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How to set the last path as the next default using JFileChooser

I have several dialog boxes which provide a File Chooser. For the first, my coding was like this
JFileChooser chooser= new JFileChooser();
chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
int returnVal= chooser.showOpenDialog(this);
if(returnVal==JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION){
File f= chooser.getSelectedFile();
jTextField1.setText(f.getPath());
chooser.setCurrentDirectory(f);
}
In my case, i would like to set the last path which is selected as the default path in next selection JFileChooser. Is there any solution for me?
Thanks for any response

Depending on your requirements, you can use Preferences to store it away and use it again after the program has been restarted.
Preferences pref = Preferences.userRoot();
// Retrieve the selected path or use
// an empty string if no path has
// previously been selected
String path = pref.get("DEFAULT_PATH", "");
JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
// Set the path that was saved in preferences
chooser.setCurrentDirectory(new File(path));
int returnVal = chooser.showOpenDialog(null);
if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION)
{
File f = chooser.getSelectedFile();
chooser.setCurrentDirectory(f);
// Save the selected path
pref.put("DEFAULT_PATH", f.getAbsolutePath());
}

You will have to "remember" the last path.
This can easily be done by storing the value in a instance variable...
private File lastPath;
//...
lastPath = f.getParentFile();
And simply resetting it when you need to...
//...
if (lastPath != null) {
chooser.setCurrentDirectory(lastPath);
}
You could also use a single instance of the JFileChooser, so each time you show it, it will be at the last location it was used...

How to use JFileChooser to find a file location

Is there a method that i can use to simply find a file location? I'm trying allow the user to choose a file and open it, but I have to have the JFileChooser just choose the file and send the location to another method. What's the best way to do this?

The example in the javadoc show show to do this:
JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
FileNameExtensionFilter filter = new FileNameExtensionFilter(
"JPG & GIF Images", "jpg", "gif");
chooser.setFileFilter(filter);
int returnVal = chooser.showOpenDialog(parent);
if(returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
System.out.println("You chose to open this file: " +
chooser.getSelectedFile().getName());
}
That's what chooser.getSelectedFile() is doing. Take the result of that and pass it to another method.

chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
// You can use
// chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.FILES_AND_DIRECTORIES); too
File file = chooser.getSelectedFile();
String fullPath = file.getAbsolutePath();
Then Pass the String to the other method.

We can also use TextArea to get paths of any file example here for Image File and the name of
object TextArea is txtPath, and we make ActionPerformed to JButton named bChoose with the folowing method.
JFileChooser fc = new JFileChooser();
FileNameExtensionFilter filter = new FileNameExtensionFilter("Image Files", "jpg", "png", "gif");
fc.setFileFilter(filter);
fc.showDialog(bChoose, "Choose File");
String strPath = txtPath.getText() + "\n" + fc.getSelectedFile().toString();
txtPath.setText(strPath);

Using JFileChooser without opening the actual file

I'm using the JFileChooser to allow a user to choose a .txt file that will later be processed by my program, however when the user chooses the file, it is actually opened by my computers default app (in my case TeXworks) as well as used by my program. Any idea how I can stop this?
File fileToOpen = fileChooser.getSelectedFile();

JFileChooser's getSelectedFile() method, returns a File object.
Use the getAbsolutePath() to get the absolute name to the file.
Modified example from the JavaDoc:
JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.FILES_ONLY);
int returnVal = chooser.showOpenDialog(parent);
if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION)
{
System.out.println("You chose to open this directory: " + chooser.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath());
}
So in your case you just need to append .getAbsolutePath() to the end of your statement, like this:
File fileToOpen = fileChooser.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath();

Get the path of a directory using JFileChooser

How can I get the absolute path of a directory using JFileChooser, just selecting the directory?

Use:
chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
//or
chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.FILES_AND_DIRECTORIES);
together with:
chooser.getCurrentDirectory()
//or
chooser.getSelectedFile();
then call getAbsoluteFile() on the File object returned.

JFileChooser's getSelectedFile() method, returns a File object.
Use the getAbsolutePath() to get the absolute name to the file.
modified example from the javadoc:
JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
int returnVal = chooser.showOpenDialog(parent);
if(returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
System.out.println("You chose to open this directory: " +
chooser.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath());
}

Try:
chooser.setFileSelectionMode(JFileChooser.DIRECTORIES_ONLY);
File file = chooser.getSelectedFile();
String fullPath = file.getAbsolutePath();
System.out.println(fullPath);
fullPath gives you the required Absolute path of the Selected directory

JFileChooser returns wrong file name?

final JFileChooser fc = new JFileChooser();
int returnVal = fc.showOpenDialog(this);
if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
String fileName = fc.getSelectedFile().getName();
String path = (new File(fileName)).getAbsolutePath();
}
The absolute path I get is the concatenation of the project directory and fileName!

JFileChooser.getSelectedFile() return the File object.
Why are you getting the file name and instantiating a new File object again?
Can you try:
fc.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath();

That's what getAbsolutePath() does - gets the full path, including drive letter (if you're on Windows), etc. What are you trying to get, just the file name?
After you initialize your File object, you can get just the file name from that, OR you can use JFileChooser.getSelectedFile()
If you're getting /path/to/filefilename but you're expecting /path/to/file/filename then you can add an extra slash to the path as appropriate.

Sure. Because you created new file new File(fileName) using returned filename, that means relative path. Use fc.getSelectedFile().getPath() or fc.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath() instead.