Develop Reference

Androidemulator - Access files in LocalApplicationData

I'm using xamarin forms to develop an Android app. I can save a file via
var fileName = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData), $"appsettiings.txt");
var data = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(this);
File.WriteAllText(fileName, data);
When I debug I can see that the file should be stored at
/data/user/0/<applicationame>/files/.local/share/appsettiings.txt
I like to see if the file is actually saved and what the content is. I opened the Android device monitor but the data folder was 'empty'. From some other SO case I took that I should but myself in root-mode by executing
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb root
Now the data folder contains data and I can drill down up to the files folder, but that one seems to be empty.
When I run the app again and check in code if the file exists, it actually does.
Any further suggestions how to get access to that file from any tooling. I want to delete that file and run the app again.

You can use adb pull to copy the file to local machine and look at it content like this:
adb root
adb pull /data/user/0/<applicationame>/files/.local/share/appsettiings.txt [LOCAL_FOLDER]
then you can use adb shell then rm -f to remove it, like this:
adb shell
su
rm -f /data/user/0/<applicationame>/files/.local/share/appsettiings.txt
Since the file you are requesting is inside /data folder, you need to have the corresponding root priviliege to get it, so you need to do adb root before the adb pull command, and you need to do su before removing the file.

If I am not mistaken, if you save a file with your approach, it should exist, as you already proofed with the .Exists method.
I am not quite sure, are you just trying to read the content out of the file? Or do you want to access it from outside of the application?
If your desire is to just read the content, you could access it with
string content= File.ReadAllText(your file path);
and set a breakpoint (F9) on the next line.

Python automated script file transferring

I am looking for a solution for copying all the files from a specific directory on the hard drive, to a specific or non specific directory on my android phone, once this device is connected.
I would like these files to be automatically moved (or at least copied) to my phone once I connect it to the computer and run the .py file.
I have windows 7 and python 2.7
I was trying this from another answer but I can't understand because there is few explanation, therefore I cannot get it to work.
edit: I have figured out how to transfer files between to folders but I want to my phone. So how can I fix the error of my system not finding the path of my phone, that'll fix my problem I believe. The code works fine the problem is the path.
Here is my code:
import os
import shutil
sourcePath = r'C:\Users\...\What_to_copy_to_phone'
destPath = r'Computer\XT1032\Internal storage'
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(sourcePath):
#figure out where we're going
dest = destPath + root.replace(sourcePath, '')
#if we're in a directory that doesn't exist in the destination folder
#then create a new folder
if not os.path.isdir(dest):
os.mkdir(dest)
print 'Directory created at: ' + dest
#loop through all files in the directory
for f in files:
#compute current (old) & new file locations
oldLoc = root + '\\' + f
newLoc = dest + '\\' + f
if not os.path.isfile(newLoc):
try:
shutil.copy2(oldLoc, newLoc)
print 'File ' + f + ' copied.'
except IOError:
print 'file "' + f + '" already exists'
I am sorry I am being handful but I thought I had solved it.

In theory, there is no way to access your phone's internal memmory with a drive letter, because, Android connects as an MTP device, and not as a Mass Storage device. But, there are some weird solutions:
Root the phone and get a application which enables "Mass Storage" .
If you can not root and if(only if) both the computer are on the same network, run FTP server in you phone, and you get access for file copy by ftp.
But for you case I recommend adb- adb push C:\src /phone_destination is the best solution.You can google and easily find out way to do this in python.

Google offers adb-sync, which is also available in python. This allows backup/synchronization of files on android device to PC.
The following github repo provides instructions on how to setup the process ie: enable USB Debugging, etc... however I suggest installing 15 second adb installer as opposed to downloading/installing the massive Android SDK just to get adb.
adb-sync: https://github.com/google/adb-sync
15 Sec ADB installer: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979

A little late to answer, but I use SSH certs and crontab to run a ping command against my local IP and pipe that to an scp recursive copy. It will copy any changes over. No issue yet, and it's been running 4 years straight. I can't for the life of me find the command line that's running.

How to access data/data folder in Android device?

I am developing an app and I know my database *.db will appear in data/data/com.****.***
I can access this file from AVD in Eclipse with help of sqlite manager
But I can't access this file in my Android phone.
I googled it and it says I need to root my phone to do it, but I don't want to do that.
How can I access my data/data/..... directory in my Android phone "without rooting it"?
Can I change user permissions for the directory data/data..... without rooting it?

Accessing the files directly on your phone is difficult, but you may be able to copy them to your computer where you can do anything you want with it.
Without rooting you have 2 options:
If the application is debuggable you can use the run-as command in adb shell
adb shell
run-as com.your.packagename
cp /data/data/com.your.packagename/
Alternatively you can use Android's backup function.
adb backup -noapk com.your.packagename
You will now be prompted to 'unlock your device and confirm the backup operation'. It's best NOT to provide a password, otherwise it becomes more difficult to read the data. Just click on 'backup my data'. The resulting 'backup.ab' file on your computer contains all application data in android backup format. Basically it's a compressed tar file. This page explains how you can use OpenSSL's zlib command to uncompress it.
You can use the adb restore backup.db command to restore the backup.

If you are using Android Studio 3.0 or later version then follow these steps.
Click View > Tool Windows > Device File Explorer.
Expand /data/data/[package-name] nodes.
You can only expand packages which runs in debug mode on non-rooted device.

You could also try fetching the db using root explorer app. And if that does not work then you can try this:
Open cmd
Change your directory and go into 'Platform tools'
Type 'adb shell'
su
Press 'Allow' on device
chmod 777 /data /data/data /data/data/com.application.package /data/data/com.application.package/*
Open DDMS view in Eclipse and from there open 'FileExplorer' to get your desired file
After this you should be able to browse the files on the rooted device.

To do any of the above (i.e. access protected folders from within your phone itself), you still need root. (That includes changing mount-permissions on the /data folder and accessing it)
Without root, accessing the /data directly to read except from within your application via code isn't possible. So you could try copying that file to sdcard or somewhere accessible, and then, you should be able to access it normally.
Rooting won't void your warranty if you have a developer device. I'm sorry, there isn't any other way AFAIK.

The easiest way (just one simple step) to pull a file from your debuggable application folder (let's say /data/data/package.name/databases/file) on an unrooted Android 5.0+ device is by using this command:
adb exec-out run-as package.name cat databases/file > file

Open your command prompt
Change directory to E:\Android\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20140702\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20140702\sdk\platform-tools
Enter below commands
adb -d shell
run-as com.your.packagename cat databases/database.db > /sdcard/database.db
Change directory to cd /sdcard to make sure database.db is there.
adb pull /sdcard/database.db or simply you can copy database.db from device .

Use File Explorer in eclipse. Select Windows => Show View => Other ... => File Explorer.
An another way is pull the file via adb:
adb pull /system/data/data/<yourpackagename>/databases/<databasename> /sdcard

To backup from Android to Desktop
Open command line cmd and run this:
adb backup -f C:\Intel\xxx.ab -noapk your.app.package.
Do not enter password and click on Backup my data.
Make sure not to save on drive C root. You may be denied.
This is why I saved on C:\Intel.
To extract the *.ab file
Go here and download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/adbextractor/
Extract the downloaded file and navigate to folder where you extracted.
run this with your own file names: java -jar abe.jar unpack c:\Intel\xxx.ab c:\Intel\xxx.tar

I had also the same problem once. There is no way to access directly the file within android devices except adb shell or rooting device.
Beside here are 02 alternatives:
1)
public void exportDatabse(String databaseName)
{
try {
File sd = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
File data = Environment.getDataDirectory();
if (sd.canWrite()) {
String currentDBPath = "//data//"+getPackageName()+"//databases//"+databaseName+"";
String backupDBPath = "backupname.db";
File currentDB = new File(data, currentDBPath);
File backupDB = new File(sd, backupDBPath);
if (currentDB.exists()) {
FileChannel src = new FileInputStream(currentDB).getChannel();
FileChannel dst = new FileOutputStream(backupDB).getChannel();
dst.transferFrom(src, 0, src.size());
src.close();
dst.close();
}
}
} catch (Exception e) {
}
}
2) Try this: https://github.com/sanathp/DatabaseManager_For_Android

On a rooted device, the correct solution is this:
Open cmd
Change your directory and go into 'Platform tools'
Type 'adb shell'
su
Press 'Allow' on device
chmod 777 /data /data/data /data/data/*
Open DDMS view in Eclipse/IntelliJ and from there open 'FileExplorer' to get your desired file
The original solution worked, but the chmod would return unknown directory. Changing the chmod command to /data/data/* gave access to all subfolders in the data directory from DDMS in Intellij. I assume the same solution is true for Eclipse DDMS.
UPDATE
So, what I've found is strange. I'm running a Nexus 6 using DDMS in IntelliJ (Android Device Monitor). I have built a little starter app. Said app saves data to a .csv file in data/data/com.example.myapp/files
When I first started to try to access this file on my Nexus 6, I found that I have to root the device.. I could see the data folder, but trying to open it would not work. As mentioned online in other places, the expand + would vanish then reappear shortly thereafter (note, there are solutions on the web that claim to allow access to these folders without rooting, I didn't find them till too late, and I'm not sure if I prefer not to root anyway ((I'd rather be able to do it manually than rely on an app or command prompt to give me my solutions))). I rooted my 6 and tried DDMS again.
At this point, it showed me the data folder and I could expand the folder and see the com. directories, but I could not open any of them. That is when I discovered the above solution. The initial instructions would not work on this part:
chmod 777 /data /data/data /data/data/com.application.pacakage /data/data/com.application.pacakage/*
That is when I tried the solution I posted:
chmod 777 /data /data/data /data/data/*
That solution seemed to work, but only on certain folders. I now could expand my myapp folder, but could not expand the files directory in it.
At this point, I played around for a while then figured why not just try it on the directory I need rather than trying these wildcard entries.
chmod 777 /data /data/data /data/data/com.example.myapp/*
Followed by:
chmod 777 /data /data/data /data/data/com.example.myapp/files
These commands allowed me to expand and view the files in my app's directory to confirm that the .csv was being saved correctly.
Hope this helps someone. I struggled with this for hours!
(to compound on this a tad further, oddly enough, the permissions did not pass to the .csv file that passed to the files directory. my files directory permissions read drwxrwxrwx and my log.csv file permissions read -rw-rw---- .. just fyi)

may be to access this folder you need administrative rights.
so you have two options:-
root your device and than try to access this folder
use emulator
p.s. : if you are using any of above two options you can access this folder by following these steps
open DDMS perspective -> your device ->(Select File Explorer from
right window options) select package -> data -> data -> package name
->files
and from there you can pull up your file

You can download a sigle file like that:
adb exec-out run-as debuggable.app.package.name cat files/file.mp4 > file.mp4
Before you download you might wan't to have a look at the file structure in your App-Directory. For this do the following steps THelper noticed above:
adb shell
run-as com.your.packagename
cd files
ls -als .
The Android-Studio way Shahidul mentioned (https://stackoverflow.com/a/44089388/1256697) also work. For those who don't see the DeviceFile Explorer Option in the Menu: Be sure, to open the /android-Directory in Android Studio.
E.g. react-native users have this inside of their Project-Folder right on the same Level as the /ios-Directory.

adb backup didn't work for me, so here's what I did (Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X, Android 6.0):
1. Go to Settings > Additional Settings > Backup & reset > Local backups.
2. Tap 'Back up' on the bottom of the screen.
3. Uncheck 'System' and 'Apps' checkmarks.
4. Tap detail disclosure button on the right of the 'Apps' cell to navigate to app selection screen.
5. Select the desired app and tap OK.
6. After the backup was completed, the actual file need to be located somehow. Mine could be found at /MIUI/backup/AllBackup/_FOLDER_NAMED_AFTER_BACKUP_CREATION_DATE_.
7. Then I followed the steps from this answer by RonTLV to actually convert the backup file (.bak in my case) to tar (duplicating from the original answer):
"
a) Go here and download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/adbextractor/
b) Extract the downloaded file and navigate to folder where you extracted.
c) run this with your own file names: java -jar abe.jar unpack c:\Intel\xxx.ab c:\Intel\xxx.tar
"

Simple answer is NO. On upcoming Android 13, you can't access anything in
/storage/emulated/0/Android/*
directory without Rooting your device or hooking up to a PC, certainly not in Pixel devices.
Read Android Source page for such App data access using ADB here:
https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/manage-all-files

One of the simple way is to create your database on SD-Card. Because you cannot get access to your phone's data folder in internal memory, unless you root your phone. So why not simply create your database on SD-Card.
Moreover, if you want, you may write some file copying-code to copy your existing database file (from internal memory) to external memory without requiring any root.

you can copy this db file to somewhere in eclipse explorer (eg:sdcard or PC),and you can use sqlite to access and update this db file .

You can also try copying the file to the SD Card folder, which is a public folder, then you can copy the file to your PC where you can use sqlite to access it.
Here is some code you can use to copy the file from data/data to a public storage folder:
private void copyFile(final Context context) {
try {
File sd = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
File data = Environment.getDataDirectory();
if (sd.canWrite()) {
String currentDBPath =
context.getDatabasePath(DATABASE_NAME).getAbsolutePath();
String backupDBPath = "data.db";
File currentDB = new File(currentDBPath);
File backupDB = new File(sd, backupDBPath);
if (currentDB.exists()) {
FileChannel src = new FileInputStream(currentDB).getChannel();
FileChannel dst = new FileOutputStream(backupDB).getChannel();
dst.transferFrom(src, 0, src.size());
src.close();
dst.close();
}
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Manifest:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_INTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_INTERNAL_STORAGE" />

SQLlite database is store on user's Phone and it's hidding under path:
/Data/Data/com.companyname.AppName/File/
you have 2 options here:
you can root your phone so that you get access to view your hidding
db3 file
this is not a solution but a work around. Why not just create test
page that display your database table in it using 'select' statment.

how to create a file with world readable permission under subdirectory of files directory

I need to create files under myapp/files/subdir with global permission in my application. I do this because I use external applications to open some files
Using this
FileOutputStream fos = openFileOutput(FILENAME, Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);
creates file only under files folder. Using
File dir=new File(Constants.TASK_DIRECTORY);
dir.mkdirs();
File file=new File(dir, FILENAME);
file.createNewFile(); FileOutputStream fos=new FileOutputStream(file);
creates files under subdirectories but with private permissions. I need to find a way to compose those both to create a file in a subdirectory to be world readable
I have been trying a lot of things but none helped me and this was the longest time unanswered question of mine

I know this is an old question, but here is the correct way
public void makeFileWorldReadable(String path)
{
File f = new File(path);
if(!f.exists()) // Create the file if it does not exist.
f.createNewFile();
f.setReadable(true, false);
}

OP asked how to give access to a file in the following hierarchy: appdir/files/subdir/myfile.
The answers provided here don't take subfolder into account, so I feel there's a room for improvement.
In order to access file in hierarchy, a consumer should have execute permission on each folder in a path in order to access (read, write, execute) files underneath it.
For API >= 24
Starting from API 24, Android restricts access to appdir (a.k.a /data/data/appdir):
In order to improve the security of private files, the private
directory of apps targeting Android 7.0 or higher has restricted
access (0700). This setting prevents leakage of metadata of private
files, such as their size or existence.
The appdir doesn't have world-execute permission, and therefore you can't cd into it:
angler:/ $ cd /data/data
angler:/data/data $ cd com.myapp
/system/bin/sh: cd: /data/data/com.myapp: Permission denied
Bottom line: you can give world-readable permission to one of the files in your app's folder, but no other app (as long as they don't share the same Linux user ID) will be able to read them.
Not only that: attempt to pass a file:// URI to external app will trigger a FileUriExposedException.
For API < 24
The appdir folder has world-execute permission by default:
shell:/ $ cd /data/data
shell:/data/data $ cd com.myapp
shell:/data/data/com.myapp $
Note that even the appdir/files folder has world-execute permission:
shell:/data/data/com.myapp $ cd files
shell:/data/data/com.myapp/files $
But if you'll try to create a sub-folder (underneath files folder), using this code:
File subdir = new File(context.getFilesDir(), "subfolder");
subdir.mkdir();
it won't have world-execute permission:
shell:/ $ cd /data/data/com.myapp/files
shell:/data/data/com.myapp/files $ cd subfolder
/system/bin/sh: cd: /data/data/com.myapp/files/subfolder: Permission denied
shell:/data/data/com.myapp/files $ run-as com.myapp
shell:/data/data/com.myapp $ cd files
shell:/data/data/com.myapp/files $ ls -l
total 72
drwx------ 3 u0_a226 u0_a226 4096 2016-11-06 11:49 subfolder
shell:/data/data/com.myapp/files $
Therefore, you have to explicitly give your newly created folder world-execute permission using File#setExecutable method (added in API 9):
subdir.setExecutable(true, false);
And only then, as suggested by others, you can create your file and give it world-readable permission:
File file = new File(subdir, "newfile");
if(!file.exists()) {
file.createNewFile();
file.setReadable(true, false);
}
Doing that will allow any external application read your file:
shell:/ $ cd /data/data/com.myapp/files
shell:/data/data/com.myapp/files $ cd subfolder
shell:/data/data/com.myapp/files/subfolder $ cat newfile > /sdcard/1
shell:/data/data/com.myapp/files/subfolder $ cd /sdcard
shell:/sdcard $ ls 1
1

If you are running it on a rooted device, change file permissions using:
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("chmod 777 " + PATH + fileName);
Or try File.setReadable(), File.setWritable while creating the file.

One workaround I used in the past was to re-open the already existing file using openFileOutput in append mode, and pass in the world readable and/or world writable flags during that time. Then immediately close the file without writing to it.
I like the new methods added in API 9 better though.

Android: How to get installer file name programmatically?

it is possible to get installer file name which is stored on /sdcard/
download/ ? I want to get from app, apk file name which installed it.
There is a easy way to do it especially with non-market app?

The better way is definitely to include the version string in the manifest. This is really the only reliable (and professional) method. Android doesn't store the name of the file containing the APK anywhere, so there isn't a way that you can get it.
Theoretically you could probably build something using a FileObserver, that watched file creation in certain directories and every time a file was created with the extension .apk you could open the file, extract the manifest, find the package name of the APK and then store this along with the filename in some persistent storage. Then, when you need get the version information, you can look in the persisten storage to get the file name matching the package name you need.
Of course, this would only work if your app was installed on the device before the other APK files were downloaded/installed. This wouldn't work to find out the filename of your own application.

Hmm, I am not sure what you mean by sdcard or download folder, but you could get apk path in system /data directory:
command line:
$ adb shell pm list packages | grep mk.trelloapp
package:mk.trelloapp
$ adb shell pm path mk.trelloapp
package:/data/app/mk.trelloapp-1/base.apk
or from you android application code: (simply run process)
Process exec = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("pm path mk.trelloapp");
exec.waitFor();
InputStream inputStream = exec.getInputStream();
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
String line = null;
while( ( line = br.readLine()) != null ) {
builder.append(line);
}
String commandOutput = builder.toString();
Code above should simply give you String containing "package:/data/app/mk.trelloapp-1/base.apk"
When you acquire path in /data directory, you might try to search for same (similar) file in other directories (assuming it was not deleted), since android package is copied to /data directory while instalation.