Question

I have the following code so that I can search directories to find files. Now I want to add a way for users to Save the output to a text file?

    using System;
    using System.Drawing;
    using System.Collections;
    using System.ComponentModel;
    using System.Windows.Forms;
    using System.Data;
    using System.IO;

    namespace RecursiveSearchCS
    {
        public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
        {
            internal System.Windows.Forms.Button btnSearch;
            internal System.Windows.Forms.TextBox txtFile;
            internal System.Windows.Forms.Label lblFile;
            internal System.Windows.Forms.Label lblDirectory;
            internal System.Windows.Forms.ListBox lstFilesFound;
            internal System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox cboDirectory;

            private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;

            public Form1()
            {

                InitializeComponent();

            }

            protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
            {
                if (disposing)
                {
                    if (components != null)
                    {
                        components.Dispose();
                    }
                }
                base.Dispose(disposing);
            }


            private void InitializeComponent()
            {
                this.btnSearch = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
                this.txtFile = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
                this.lblFile = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
                this.lblDirectory = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
                this.lstFilesFound = new System.Windows.Forms.ListBox();
                this.cboDirectory = new System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox();
                this.SuspendLayout();
        // 
        // btnSearch
        // 
                this.btnSearch.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(608, 248);
                this.btnSearch.Name = "btnSearch";
                this.btnSearch.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(75, 23);
                this.btnSearch.TabIndex = 0;
                this.btnSearch.Text = "Search";
                this.btnSearch.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.btnSearch_Click);
        // 
        // txtFile
        // 
                this.txtFile.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 40);
                this.txtFile.Name = "txtFile";
                this.txtFile.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(120, 20);
                this.txtFile.TabIndex = 4;
                this.txtFile.Text = "*.*";
        // 
        // lblFile
        // 
                this.lblFile.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 16);
                this.lblFile.Name = "lblFile";
                this.lblFile.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(144, 16);
                this.lblFile.TabIndex = 5;
                this.lblFile.Text = "Search for files containing:";
        // 
        // lblDirectory
        // 
                this.lblDirectory.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 96);
                this.lblDirectory.Name = "lblDirectory";
                this.lblDirectory.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(120, 23);
                this.lblDirectory.TabIndex = 3;
                this.lblDirectory.Text = "Look In:";
        // 
        // lstFilesFound
        // 
                this.lstFilesFound.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(152, 8);
                this.lstFilesFound.Name = "lstFilesFound";
                this.lstFilesFound.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(528, 225);
                this.lstFilesFound.TabIndex = 1;
        // 
        // cboDirectory
        // 
                this.cboDirectory.DropDownWidth = 112;
                this.cboDirectory.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 128);
                this.cboDirectory.Name = "cboDirectory";
                this.cboDirectory.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(120, 21);
                this.cboDirectory.TabIndex = 2;
                this.cboDirectory.Text = "ComboBox1";
        // 
        // Form1
        // 
                this.AutoScaleBaseSize = new System.Drawing.Size(5, 13);
                this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(688, 277);
                this.Controls.Add(this.btnSearch);
                this.Controls.Add(this.txtFile);
                this.Controls.Add(this.lblFile);
                this.Controls.Add(this.lblDirectory);
                this.Controls.Add(this.lstFilesFound);
                this.Controls.Add(this.cboDirectory);
                this.Name = "Form1";
                this.Text = "Form1";
                this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.Form1_Load);
                this.ResumeLayout(false);
                this.PerformLayout();

            }
            #endregion

    /// <summary>
    /// The main entry point for the application
    /// </summary>
            [STAThread]
            static void Main()
            {
                Application.Run(new Form1());
            }

            private void btnSearch_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
            {
                lstFilesFound.Items.Clear();
                txtFile.Enabled = false;
                cboDirectory.Enabled = false;
                btnSearch.Text = "Searching...";
                this.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor;
                Application.DoEvents();
                DirSearch(cboDirectory.Text);
                btnSearch.Text = "Search";
                this.Cursor = Cursors.Default;
                txtFile.Enabled = true;
                cboDirectory.Enabled = true;
            }

            private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
            {
                cboDirectory.Items.Clear();
                foreach (string s in Directory.GetLogicalDrives())
                {
                    cboDirectory.Items.Add(s);
                }
                cboDirectory.Text = "C:\\";
            }

            void DirSearch(string sDir)
            {
                try
                {
                    foreach (string d in Directory.GetDirectories(sDir))
                    {
                        foreach (string f in Directory.GetFiles(d, txtFile.Text))
                        {
                            lstFilesFound.Items.Add(f);
                        }
                        DirSearch(d);
                    }
                }
                catch (System.Exception excpt)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(excpt.Message);
                }
            }
        }
    }

Here is also a screenshot of the Application Open:

Open Application Image

I am going to add a save button which saves to a specific location when clicked, how would I go about doing this.

Answer 1

If I am understanding it correctly, use a simple I/O operation.

   using(StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter("debug.txt", true))
    {
        foreach (string item in lstFilesFound.Items)
        {
            writer.WriteLine(item.ToString());
        }
    }

Few extra pointers:

In DirSearch, create a variable for Directory.GetDirectories(sDir). Your present code is causing this thing to calculate in every loop. Look for some more similar refactoring code in other areas.

var dirs = Directory.GetDirectories(sDir);
foreach (string d in dirs)
{
    var files = Directory.GetFiles(d, txtFile.Text);
    foreach (string f in files)
    {
        lstFilesFound.Items.Add(f);
    }
    DirSearch(d);
}

Hope it helps.