File / folder chooser dialog from a Windows batch script

Question

Typically, asking the user to supply a file name to a batch script is a messy affair, requiring no misspellings, quotes around paths with spaces, and so forth. Unfortunatel

Answer 1

A file / folder selection may be done with pure Batch, as shown below. Of course, the feel and look is not as pleasant as a GUI, but it works very well and in my opinion it is easier to use than the GUI version. The selection method is based on CHOICE command, so it would require to download it in the Windows versions that don't include it and slightly modify its parameters. Of course, the code may be easily modified in order to use SET /P instead of CHOICE, but this change would eliminate the very simple and fast selection method that only requires one keypress to navigate and select.

@echo off
setlocal

rem Select a file or folder browsing a directory tree
rem Antonio Perez Ayala

rem Usage examples of SelectFileOrFolder subroutine:

call :SelectFileOrFolder file=
echo/
echo Selected file from *.* = "%file%"
pause

call :SelectFileOrFolder file=*.bat
echo/
echo Selected Batch file = "%file%"
pause

call :SelectFileOrFolder folder=/F
echo/
echo Selected folder = "%folder%"
pause

goto :EOF


:SelectFileOrFolder resultVar [ "list of wildcards" | /F ]

setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

rem Process parameters
set "files=*.*"
if "%~2" neq "" (
   if /I "%~2" equ "/F" (set "files=") else set "files=%~2"
)

rem Set the number of lines per page, max 34
set "pageSize=30"
set "char=0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"

rem Load current directory contents
set "name[1]=  .."
:ProcessThisDir
set "numNames=1"
for /D %%a in (*) do (
   set /A numNames+=1
   set "name[!numNames!]=  %%a"
)
for %%a in (%files%) do (
   set /A numNames+=1
   set "name[!numNames!]=       %%a"
)
set /A numPages=(numNames-1)/pageSize+1

rem Show directory contents, one page at a time
set start=1
:ShowPage
set /A page=(start-1)/pageSize+1, end=start+pageSize-1
if %end% gtr %numNames% set end=%numNames%
cls
echo Page %page%/%numPages% of %CD%
echo/
if %start% equ 1 (set base=0) else set "base=1"
set /A lastOpt=pageSize+base, j=base
for /L %%i in (%start%,1,%end%) do (
   for %%j in (!j!) do echo     !char:~%%j,1! -  !name[%%i]!
   set /A j+=1
)
echo/

rem Assemble the get option message
if %start% equ 1 (set "mssg=: ") else (set "mssg= (0=Previous page")
if %end% lss %numNames% (
   if "%mssg%" equ ": " (set "mssg= (") else set "mssg=%mssg%, "
   set "mssg=!mssg!Z=Next page"
)
if "%mssg%" neq ": " set "mssg=%mssg%): "

:GetOption
choice /C "%char%" /N /M "Select desired item%mssg%"
if %errorlevel% equ 1 (
   rem "0": Previous page or Parent directory
   if %start% gtr 1 (
      set /A start-=pageSize
      goto ShowPage
   ) else (
      cd ..
      goto ProcessThisDir
   )
)
if %errorlevel% equ 36 (
   rem "Z": Next page, if any
   if %end% lss %numNames% (
      set /A start+=pageSize
      goto ShowPage
   ) else (
      goto GetOption
   )
)
if %errorlevel% gtr %lastOpt% goto GetOption
set /A option=start+%errorlevel%-1-base
if %option% gtr %numNames% goto GetOption
if defined files (
   if "!name[%option%]:~0,5!" neq "" goto endSelect
) else (
   choice /C OS /M "Open or Select '!name[%option%]:~7!' folder"
   if errorlevel 2 goto endSelect
)
cd "!name[%option%]:~7!"
goto ProcessThisDir

:endSelect
rem Return selected file/folder
for %%a in ("!name[%option%]:~7!") do set "result=%%~Fa"
endlocal & set "%~1=%result%
exit /B