Open File Dialogs from View Model

Updated on Sep 15, 2025

Environment

Product Version	2020.2.617
Product	RadFileDialogs for WPF

Description

How to open the RadFileDialogs using an MVVM-friendly approach through the viewmodel.

Solution

You can start by creating a service class similar to the one in Example 1 which will be responsible for opening the window. If needed, you can also introduce an interface with a single OpenFileDialog method and have the OpenFileDialogService class implement this interface.

Example 1: The OpenFileDialogService class

C#

	
    public class OpenFileDialogService
    {
        public string OpenFileDialog()
        {
            RadOpenFileDialog openFileDialog = new RadOpenFileDialog();
            openFileDialog.Filter = "All Files (.)|.";
            openFileDialog.FilterIndex = 1;
            openFileDialog.Multiselect = false;
            openFileDialog.ShowDialog();

            if (openFileDialog.DialogResult == true)
            {
                return openFileDialog.FileName;
            }

            return string.Empty;
        }
    }

You can now define a command in your view model which uses this service and its method.

Example 2: Defining the viewmodel

C#

	
    public class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
    {
		private OpenFileDialogService fileDialogService;

        public MainViewModel()
        {
            this.fileDialogService = new OpenFileDialogService();
            this.OpenFileDialogCommand = new DelegateCommand(OnOpenFileDialog);
        }

        public ICommand OpenFileDialogCommand { get; set; }

        private void OnOpenFileDialog(object obj)
        {
            var fileName = fileDialogService.OpenFileDialog();
        }
    }

Finally, you need to invoke this command from your view.

Example 3: Binding the command in the view

XAML

	
    <Grid>
        <Grid.DataContext>
            <local:MainViewModel />
        </Grid.DataContext>
        <telerik:RadButton Command="{Binding OpenFileDialogCommand}" Content="Open Dialog" />
    </Grid>

See Also

• File Dialogs