JFileChooser impl uses getCanonicalFile() internally during FS browsing.
If the user has a file and a symlink, e.g.:
/home/user/data/file.txt
/data -> /home/user/data,
and wants to select the file through that symlink, he can't browse there,
because the JFileChooser will convert /data to /home/user/data
There are legitimate uses for the need to get the user selected symlink
instead of the canonical path to the target, example:
The selected path may be persisted between app sessions and the user may need
to change the target of the symlink (different version of a library, some VCS uses symlinks for paths to latest valid bits, ...)



File.getCanonical* calls are not apparently made from JFileChooser itself, nor from FileSystemView, but are made from various FileChooserUI subclasses.
  xxxxx@xxxxx   2004-07-21

User can type the full path to the name field, but this is highly uncomfortable.

-----

May be possible to work around this in client code using extreme hacks with subclassing java.io.File etc. By no means straightforward.
  xxxxx@xxxxx   2004-02-24


Have found a workaround which seems to work reliably in Metal on 1.4.2_04 and GTK on 1.5.0 b58, and nearly reliably in Ocean (Metal) on 1.5.0 b58. (In the latter case, sometimes - not always - the first time you traverse a symlink to a dir it will be canonicalized, but you can back up and do it again and it will not be. Failed completely to track down why this happens; when I add a diagnostic patch to java/io/File.java, compile that, and add that using -Xbootclasspath/p:$pathdir, the problem mysteriously does not occur at all.)

Try the following class:

---%<---
package fileChooserCanonicalPath;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileFilter;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.FilenameFilter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import javax.swing.Icon;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.filechooser.FileSystemView;
public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        File tmp = new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"), "fileChooserCanonicalPathTest");
        del(tmp);
        File phys = new File(tmp, "physdir");
        File file = new File(phys, "file");
        File link = new File(tmp, "link");
        phys.mkdirs();
        new FileOutputStream(file).close();
        Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {"ln", "-s", "physdir", link.getAbsolutePath()});
        //UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.gtk.GTKLookAndFeel");
        JFileChooser jfc = new JFileChooser();
        //File currdir = tmp;
        File currdir = translate(tmp);
        jfc.setCurrentDirectory(currdir);
        jfc.setFileSystemView(new WrapperFileSystemView());
        System.out.println("Try to select " + new File(link, "file").getAbsolutePath());
        jfc.showOpenDialog(null);
        System.out.println(jfc.getSelectedFile());
        System.exit(0);
    }
    private static void del(File f) throws IOException {
        if (f.isDirectory()) {
            File[] ks = f.listFiles();
            for (int i = 0; i < ks.length; i++) {
                del(ks[i]);
            }
        }
        f.delete();
    }
    private static File translate(File f) {
        if (f instanceof WrapperFile) {
            return f;
        } else if (f != null) {
            return new WrapperFile(f);
        } else {
            return null;
        }
    }
    private static File[] translate(File[] fs) {
        if (fs != null) {
            for (int i = 0; i < fs.length; i++) {
                fs[i] = translate(fs[i]);
            }
        }
        return fs;
    }
    private static File normalize(File f) {
        if (f.getAbsolutePath().equals("/..")) {
            return new File("/");
        } else {
            return new File(f.toURI().normalize());
        }
    }
    private static final class WrapperFile extends File {
        public WrapperFile(File orig) {
            this(orig.getPath());
        }
        private WrapperFile(String path) {
            super(path);
        }
        private WrapperFile(URI uri) {
            super(uri);
        }
        public File getCanonicalFile() throws IOException {
            return translate(normalize(this));
        }
        public String getCanonicalPath() throws IOException {
            return normalize(this).getAbsolutePath();
        }
        public File getParentFile() {
            return translate(super.getParentFile());
        }
        public File getAbsoluteFile() {
            return translate(super.getAbsoluteFile());
        }
        public File[] listFiles() {
            return translate(super.listFiles());
        }
        public File[] listFiles(FileFilter filter) {
            return translate(super.listFiles(filter));
        }
        public File[] listFiles(FilenameFilter filter) {
            return translate(super.listFiles(filter));
        }
    }
    private static final class WrapperFileSystemView extends FileSystemView {
        private final FileSystemView delegate = FileSystemView.getFileSystemView();
        public WrapperFileSystemView() {}
        public boolean isFloppyDrive(File dir) {
            return delegate.isFloppyDrive(dir);
        }
        public boolean isComputerNode(File dir) {
            return delegate.isComputerNode(dir);
        }
        public File createNewFolder(File containingDir) throws IOException {
            return translate(delegate.createNewFolder(containingDir));
        }
        public boolean isDrive(File dir) {
            return delegate.isDrive(dir);
        }
        public boolean isFileSystemRoot(File dir) {
            return delegate.isFileSystemRoot(dir);
        }
        public File getHomeDirectory() {
            return translate(delegate.getHomeDirectory());
        }
        public File createFileObject(File dir, String filename) {
            return translate(delegate.createFileObject(dir, filename));
        }
        public Boolean isTraversable(File f) {
            return delegate.isTraversable(f);
        }
        public boolean isFileSystem(File f) {
            return delegate.isFileSystem(f);
        }
        /*
        protected File createFileSystemRoot(File f) {
            return translate(delegate.createFileSystemRoot(f));
        }
         */
        public File getChild(File parent, String fileName) {
            return translate(delegate.getChild(parent, fileName));
        }
        public File getParentDirectory(File dir) {
            return translate(delegate.getParentDirectory(dir));
        }
        public Icon getSystemIcon(File f) {
            return delegate.getSystemIcon(f);
        }
        public boolean isParent(File folder, File file) {
            return delegate.isParent(folder, file);
        }
        public String getSystemTypeDescription(File f) {
            return delegate.getSystemTypeDescription(f);
        }
        public File getDefaultDirectory() {
            return translate(delegate.getDefaultDirectory());
        }
        public String getSystemDisplayName(File f) {
            return delegate.getSystemDisplayName(f);
        }
        public File[] getRoots() {
            return translate(delegate.getRoots());
        }
        public boolean isHiddenFile(File f) {
            return delegate.isHiddenFile(f);
        }
        public File[] getFiles(File dir, boolean useFileHiding) {
            return translate(delegate.getFiles(dir, useFileHiding));
        }
        public boolean isRoot(File f) {
            return delegate.isRoot(f);
        }
        public File createFileObject(String path) {
            return translate(delegate.createFileObject(path));
        }
    }
}
---%<---

If you comment out the call to setFileSystemView (and use "File currdir = tmp;") the bug is clearly manifested on Linux: though you try to select .../link/file you wind up selecting .../physdir/file. With the code as written it usually works; you can select .../link/file. You can uncomment the call to UIManager to test on GTK as well.
  xxxxx@xxxxx   2004-07-21

Will investigate to see if the getCanonicalPath() method can be modified for
JFileChooser.
  xxxxx@xxxxx   2003-09-30
Two stack traces that will help in evaluation:
I'm creating a JFileChooser with a currentDirectory parameter that is a symbolic link.

MetalFileChooserUI.DirectoryComboboxModel canonicalize file ...

        at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI$DirectoryComboBoxModel.addItem(MetalFileChooserUI.java:942)
        at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI$DirectoryComboBoxModel.access$800(MetalFileChooserUI.java:900)
        at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI.doDirectoryChanged(MetalFileChooserUI.java:651)
        at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI.access$1100(MetalFileChooserUI.java:36)
        at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI$5.propertyChange(MetalFileChooserUI.java:737)
        at java.beans.PropertyChangeSupport.firePropertyChange(PropertyChangeSupport.java:338)
        at java.beans.PropertyChangeSupport.firePropertyChange(PropertyChangeSupport.java:275)
        at java.awt.Component.firePropertyChange(Component.java:7688)
        at javax.swing.JFileChooser.setCurrentDirectory(JFileChooser.java:563)
        at javax.swing.JFileChooser.<init>(JFileChooser.java:333)
        at javax.swing.JFileChooser.<init>(JFileChooser.java:315)


... and sets it to JFileChooser instance:


        at javax.swing.JFileChooser.setCurrentDirectory(JFileChooser.java:563)
        at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI$DirectoryComboBoxAction.actionPerformed(MetalFileChooserUI.java:1137)
        at javax.swing.JComboBox.fireActionEvent(JComboBox.java:1207)
        at javax.swing.JComboBox.contentsChanged(JComboBox.java:1278)
        at javax.swing.AbstractListModel.fireContentsChanged(AbstractListModel.java:100)
        at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI$DirectoryComboBoxModel.setSelectedItem(MetalFileChooserUI.java:1000)
        at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI$DirectoryComboBoxModel.addItem(MetalFileChooserUI.java:971)
Posted Date : 2005-11-24 20:07:58.0