User selection of multiple files for macro

[cammcdermaid]

Hi friends

Is there any way to allow selection of multiple files to pass to a macro that I can iterate through, perhaps something like tk_choose.files in the R tcltk library? I'd then iterate through the file names in the macro to create an aggregate.

Due to a variety of issues with changes in file names, etc. the most desirable way to implement this, I think, is using something like fopen but allowing a user to select multiple files which could be passed to a macro. Relying on standard file names or a repository directory where new files are placed and all are imported using a macro extended function isn't a viable option.

Right now, I'm iterating through file selections using fopen to construct the macro based on the _rc value with each iteration and it works as expected but I was wondering if there was a more elegant solution.

loc exit=0
while `exit'==0{
capture window fopen D_dta "Select a dataset to use:" "Stata Data (*.dta)|*.dta|All Files (*.*)|*.*" dta
loc exit=_rc
loc files `files' $D_dta
 }

[Bjarte Aagnes]

Some might suggest how to program this using dialog -help dialog_programming-, If using python is an option:

python:

from sfi import Macro 
from tkinter import filedialog

files=filedialog.askopenfilenames() 

Macro.setLocal("files", " ".join(files) )

end

[cammcdermaid]

Thanks very much Bjarte, I'll give the python option a try.

I subsequently discovered the native option using the loop code I provided in the opening message doesn't perform as expected if there are spaces in the file names and it also introduces a blank element to the end of the aggregated macro on exit when _rc==601. The following code addresses this.

loc exit=0
while `exit'==0{
capture window fopen D_dta "Select a dataset to use:" "Excel File .xlsx" xlsx
loc exit=_rc
if `exit'==0{
local data: di `""$D_dta""'
loc files `"`files' `data'"'             
}
}

loc index=0
foreach lev of loc files{
    di "`lev'"
    import excel "`lev'", sheet("IP") firstrow clear case(lower)
        if `index'==0{
            save file.dta, replace
        }
    else{
        append using file.dta 
        save file.dta, replace
    }
loc index=`index'+1
}

[Bjarte Aagnes]

To address spaces in filenames, and removing the Tk window:

python:

from sfi import Macro
from tkinter import filedialog  

# close Tk window
root = tkinter.Tk(); root.withdraw()

tuple_files = filedialog.askopenfilenames()

string_files =  " , ".join(f'"{w}"' for w in tuple_files)

Macro.setLocal("files", string_files)

end

macro dir _files