirectory']`, the dialog will prioritize showing a directory selector. Users can choose a directory but not select individual files within that directory. This behavior does not apply to macOS.