Equivalent of Matlab's uigetfile in Mathematica

Question

I was wondering if there an equivalent of the "uigetfile" Matlab function to use it in Mathematica.

To be more precise, I want to read many Excel files and I don't want to type a static path; instead, I want to be able to go each time and search for it, like in the browse window.

Here what I want to do in steps:

1. Search the directory of my Excel files using the "SystemDialogInput" probably, in order get the path of the directory.

2. Store the directory in a string.

3. Load the name of all the Excel files inside the this directory.

4. Make a loop and read each of the Excel files based on some condition then perform some calculations.

Answer 1

While I wait for a more complete description of your needs please see:

• How to | Insert a File Path

• FileNameSetter

• SystemDialogInput

And try:

FrontEndTokenExecute["FileNameDialog"]

Or:

SystemDialogInput["FileOpen"]

Answer 2

You probably want a workflow similar to this. First locate one or more Excel files:

files = SystemDialogInput["FileOpen", {NotebookDirectory[], {"Excel File" ->{"*.xlsx","*.xls"}}},
WindowTitle -> "Import Excel File"];

Then import the selected files and do something with the imported data (what that something is, we don't know so no point in speculating):

If[files =!= $Canceled && files =!= $Failed,
(* a single file will be a string, several files will be in a list *)
 tmp = Which[
StringQ[files], Import[files],
ListQ[files], Import /@ files,
True, (* some warning message *)
];
 (* then do something with tmp *)
 ]

Edit

If you want to import csv files then change

{"Excel File" -> {"*.xlsx","*.xls"}}

to

{"CSV File" -> {"*.csv"}}

If you would like to choose between Excel and CSV then

{"Excel File" -> {"*.xlsx", "*.xls"}, "CSV File" -> {"*.csv"}}

If you would like both Excel and CSV to be available to select then

{"Excel or CSV File" -> {"*.xlsx", "*.xls", "*.csv"}}

...and so on.

Answer 3

It seems more consistent with the Matlab uigetfile function to say

fnams = FileNames["*.xlsx"|"*.xls"];
selectedFile = ChoiceDialog["Choose File", fnams];
sheet=Import[selectedFile]