Question

How can I get the path of a file on my computer or on the local area network.

I would to show a window that allows me to browse the file system when I click a button, and I want to select a file and get the path to the file. How can I do this?

P.S. I’m not looking to upload the file; I just want to get the path.

Answer 1

The web application is running on the server, and you don’t have access to the client file system at all. Can you imagine how much of a vulnerability that would be? I know I don’t want the sites I visit inspecting my file system…

EDIT: Question is for a WinForms application

For a WinForms application, you can use the OpenFileDialog, and extract the path with something like this:

If you’re looking for the file path:

string path = OpenFileDialog1.FileName; //output = c:\folder\file.txt

If you’re looking for the directory path:

string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(OpenFileDialog1.FileName); //output = c:\folder

In general, the System.IO.Path class has a lot of useful features for retrieving and manipulating path information.