Open Dialog preserving settings

Question

How does one preserve the settings in the Open Dialog box? For example, I would the Open Dialog to remember that I chose the Details view and sorted by date modified.

Answer 1

Microsoft didn't see fit to give us any documented way of doing this, but some people have figured out bits of the puzzle. This link shows how to set the view, but not how to get the current setting:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc164009.aspx

Answer 2

Hi,

this sample on CodeProject might be interesting for you: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dialog/customize_dialog.aspx

Regards, divo

Answer 3

I'm not quite sure about this about isn't it an OS setting. If the user choose their Folder Preferences such as then Windows will remember or not. In this case from accessibility and usability point of view this is User's preferences.

Answer 4

You could inherit from the dialog's class and then see what can be overriden to do the persistence of its state.

Answer 5

Simple non-technical solution. This worked for me (WinXP SP3) in some cases but not all. Since you don't have the option of changing things in a common Open dialog, you can try to do it in Windows Explorer. Open Windows Eplorer. If you want to change the sort order, go to the details view and click on the column to sort, normally Name, but you may want to sort by Date. Now change the view back to whatever you want. Now select "Tools" then "Folder Options". On the General tab, for "Tasks" select "Use Windows classic folders," for "Browse folders" select "Open each folder in same window." Now click the "View" tab. Scroll down and check the box for "Remember each folders view settings." If it's already checked, uncheck it then check it again. Click the "Apply" Button at the botton of the window. Click the "Apply to All Folders" button near the top. These settings may show up in your Open dialog. Having done this you can now change the settings in Windows Explorer or any other Folder window that allows you to change them and that Folder window should remember them. This fixed the Open dialog in my qraphics editor but not in my video editor.