Dialog - Open File

Declaration

<AMSHOWDIALOG ACTIVITY="open" WINDOWTITLE="text" RESULTVARIABLE="text" FILTER="text" DEFAULTFOLDER="text" ONCANCEL="text (options)" />

Description:

Displays a common dialog box that allows a user to specify a filename to open. The file selected is stored in a variable for use in subsequent steps. Execution is paused while the user makes a selection.

Practical Usage

Commonly used to allow a user to manually select a file to open during task execution.

Parameters

General

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Title of the message box

Text

No

(Empty)

TITLE="Browse for file"

The title that the dialog box should display. This should provide the user proper information as to what file to open (e.g.,"Please Browse for the target spreadsheet").

Populate variable with result

Text

Yes

(Empty)

RESULTVARIABLE="varname"

The name of an existing variable that should be populated with the file or folder selected by the user.

Advanced

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Filter

Text (options)

No

All files (*.*)|*.*

FILTER="All files (*.*)|*.*"

The file filters for the dialog box that appears. Filters represent the masks that are listed in the File Type drop-down. For example, to include only text files, enter *.txt.

Initial Folder

Text

No

(Empty)

DEFAULTFOLDER="c:\foldername\"

The starting folder that the user sees when the dialog box appears.

On Cancel

Text

No

Stop

ONCANCEL="fail"

Specifies how this action will react if the user presses the Cancel button. The available options are:

  • Continue - The task will continue to the next step.

  • Stop (default) - The task will stop. No error is generated.

  • Fail  - The task fail with an error.  

Description

Error Causes

On Error

Example

NOTE: The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.

Description: This sample task demonstrates use of the Open File activity (step 2) by prompting the user to select a file to open. A separate Message Box appears in step 3 displaying the path and file name of the file selected.

 

<AMVARIABLE NAME="theFile"></AMVARIABLE>

<AMSHOWDIALOG ACTIVITY="open" WINDOWTITLE="Please select file to open" RESULTVARIABLE="theFile" DEFAULTFOLDER="C:\" />

<AMSHOWDIALOG WINDOWTITLE="SELECTED FILE" MODAL="NO">The file selected is %theFile%</AMSHOWDIALOG>