Develop Reference

ACTION_VIEW and FileProvider - how to open html file from sdcard in browser

I could not find a smart solution to my problem and that is why I decided to write to you good people. I have a question for your regarding FileProvider and ACTION_VIEW, namely, I save the html file this way:
File sdcard = getBaseContext().getExternalFilesDir(null);
File dir = new File(sdcard.getAbsolutePath() + “/MYDIR/“);
dir.mkdir();
File file = new File(dir, “MYFILE.html");
File recordFile = new File(sdcard.getAbsolutePath()+ "/MYDIR/" + "MYFILE.html");
FileOutputStream os = null;
try {
os = new FileOutputStream(file);
os.write(returnedText.getText().toString().getBytes());
os.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
its path: storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.myapp/files/MYDIR/MYFILE.html
This is how I call my html file:
File sdcard = getBaseContext().getExternalFilesDir(null);
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
File f = new File(sdcard.getAbsolutePath() + "/MYDIR" + "/MYFILE.html");
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFile(f), "text/html");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION|
Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_HISTORY|
Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
Intent.createChooser(intent, "File Browser");
startActivity(intent);
I want to call this MYFILE.html via Intent and open in HTML Viewer, I get this error:
ERR_ACCESS_DENIED
So I decided to try FileProvider, but I get a completely different path. What should I do, any specific idea??? Thanks in advance.
My FileProvider:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<paths xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<external-path
name="external_files"
path="." />
</paths>
<provider
android:name="androidx.core.content.FileProvider"
android:authorities="com.myapp.provider"
android:exported="false"
android:grantUriPermissions="true">
<meta-data
android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
android:resource="#xml/provider_paths" />
</provider>

Android - play video saved from raw assets to local storage using implicit intent failing

I have a file in my raw assets directory which I am trying to save to shared phone storage that will allow other apps to open and view this video.
Basic code to copy file from assets to local storage and generate intent
Intent in = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
// using getFilesDir() below causes this error:
File videoFile = new File(getExternalFilesDirs(null)[1], "talking.mp4");
// check if we have already copied file over
if (!videoFile.exists()) {
try {
InputStream is = getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.talking);
boolean newFile = videoFile.createNewFile();
if (!newFile) {
throw new Exception("Failed to create file");
}
OutputStream os = new FileOutputStream(videoFile);
byte[] data = new byte[is.available()];
is.read(data);
os.write(data);
is.close();
os.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.w("ExternalStorage", "Error writing " + videoFile, e);
Toast.makeText(this, "Failed to copy talking.mp4", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
return;
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
and getting the file using the FileProvider.getUriForFile(Context, String, File) and creating the intent following this:
Uri uri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(getApplicationContext(), getPackageName(), videoFile);
// type of file to view
in.setDataAndType(uri, "video/*");
// ask some other app to deal with it
startActivity(in);
in addition, the following is required in my manifest:
<application ... >
//...
<provider
android:name="androidx.core.content.FileProvider"
android:authorities="${getPackageName()}"
android:exported="false"
android:grantUriPermissions="true">
<meta-data
android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
android:resource="#xml/paths" />
</provider>
</application>
next, to define the paths mentioned above in the FileProvider:
<paths xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<files-path name="my_files_data" path="." />
<external-files-path name="my_files_ext_data" path="." />
<external-path name="my_files_ext" path="." />
</paths>
Question:
When selecting e.g. VLC for Android as the file to handle the intent, the app doesn't play the video. If I try playing it with Google Photos, it loads forever.
This shows my there is something wrong - however I am not quite sure why this isn't working. Is it related to app permissions accessing content root of another app?

Android Problem with sharing temporary file

I' m trying to create a temporary file and share it.
So I created this class:
public class GenerateFile {
public static File writeToFile(Context mcoContext, String sBody) {
String fileName = "LOG FILE_" + String.valueOf(System.currentTimeMillis()) +".txt";
File file = new File(mcoContext.getCacheDir(), fileName);
try{
FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(file);
writer.append(sBody);
writer.flush();
writer.close();
return file;
}catch (Exception e){
Toast.makeText(mcoContext, "File write failed: " + e.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
return null;
}
}
to generate a file that after I will share here:
String logContent = "123";
File filePath = new File(file.getAbsolutePath(), "external_files");
filePath.mkdir();
Uri uri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(StatusActivity.this, getPackageName(), filePath);
Intent intent = ShareCompat.IntentBuilder.from(StatusActivity.this)
.setStream(uri) // uri from FileProvider
.setType("text/html")
.getIntent()
.setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW) //Change if needed
.setDataAndType(uri, "text/*")
.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
startActivity(intent);
And in the manifest there are already this permission:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="com.sec.android.provider.badge.permission.WRITE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="com.sec.android.provider.badge.permission.READ"/>
and the provider declaration
<provider
android:name="android.support.v4.content.FileProvider"
android:authorities="android.getqardio.com.gmslocationtest"
android:exported="false"
android:grantUriPermissions="true">
<meta-data
android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
android:resource="#xml/provider_paths"/>
</provider>
The provider_paths class is defined in this way:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<paths>
<files-path
name="share"
path="external_files"/>
</paths>
But it generate the message, when I try to share it by mail or telegram "Unable to attach file" or "Unsupported attachment". Also it seems to me that the file is not created.

Other apps do not have access to your app's getCacheDir(). FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION and FLAG_GRANT_WRITE_URI_PERMISSION are for content Uri values, not file Uri values. And, on Android 7.0+ devices, your code should crash with a FileUriExposedException.
Use FileProvider to make your content available to other apps, and use FileProvider.getUriForFile() to get the Uri to put in the Intent.

So I follow the suggestion of #CommonsWare, and I edited my code. This is the final result:
public class GenerateFile {
public static Uri getFileURI(Context context, String nameFile, String content, String fileExtension) {
DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy_MM_dd");
Date date = new Date();
String fileName = dateFormat.format(date)+nameFile+fileExtension;
File file = new File(context.getCacheDir(), fileName);
try{
FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(file);
writer.append(content);
writer.flush();
writer.close();
//Toast.makeText(context, "Writing to the file completed successfully", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}catch (Exception e){
Toast.makeText(context, "File writing failed: " + e.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
File filePath = new File(context.getCacheDir(), "");
File newFile = new File(filePath, fileName);
return FileProvider.getUriForFile(context, "MYPACKAGE.fileprovider", newFile);
}
}
and in another class:
private void sendFile(String nameFile, String logContent, String fileExtension) {
Uri contentUri = GenerateFile.getFileURI(getApplicationContext(), nameFile, logContent, fileExtension);
Intent intent = ShareCompat.IntentBuilder.from(StatusActivity.this)
.setStream(contentUri) // uri from FileProvider
.setType("text/plain")
.getIntent()
.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
startActivity(Intent.createChooser(intent, "send"));
}
so to send the file. I also deleted the permission (previously mentioned) in the manifest, because I didn't need it anymore.
And I also edited my provider and provider_path file like that:
<provider
android:name="android.support.v4.content.FileProvider"
android:authorities="MYPACKAGE.fileprovider"
android:exported="false"
android:grantUriPermissions="true">
<meta-data
android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
android:resource="#xml/provider_paths" />
</provider>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<cache-path
name="my_files"
path=""
/>
Now it works! Thank you very much guys for the help!

Did you specifically ask the user for those permissions? It's not enough to just put the permissions in the manifest for target sdks below 28. Also, in Android Q, you will need to work around external storage permissions altogether as this is disallowed.

Opening a file with the default application (with permission enforcement)

My application has read and write permissions to the download folder. How to call the default application to open a file and give it the right to read the file?
When use this code, the default application opens, but cannot access the file:
public void openFile(String fileName)
{
String mimeType = URLConnection.guessContentTypeFromName(fileName);
Intent newIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
Uri myUri = Uri.parse(fileName);
newIntent.setDataAndType(myUri, mimeType);
newIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
newIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
newIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_WRITE_URI_PERMISSION);
try {
this.startActivity(newIntent);
} catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
Toast.makeText(this, "No handler for this type of file.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
}
Acrobat reader, for example, reports that there is no access to the file.
Only the GoogleFoto app when opened asked permission and successfully opened the picture.

Thanks to CommonsWare
android/AndroidManifest.xml
<!-- file provider for open attached files-->
<provider android:name="android.support.v4.content.FileProvider" android:authorities="XXX.XXXXXXXXXXXX" android:exported="false" android:grantUriPermissions="true">
<meta-data android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS" android:resource="#xml/file_provider_paths"/>
</provider>
android/res/xml/file_provider_paths.xml
<paths xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<cache-path name="cache" path="/" />
<files-path name="files" path="/" />
</paths>
MainActivity.java
public String openFile(String filePath)
{
File file = new File(filePath);
if (!file.exists())
return "file not exist";
Uri uri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(this, BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID, file);
String mimeType = URLConnection.guessContentTypeFromName(filePath);
Intent newIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
newIntent.setDataAndType(uri, mimeType);
newIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
newIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
newIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_WRITE_URI_PERMISSION);
try {
this.startActivity(newIntent);
} catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
Toast.makeText(this, "No handler for this type of file.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
return "No handler for this type of file.";
}
return "";
}

FileProvider can't open file

I'm struggling with FileProvider. Even following this Google documentation and this post that is pretty much the same as my problem.
So I'm trying to open a pdf file from external storage. The directory is "Download/nst". I provided the path in file_paths.xml
<provider
android:name="android.support.v4.content.FileProvider"
android:authorities="br.com.myapp.bomapp"
android:exported="false"
android:grantUriPermissions="true">
<meta-data
android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
android:resource="#xml/file_paths"/>
</provider>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<paths>
<external-path name="Download" path="Download/" />
</paths>
This is how I get pdf path:
private File getPdfFile(long workOrderId){
File downloads = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS+"/nst/"+workOrderId);
String[] filesNames = downloads.list(
new FilenameFilter()
{
public boolean accept(File dir, String name)
{
return name.endsWith(".pdf");
}
}
);
if(filesNames.length > 0){
return new File(downloads, filesNames[0]);
}
return null;
}
And this is how I open pdf:
File pdf = getPdfFile(workOrder.getId());
if(pdf == null){
view.showError(context.getString(R.string.error_no_pdf_found));
return;
}
Intent target = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
Uri fileUri;
if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24){
fileUri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(context, "br.com.myapp.bomapp", pdf);
target.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION|Intent.FLAG_GRANT_WRITE_URI_PERMISSION);
}
else{
fileUri = Uri.fromFile(pdf);
}
target.setDataAndType(fileUri,"application/pdf");
target.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_HISTORY);
Intent intent = Intent.createChooser(target, "Open File");
try {
context.startActivity(intent);
} catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
view.showError(context.getString(R.string.error_no_pdf_reader_found));
}
Notice I'm using Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION.
When debugging the getPdfFile method returns this path for me:
new File(downloads, fileNames[0])": "fileNames[0]=/storage/emulated/0/Download/nst/12345/myName.pdf"
And FileProvider gets me this:
"fileUri = content://br.com.myapp.bomapp/Download/nst/12345/myFile.pdf"
When 12345 is a sub directory which the file is located.
After the file directory is passed to FileProvider it opens the file but screen gets black because file is not there.
But when it is opened with Uril.fromFile the file is shown.
Am I doing something wrong?