Get a List of All Files in a Folder And All Subfolders using Electron and React

Add to your RSS feedNovember, 9th 20233 min read

1. First, make sure you have Electron and React installed in your project:

Add the Tailwind directives to your src/renderer/src/assets/index.css files

To get a list of all files in a folder and its subfolders using Electron and React, you can use the Input Event to read the directory and file information. Here's a basic example of how you can achieve this:

1. First, make sure you have Electron and React installed in your project:

npm create @quick-start/electron

Then follow the prompts!

1 ✔ Project name: … <electron-app>
2 ✔ Select a framework: › react
3 ✔ Add TypeScript? … Yes
4 ✔ Add Electron updater plugin? … No
5 ✔ Enable Electron download mirror proxy? … No
6 
7 Done.

Electron Vite Initialization Options

2. Add Tailwind to Electron:

npm install -D tailwindcss

then...

npx tailwindcss init

Configure your template paths

Add the paths to all of your template files in your tailwind.config.js file.

1 /** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
2 module.exports = {
3   content: ['./src/renderer/index.html', './src/renderer/src/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}'],
4 };

Add the Tailwind directives to your src/renderer/src/assets/index.css files

1 @tailwind base;
2 @tailwind components;
3 @tailwind utilities;

Now add postcss.config.js file to your root directory.

1 module.exports = {
2   plugins: {
3     tailwindcss: {},
4   },
5 };

Modify your src/preload/index.ts file to set an api route

1 import { contextBridge } from 'electron';
2 import { electronAPI } from '@electron-toolkit/preload';
3 import * as fs from 'fs';
4 
5 const api = {
6   readdirS: async (path: string): Promise<Dirent[]> =>
7     await fs.readdirSync(path, { encoding: 'utf-8', withFileTypes: true }),
8   isDirectory: (path: string): boolean => fs.lstatSync(path).isDirectory(),
9 };
10 
11 if (process.contextIsolated) {
12   try {
13     contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('electron', electronAPI);
14     contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('api', api);
15   } catch (error) {
16     console.error(error);
17   }
18 } else {
19   // @ts-ignore (define in dts)
20   window.electron = electronAPI;
21   // @ts-ignore (define in dts)
22   window.api = api;
23 }

Now add this code to App.ts inside the renderer folder

1 import { useState } from 'react'
2 
3 function App(): JSX.Element {
4   const [files, setFiles] = useState<string[]>([])
5 
6   const folderOnChange = async (e: ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => {
7     if (!e.target.files?.length) return
8     const files: FileList = e.target.files
9     const folderPath = files[0].path
10     const dotIdx = folderPath.lastIndexOf('\\')
11     let folder
12     if (!dotIdx) {
13       folder = folderPath
14     } else {
15       folder = folderPath.substring(0, dotIdx)
16     }
17     const filesAndFolders = await getFiles(folder)
18     setFiles(filesAndFolders)
19   }
20   async function getFiles(dir, files = []): string[] {
21     // Get an array of all files and directories in the passed directory using fs.readdirSync
22     const fileList = await api.readdirS(dir)
23     // Create the full path of the file/directory by concatenating the passed directory and file/directory name
24     for (const file of Array.from(fileList)) {
25       const name = `${dir}\\${file.name}`
26       // Check if the current file/directory is a directory using fs.statSync
27       if (api.isDirectory(name)) {
28         // If it is a directory, recursively call the getFiles function with the directory path and the files array
29         getFiles(name, files)
30       } else {
31         // If it is a file, push the full path to the files array
32         files.push(name)
33       }
34     }
35     return files
36   }
37   return (
38     <div className="container">
39       <div className="flex items-center justify-center w-full mt-5">
40         <label
41           className="flex items-center justify-center w-[216px] h-[45px] border border-gray-300 border-dashed
42         rounded-lg cursor-pointer
43         bg-gray-100 hover:bg-gray-250 dark:hover:bg-bray-400 dark:bg-gray-500 dark:hover:bg-gray-250
44         hover:shadow-lg dark:hover:shadow-gray-400 hover:rotate-44"
45         >
46           <svg
47             width="24"
48             height="24"
49             viewBox="0 0 24 24"
50             fill="none"
51             xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
52           >
53             <path
54               d="M12 10V16M15 13H9M22 10V17C22 19.2091 20.2091 21 18 21H6C3.79086 21 2 19.2091 2 17V7C2 4.79086 3.79086 3 6 3H8.66667C9.53215 3 10.3743 3.28071 11.0667 3.8L12.9333 5.2C13.6257 5.71929 14.4679 6 15.3333 6H18C20.2091 6 22 7.79086 22 10Z"
55               stroke="currentColor"
56               strokeWidth="1.5"
57               strokeLinecap="round"
58               strokeLinejoin="round"
59               className="stroke-gray-500 dark:stroke-gray-400"
60             />
61           </svg>
62 
63           <p className="mb-1 pl-2 text-sm text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">
64             <span className="font-semibold">Select a folder</span>
65           </p>
66           <input
67             type="file"
68             className="hidden"
69             directory=""
70             webkitdirectory=""
71             onChange={folderOnChange}
72           />
73         </label>
74       </span>
75 
76       <div className="relative overflow-x-auto">
77         <table className="w-full text-sm text-left rtl:text-right text-gray-500 dark:text-gray-400">
78           <thead className="text-xs text-gray-700 uppercase bg-gray-50 dark:bg-gray-700 dark:text-gray-400">
79             <tr>
80               <th scope="col" className="px-6 py-3">
81                 File name
82               </th>
83             </tr>
84           </thead>
85           <tbody>
86             {files.length > 0 &&
87               files.map((file) => {
88                 return (
89                   <tr
90                     className="bg-white border-b dark:bg-gray-800 dark:border-gray-700"
91                     key={file}
92                   >
93                     <th
94                       scope="row"
95                       className="px-6 py-4 font-medium text-gray-900 whitespace-nowrap dark:text-white"
96                     >
97                       {file}
98                     </th>
99                   </tr>
100                 )
101               })}
102           </tbody>
103         </table>
104       </span>
105     </span>
106   )
107 }
108 
109 export default App

Run your app:

npm run dev

This example assumes that you have a basic understanding of Electron and React. Also, note that this example doesn't handle errors, and in a production environment, you should implement error handling for better robustness.

electron