Getting Started with Windows Forms Folder Browser

4 Feb 20253 minutes to read

Assembly deployment

Refer to the control dependencies section to get the list of assemblies or NuGet package that needs to be added as a reference to use the control in any application.

You can find more details about installing the NuGet package in a Windows Forms application in the following link:

How to install nuget packages

Create a simple application with FolderBrowser

You can create a Windows Forms application with the FolderBrowser control using the following steps:

Create a project

Create a new Windows Forms project in Visual Studio to select the a folder using the FolderBrowser control.

Add control through designer

The FolderBrowser control can be added to an application by dragging it from the toolbox to a designer view. The Syncfusion.Shared.Base assembly reference will be added automatically to the project.

Add control manually in code

To add the control manually in C#, follow the given steps:

1. Add the Syncfusion.Shared.Base assembly reference to the project.

2. Include the FolderBrowser control namespace Syncfusion.Windows.Forms;.

   • C#
   • VB.NET

   using Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools;

   Imports Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools

3. Create a FolderBrowser control instance, and invoke the FolderBrowser.ShowDialog() method to display the FolderBrowser dialog.

   • C#
   • VB.NET

   //FolderBrowser instance
   FolderBrowser folderBrowser1;
      
   folderBrowser1 = new FolderBrowser();
   // Specify the Start location.
   this.folderBrowser1.StartLocation = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserFolder.MyComputer;
      
   // Specify the styles for the FolderBrowser Dialog.
   this.folderBrowser1.Style = (Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.RestrictToFilesystem | Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.BrowseForComputer);
      
   //Display the folder browser dialog window
   this.folderBrowser1.ShowDialog();

   'FolderBrowser instance
   Private folderBrowser1 As FolderBrowser
      
   InitializeComponent()
   folderBrowser1 = New FolderBrowser()
      
   ' Specify the Start location.
   Me.folderBrowser1.StartLocation = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserFolder.MyComputer
      
   ' Specify the styles for the FolderBrowser Dialog.
   Me.folderBrowser1.Style = (Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.RestrictToFilesystem Or Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.BrowseForComputer)
      
   'Display the folder browser dialog window
   Me.folderBrowser1.ShowDialog()

Auto complete file path

The FolderBrowser control supports editing folder location and auto-complete, which displays available folder paths in a drop-down list to choose by setting the folder browser Style to ShowTextBox.

this.folderBrowser1.Style = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.ShowTextBox;

Me.folderBrowser1.Style = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserStyles.ShowTextBox