Can I prompt a user to save a file using windows explorer?

Question

I'm trying to build a windows batch file that will copy a folder and all its contents from the local user directory into an individually named folder on a shared server. The name of the folder on the server is something that the computer can't generate; I have to put it in manually according to various parameters.

My question is whether there's a way for me to make the batch file prompt me to select the destination folder from a gui, which would in this case be faster than trying to type a long, complicated, awkward name string from memory.

The end result would be that I get one of these computers, run the batch file from the server (so I don't have to keep copies of it everywhere), find and select the folder for it to copy into, and be done.

What I'm envisioning is a window just like when you download something and have to choose where to save it. Can I do that with a batch file (and if so, how?) or is that too sophisticated?

Answer 1

I would not use a Windows batch file for this.

I would use AutoHotKey which has a file chooser and can run batch commands such as Robocopy for you.

Once you have created your AutoHotKey script, there is a compiler to turn it into a single, stand alone .exe file that is easily distributed wherever you need it without having to install AHK everywhere (search for ahk2exe on this documentation page).