QFileDialog: strange different behaviour of AnyFile and ExistingFile

[lemzwerg]

Consider this dialog (using Qt 4.8):

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QFileDialog dialog(this);
dialog.setDirectory(QDir::homePath());
dialog.setFileMode(QFileDialog::ExistingFile);
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If I call such a dialogue, it shows the contents of my home directory (say, '/home/wl').

However, if I replace 'ExistingFile' with 'AnyFile', the dialog shows the contents of '/home', and the directory 'wl' is selected.

Why is this so? I would expect exactly the same behaviour instead, and the documentation of QFileDialog doesn't mention a difference.

Interestingly, the static functions 'getOpenFileName' and 'getSaveFileName' do behave the same w.r.t. 'homePath'.

A bug?

[broadpeak]

According to Qt documentation, the two functions aren't the same, read carefully the subtle differentations:

http://developer.qt.nokia.com/doc/qt-4.8/QFileDialog.html

" QFileDialog dialog(this);
dialog.setFileMode(QFileDialog::AnyFile);

In the above example, the mode of the file dialog is set to AnyFile, meaning that the user can select any file, or even specify a file that doesn't exist . This mode is useful for creating a "Save As" file dialog. Use ExistingFile if the user must select an existing file , or Directory if only a directory may be selected . See the QFileDialog::FileMode enum for the complete list of modes."

[lemzwerg]

I'm fully aware of the difference, thanks. However, the Qt documentation doesn't explain why the file dialog starts one level higher (namely in '/home') for AnyFile compared to ExistingFile (which starts in '/home/wl') – with the same start directory argument. This is completely illogical.

BTW, I'm experiencing this on a GNU/Linux box.

[Kol111]

I too have the same issue. Qt 4.8.4 Linux Fedora16

[lokifacio]

Setting the directory is not enough for QFileDialog with AnyFiles flag. It could mean you want to create a new directory or save your data in existing one. If you want to get inside the given directory you must set a file name to give QFIleDialog a hint about what you really want. Thus, the following code will show the contents of the the directory you've specified (i.e. /home/wl)

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dialog.setDirectory("/home/wl");
dialog.selectFile("newFile");
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