tkfilebrowser

tkfilebrowser is an alternative to tkinter.filedialog that allows the user to select files or directories. The GUI is written with tkinter but the look is closer to GTK and the application uses GTK bookmarks (the one displayed in nautilus or thunar for instance). This filebrowser supports new directory creation and filtype filtering.

This module contains a general FileBrowser class which implements the filebrowser and the following functions, similar to the one in filedialog:

• askopenfilename that allow the selection of a single file
• askopenfilenames that allow the selection of multiple files
• askopendirname that allow the selection a single folder
• askopendirnames that allow the selection of multiple folders
• askopenpathname that allow the selection a single file or folder
• askopenpathnames that allow the selection of multiple files and folders
• asksaveasfilename that returns a single filename and give a warning if the file already exists

The documentation is also available here: https://tkfilebrowser.readthedocs.io

Table of Contents

• tkfilebrowser
  • Requirements
  • Installation
  • Documentation
  • Changelog
• Example

Requirements

• Linux or Windows
• Python 2.7 or 3.x

And the python packages:

• tkinter (included in the python distribution for Windows)
• psutil
• babel
• pywin32 (Windows only)
• pillow (only if tkinter.TkVersion < 8.6)

Installation

• Ubuntu: use the PPA ppa:j-4321-i/ppa

  $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:j-4321-i/ppa
  $ sudo apt-get update
  $ sudo apt-get install python(3)-tkfilebrowser
  

• Archlinux:

  the package is available on AUR

• With pip:

  $ pip install tkfilebrowser
  

Documentation

• Optional keywords arguments common to each function

  • parent: parent window
  • title: the title of the filebrowser window
  • initialdir: directory whose content is initially displayed
  • initialfile: initially selected item (just the name, not the full path)
  • filetypes list: [("name", "*.ext1|*.ext2|.."), ...] only the files of given filetype will be displayed, e.g. to allow the user to switch between displaying only PNG or JPG pictures or dispalying all files: filtypes=[("Pictures", "*.png|*.PNG|*.jpg|*.JPG'), ("All files", "*")]
  • okbuttontext: text displayed on the validate button, if None, the default text corresponding to the mode is used (either "Open" or "Save")
  • cancelbuttontext: text displayed on the button that cancels the selection.
  • foldercreation: enable the user to create new folders if True (default)

• askopendirname

  Allow the user to choose a single directory. The absolute path of the chosen directory is returned. If the user cancels, an empty string is returned.

• askopendirnames

  Allow the user to choose multiple directories. A tuple containing the absolute path of the chosen directories is returned. If the user cancels, an empty tuple is returned.

• askopenfilename

  Allow the user to choose a single file. The absolute path of the chosen file is returned. If the user cancels, an empty string is returned.

• askopenfilenames

  Allow the user to choose multiple files. A tuple containing the absolute path of the chosen files is returned. If the user cancels, an empty tuple is returned.

• askopenpathname

  Allow the user to choose a single file or folder. The absolute path of the chosen item is returned. If the user cancels, an empty string is returned.

• askopenpathnames

  Allow the user to choose multiple files and folders. A tuple containing the absolute path of the items is returned. If the user cancels, an empty tuple is returned.

• asksaveasfilename

  Allow the user to choose a file path. The file may not exist but the path to its directory does. If the file already exists, the user is asked to confirm its replacement.

  Additional option:

  • defaultext: extension added to filename if none is given (default is none)

Changelog

• tkfilebrowser 2.4.0

  • Add "openpath" mode to the FileBrowser to select both files and folders
  • Add askopenpathname() and askopenpathnames() to select path(s)

• tkfilebrowser 2.3.2

  • Show networked drives on Windows
  • Fix click on root button in path bar

• tkfilebrowser 2.3.1

  • Fix path bar navigation in Linux

• tkfilebrowser 2.3.0

  • Make package compatible with Windows
  • Set initial focus on entry in save mode

• tkfilebrowser 2.2.6

  • No longer reset path bar when clicking on a path button
  • Fix bug caused by broken links

• tkfilebrowser 2.2.5

  • Add compatibility with Tk < 8.6.0 (requires PIL.ImageTk)
  • Add desktop icon in shortcuts
  • Fix handling of spaces in bookmarks
  • Fix bug due to spaces in recent file names

• tkfilebrowser 2.2.4

  • Fix bug in desktop folder identification

• tkfilebrowser 2.2.3

  • Fix FileNotFoundError if initialdir does not exist
  • Add Desktop in shortcuts (if found)
  • Improve filetype filtering

• tkfilebrowser 2.2.2

  • Fix ValueError in after_cancel with Python 3.6.5

• tkfilebrowser 2.2.1

  • Fix __main__.py for python 2

• tkfilebrowser 2.2.0

  • Use babel instead of locale in order not to change the locale globally
  • Speed up (a little) folder content display
  • Improve example: add comparison with default dialogs
  • Add select all on Ctrl+A if multiple selection is enabled
  • Disable folder creation button if the user does not have write access
  • Improve extension management in save mode

• tkfilebrowser 2.1.1

  • Fix error if LOCAL_PATH does not exists or is not writable

• tkfilebrowser 2.1.0

  • Add compatibility with tkinter.filedialog keywords 'master' and 'defaultextension'
  • Change look of filetype selector
  • Fix bugs when navigating without displaying hidden files
  • Fix color alternance bug when hiding hidden files
  • Fix setup.py
  • Hide suggestion drop-down when nothing matches anymore

• tkfilebrowser 2.0.0

  • Change package name to tkfilebrowser to respect PEP 8
  • Display error message when an issue occurs during folder creation
  • Cycle only through folders with key browsing in "opendir" mode
  • Complete only with folder names in "opendir" mode
  • Fix bug: grey/white color alternance not always respected
  • Add __main__.py with an example
  • Add "Recent files" shortcut
  • Make the text of the validate and cancel buttons customizable
  • Add possibility to disable new folder creation
  • Add python 2 support
  • Add horizontal scrollbar

• tkFileBrowser 1.1.2

  • Add tooltips to display the full path of the shortcut if the mouse stays long enough over it.
  • Fix bug: style of browser treeview applied to parent

• tkFileBrowser 1.1.1

  • Fix bug: key browsing did not work with capital letters
  • Add specific icons for symlinks
  • Add handling of symlinks, the real path is returned instead of the link path

• tkFileBrowser 1.1.0

  • Fix bug concerning the initialfile argument
  • Add column sorting (by name, size, modification date)

• tkFileBrowser 1.0.1

  • Set default filebrowser parent to None as for the usual filedialogs and messageboxes.

• tkFileBrowser 1.0.0

  • Initial version

Example

from tkfilebrowser import askopendirname, askopenfilenames, asksaveasfilename, askopenpathnames
try:
    import tkinter as tk
    from tkinter import ttk
    from tkinter import filedialog
except ImportError:
    import Tkinter as tk
    import ttk
    import tkFileDialog as filedialog

root = tk.Tk()

style = ttk.Style(root)
style.theme_use("clam")
root.configure(bg=style.lookup('TFrame', 'background'))

def c_open_file_old():
    rep = filedialog.askopenfilenames(parent=root, initialdir='/', initialfile='tmp',
                                      filetypes=[("PNG", "*.png"),
                                                 ("JPEG", "*.jpg"),
                                                 ("All files", "*")])
    print(rep)


def c_open_dir_old():
    rep = filedialog.askdirectory(parent=root, initialdir='/tmp')
    print(rep)


def c_save_old():
    rep = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(parent=root, defaultextension=".png",
                                       initialdir='/tmp', initialfile='image.png',
                                       filetypes=[("PNG", "*.png"),
                                                  ("JPEG", "*.jpg"),
                                                  ("Text files", "*.txt"),
                                                  ("All files", "*")])
    print(rep)


def c_open_file():
    rep = askopenfilenames(parent=root, initialdir='/', initialfile='tmp',
                           filetypes=[("Pictures", "*.png|*.jpg|*.JPG"),
                                      ("All files", "*")])
    print(rep)


def c_open_dir():
    rep = askopendirname(parent=root, initialdir='/', initialfile='tmp')
    print(rep)


def c_save():
    rep = asksaveasfilename(parent=root, defaultext=".png", initialdir='/tmp', initialfile='image.png',
                            filetypes=[("Pictures", "*.png|*.jpg|*.JPG"),
                                       ("Text files", "*.txt"),
                                       ("All files", "*")])
    print(rep)


def c_path():
    rep = askopenpathnames(parent=root, initialdir='/', initialfile='tmp')
    print(rep)


ttk.Label(root, text='Default dialogs').grid(row=0, column=0, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')
ttk.Label(root, text='tkfilebrowser dialogs').grid(row=0, column=1, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')
ttk.Button(root, text="Open files", command=c_open_file_old).grid(row=1, column=0, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')
ttk.Button(root, text="Open folder", command=c_open_dir_old).grid(row=2, column=0, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')
ttk.Button(root, text="Save file", command=c_save_old).grid(row=3, column=0, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')
ttk.Button(root, text="Open files", command=c_open_file).grid(row=1, column=1, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')
ttk.Button(root, text="Open folder", command=c_open_dir).grid(row=2, column=1, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')
ttk.Button(root, text="Save file", command=c_save).grid(row=3, column=1, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')
ttk.Button(root, text="Open paths", command=c_path).grid(row=4, column=1, padx=4, pady=4, sticky='ew')

root.mainloop()