A File Import object is used to display a file browser with an associated input field for browsing to a file or entering its path and name. It is used to enable file import by the user of an application at run time, when the file is not available in the application beforehand.

The corresponding File Import object is shown in the figure below.

The Settings window for the File Import object has a section File Destination. In this section, you can select any tree node that allows a filename as input. This is shown in the figure below, where the Filename for a geometry Import node is selected.

In this application, the File types table specifies that only CAD files are allowed. You can further control which File types are allowed by clicking the Add and Delete buttons below the list of File types. Clicking the Add button displays the dialog shown below:

By clicking the Create New File Type and Use It you can use your own file format. (This requires that you write method code for reading your own file format.)

The figure to the right shows a custom file type. Adding a custom file type in this way will also create a File Type declaration, as shown in the figure below.

If an input field for the file path and name is not needed, then there are other methods for file import that allow a user to pick a file in a file browser. For example, you can use a menu, ribbon, toolbar item, or a button to open a file browser. The figure below shows the Settings window of a ribbon button (Item) used to import a CAD file.

A File Import object can also reference a File declaration. For more information, see File. For more information on file handling in general, see Appendix C — File Scheme Syntax.

The built-in method that corresponds to the command Import file is importFile. For example, for importing an image you can use: