I'm confused about why this bug was marked as "need more info". The
description states that we are using the FileDialog class
and, on Solaris, if you select a directory and hit OK then you get the string
"./" returned rather than the directory name. Further it mentions that, on
Windows, there is no way to even get the FileDialog to return after selecting
a directory - it only returns after selecting a file. What is missing?

We have a number places where the user is asked to specify a directory.
Amending an application's classpath is an example. We get a steady stream
of requests from our users to provide a directory chooser rather than
requiring them to type in a directory name.

Maybe a test case will help clarify. Attached is source code copied from
pages 521-22 from The Java Class Libraries an Annotated Reference, 1997,
by Patrick Chan and Rosanna Lee. We are using JDK 1.1.1. The goal
is to bring up the test program, then bring up the FileDialog, select
a directory and have the name of the selected directory returned to the
program. The source is a simple standalone program.

On Sparc:
- copy the attached file to filedialog.java
- compile filedialog.java using JDK 1.1.1
- from a shell mkdir /tmp/dir, this is the dir that we will try to
select
- run the program
- resize the frame so that you can see the text fields
- in the directory textfield type: /tmp
- click on the Load button; a FileDialog will come up showing
   you the contents of the /tmp directory
- single click on the dir directory in the left-hand column
- click on the OK button; the FileDialog closes and the application
will fetch information from it. At this point, the contents of
the directory field will be replaced with "./". This is what
is returned from the FileDialog.getDirectory() method call on
line 57.

So I was unable to choose a directory. When I select a directory
the FileDialog returns "./".

On Windows, when you bring up the FileDialog you can single-click on
a directory to select it. However, when you hit the Open button, the
FileDialog descends into the selected directory rather than returning
the selected name.


Original Description:
sysnopsis says it

On Solaris, if you use the FileDialog and select a directory, it always
returns ./ And I believe on Windows, that it won't let you only
select a directory - you must select a file.
===============
Another user (IBM ) reported the same problem :

"You cannot use the awt's FileDialog in order to select a directory for
example, as part of a Java program install utility because the 'Save' button
has no effect unless you enter a filename (guess it should be grayed out). On
OS2 the button IS grayed out but you still need to enter
a filename. I guess we did this to mimic the windows behaviour, so maybe this
requires a design change.

Makes my Java install utility look odd because when it asks you for a directory
you need to enter something like;

    c:\dirname\AnyOldFileWhichIsIgnored.xxx"

If you select a directory from a FileDialog and don't specifically pick a file
the filename section remains blank and when you click on the open button
nothing happens. This is very similar to the defect mentioned above but for an
open FileDialog.

 Hopefully this has clarified the problem.


###@###.### 1998-01-19

Cadenec Design Systems wants to make sure this problem gets fixed by the next release of jdk.
Both in 1.1.6 and 1.2.

nasser.nouri@Corp 1998-04-13