Python 3 - Open File Dialog Window In Tkinter With filedialog

I wanted to make a file loader for a chatbot program I am working on in Python 3 using Tkinter. I thought  that it would be a tricky task until I stumbled up the filedialoge module and the askopenfilename function.

Tkinter uses the filedialoge access the askopenfilename to open a window that matches the format of your operating system. Mine is currently Windows 8, so it looks like this.

How good does that look. To use the askopenfilename function you need to import it:

from tkinter.filedialog import askopenfilename

Because you will probably want to run the file from a command in a menu bar of from a button click it's probably a good idea to wrap it in a function:

def OpenFile():

    name = askopenfilename(initialdir="C:/Users/Batman/tkinter/",

                           filetypes =(("Text File", "*.txt"),("All Files","*.*")),

                           title = "Choose a file."

                           )

The askopenfilename function can have a number of options or no options and you can leave it blank. The ones I have used in this example I think are the most useful:

initialdir 

 set the the initial file location that the function will open it.

filetypes

This allows you set the type of files you want the user open. The end result appears in the bottom drop down menu.
First you set the file in a tuple ("Text File", "*.txt"). The first input is the title you want to name the file type(e.g. "Text File") and the second string is the file name ("*.txt"). If you have a custom file type, like ("*.noob"), then you can use that too.
What I discovered is that it requires a minimum of two file types for this option to work. So if you get an error this might be it.

title

This is the title you want to add to the top bar. 

In the below example you can execute the file in the Menu in File-Open. I thought I'd give you a realistic application of the askopenfilename.

	#! Python 3.4
	"""
	Open a file dialog window in tkinter using the filedialog method.
	Tkinter has a prebuilt dialog window to access files.
	This example is designed to show how you might use a file dialog askopenfilename
	and use it in a program.
	"""
	from tkinter import *
	from tkinter import ttk
	from tkinter.filedialog import askopenfilename
	root = Tk( )
	#This is where we lauch the file manager bar.
	def OpenFile():
	name = askopenfilename(initialdir="C:/Users/Batman/Documents/Programming/tkinter/",
	filetypes =(("Text File", "*.txt"),("All Files","*.*")),
	title = "Choose a file."
	)
	print (name)
	#Using try in case user types in unknown file or closes without choosing a file.
	try:
	with open(name,'r') as UseFile:
	print(UseFile.read())
	except:
	print("No file exists")
	Title = root.title( "File Opener")
	label = ttk.Label(root, text ="I'm BATMAN!!!",foreground="red",font=("Helvetica", 16))
	label.pack()
	#Menu Bar
	menu = Menu(root)
	root.config(menu=menu)
	file = Menu(menu)
	file.add_command(label = 'Open', command = OpenFile)
	file.add_command(label = 'Exit', command = lambda:exit())
	menu.add_cascade(label = 'File', menu = file)
	root.mainloop()
	'''
	RESULTS:
	>>>
	C:/Users/Scott/Documents/Programming/json/test.txt
	"I like to move it, groove it!"
	'''

view raw Tkinter_filedialog.py hosted with ❤ by GitHub

As you can see from the first print the file does not open the document, rather it gets the file location and from there you can open and use the file. In the above example I have opened the file as a variable and then read it because I had a text file. You could as easily put the variable in a label or text widget in tkinter.

Useful Links:
http://effbot.org/tkinterbook/tkinter-file-dialogs.htm
http://tkinter.unpythonic.net/wiki/tkFileDialog