Select folder using FolderBrowserDialog in PS?

I'd like to prompt in Powershell for a folder name. I've tried the
following code but it pops up without listing any folders.

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms")
$foldername = new-object System.Windows.Forms.folderbrowserdialog
$foldername.showdialog()

Doing a search shows other people have that problem in VS mentions that
FolderBrowserDialog must run in a single threaded apartment.

Any idea if this can be done in Powershell?

Thanks,
Jim

You need to set the start directory:

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms")
$foldername = new-object System.Windows.Forms.folderbrowserdialog
$foldername.InitialDirectory = "C:\"
$foldername.showdialog()

--Greg

"Jim Holcomb" <jim@example.net> wrote in message
news:OCKZYjXUHHA.4756@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:

> I'd like to prompt in Powershell for a folder name. I've tried the
> following code but it pops up without listing any folders.
>
> [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms")
> $foldername = new-object System.Windows.Forms.folderbrowserdialog
> $foldername.showdialog()
>
> Doing a search shows other people have that problem in VS mentions that
> FolderBrowserDialog must run in a single threaded apartment.
>
> Any idea if this can be done in Powershell?
>
> Thanks,
> Jim

There doesn't seem to be a property InitialDirectory when I try it & there is
no mention of that property in the Visual studio documentation. Could you
supply a reference to it?
--
Richard Siddaway
Please note that all scripts are supplied "as is" and with no warranty
Blog: http://richardsiddaway.spaces.live.com/
PowerShell User Group: http://www.get-psuguk.org.uk


"Greg Wojan" wrote:

> You need to set the start directory:
>
> [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms")
> $foldername = new-object System.Windows.Forms.folderbrowserdialog
> $foldername.InitialDirectory = "C:\"
> $foldername.showdialog()
>
> --Greg
>
> "Jim Holcomb" <jim@example.net> wrote in message
> news:OCKZYjXUHHA.4756@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:
>
> > I'd like to prompt in Powershell for a folder name. I've tried the
> > following code but it pops up without listing any folders.
> >
> > [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms")
> > $foldername = new-object System.Windows.Forms.folderbrowserdialog
> > $foldername.showdialog()
> >
> > Doing a search shows other people have that problem in VS mentions that
> > FolderBrowserDialog must run in a single threaded apartment.
> >
> > Any idea if this can be done in Powershell?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jim
>
>

Documentation? What's that? <sigh>

Actually I found the code snippet on the old Sapien blog as a comment to
a post Jeff Hicks did using VBScript.

Here's the original comment:
----------------------------
Re: Open Sesame
by Gabor Ratky on Fri 24 Nov 2006 04:10 AM PST | Permanent Link
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
$ofdlg = New-Object -TypeName System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
$ofdlg.Title = "Select file.."
$ofdlg.InitialDirectory =
[System.Environment]::GetFolderPath("MyDocuments")
$ofdlg.RestoreDirectory = True
$ofdlg.ShowDialog()

Write-Output $ofdlg.FileName
----------------------------

After I looked at the MSDN documentation I found properties called
'RootFolder' and 'SelectedPath' which appear to have similar
functionality. I also found a few other references to 'InitialDirectory'
on a couple of other websites.

Update: Using Reflector I found 'InitialDirectory' as an inherited
member from System.Windows.Forms.FileDialog.

--Greg

"RichS" <RichS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C541A070-58D3-4128-9500-44A776685525@microsoft.com:

> There doesn't seem to be a property InitialDirectory when I try it & there is
> no mention of that property in the Visual studio documentation. Could you
> supply a reference to it?
> --
> Richard Siddaway
> Please note that all scripts are supplied "as is" and with no warranty
> Blog: http://richardsiddaway.spaces.live.com/
> PowerShell User Group: http://www.get-psuguk.org.uk
>
>
> "Greg Wojan" wrote:
>
> > You need to set the start directory:
> >
> > [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms")
> > $foldername = new-object System.Windows.Forms.folderbrowserdialog
> > $foldername.InitialDirectory = "C:\"
> > $foldername.showdialog()
> >
> > --Greg
> >
> > "Jim Holcomb" <jim@example.net> wrote in message
> > news:OCKZYjXUHHA.4756@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:
> >
> > > I'd like to prompt in Powershell for a folder name. I've tried the
> > > following code but it pops up without listing any folders.
> > >
> > > [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms")
> > > $foldername = new-object System.Windows.Forms.folderbrowserdialog
> > > $foldername.showdialog()
> > >
> > > Doing a search shows other people have that problem in VS mentions that
> > > FolderBrowserDialog must run in a single threaded apartment.
> > >
> > > Any idea if this can be done in Powershell?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Jim
> >
> >