Develop Reference

Android: Create and Download PDF files to Downloads directory

In my Android App, in one of the activity, there is a "PDF Download" button. When this button is clicked, I create a PDF and then download it to the "Downloads" directory. Following is my code which runs on the click event of the button:
public void createAndDownloadPDF()
{
try
{
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
View content = this.findViewById(android.R.id.content);
PdfDocument.PageInfo pageInfo = new PdfDocument.PageInfo.Builder(content.getWidth(),
content.getHeight() - 20, 1).create();
PdfDocument.Page page = document.startPage(pageInfo);
content.draw(page.getCanvas());
document.finishPage(page);
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("ddMMyyyyhhmmss");
String pdfName = "pdfdemo"
+ sdf.format(Calendar.getInstance().getTime()) + ".pdf";
File outputFile = new File(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS), pdfName);
try
{
outputFile.createNewFile();
OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(outputFile);
document.writeTo(out);
document.close();
out.close();
}
catch (IOException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
catch(Exception e)
{
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), e.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
}
Please note that I added the required WRITE permission to the MANIFEST file and also asking for the permission at runtime. So, there is no issue of permissions.
When I debug the code, I notice that "outputFile" variable holds this path:
/storage/emulated/o/Download/pdfdemo07052017121233.pdf
My users will never find above path in their mobile. So, they will have no clue where their PDF got saved. I want that when users click on "Downloads" icon on their mobile, they should see the PDF file they downloaded from the app.
So, I think if I can sort out the following line:
File outputFile = new File(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS), pdfName);
my work will be done. What should be the path I use so that my PDF files get saved / downloaded in the "Downloads" directory? I researched over the internet, but did not find any concrete solution.

Try this:
File outDir = new File(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS).toString());
If this doesn't work, evaluate the chance of having your PDF file previously generated and saved into a folder inside your Assets folder. If this can be the case, after the above line you insert this:
copyAssets("XXX",outDir.toString());
Where "XXX" is the name of the folder inside your Assets folder which will contain the PDF file. This will copy the contents of XXX to DOWNLOADS/XXX on your device.

Creating a file unsing openFileOutput() which is visible to other applications

I'm using the openFileOutput() to create a new txt file. I need the file to be visible from other applications (as well as from a PC when the Android device is connected via USB. Ive tried using .setReadable(true); but this does not seem valid. Please advise how I should declare the file is visible / public.
try {
textIncoming.append("saving");
final String STORETEXT = "test.txt";
OutputStreamWriter out = new OutputStreamWriter(openFileOutput(STORETEXT, 0));
out.setReadable(true);
out.write("testing");
out.close();
}
catch (Throwable t) {
textIncoming.append("not saving");
}
Ive changed my program to use getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOCUMENTS), but for some reason it returns a path /storage/emulated/0/Documents, and I cant even find this folder on the device. Ive looked at the files on the android device using ES file explorer but cant find the folder or file I'm trying to create (Plus I want these in an documents folder on the SD card, so it seems that its not giving me a pointer to the SD card at all, and not creating the folder, and not creating the file. Following is my updated code, please advise
String root = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOCUMENTS).toString();
File myDir = new File(root + "/Saved_Receipts");
myDir.mkdirs();
Random generator = new Random();
int n = 10000;
n = generator.nextInt(n);
String fname = "DRcpt-" + n + ".xml";
textIncoming.append(root);
File file = new File(myDir, fname);
if (file.exists()) {
file.delete();
}
try {
FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(file);
out.flush();
out.close();
}
catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}

Save it to sdcard if you want anyone to be able to read it.
This android documentation should tell you what you need to do.
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html#filesExternal

openFileOutput() documentation says:
Open a private file
So the file that it creates won't be visible to other apps, unless you copy it to another directory that is visible. In that case, you have to save your data in what's called "external storage" which is shared with other apps. Use the code at this link.

Can not play video from my internal application directory

It looks like I can not play videos stored in my internal application directory.
I have videos stored in /data/data/my.package.org/files/
And I'm trying to play a file from there using
String fpath = "/data/data/my.package.org/files/video.mpg"
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.parse(fpath), "video/*");
But both Android default video player and some external videoplayer (MX player) say 'this video can not be played".
Whereas when I'm saving videos to SD card they are played fine.
Why is that?

Put your video in assets folder and use this code to play video with MediaPlayer
InputStream is = getResources().getAssets().open("video.mpg");
OR
Put your video in assets folder and...
String fpath = "/data/data/my.package.org/assets/video.mpg"
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.parse(fpath), "video/*");

put your video in the res\raw folder. Then copy it out to the external directories where apps like video player can read them. Only your app can read /data/data/blah....
if its in res\raw, then
typeName = sourceSink.Types.video.toString();
for (sourceSink.VideoFiles video: sourceSink.VideoFiles.values() ){
resourceName = video.toString();
fileName = resourceName + ".mp4";
resource = getResources().getIdentifier(resourceName, "raw", "com.invodo.allshareplay");
createExternalStoragePublicFile(typeName,fileName,resource);
}
and then you can use this to copy it:
void createExternalStoragePublicFile(String fType, String fname, int res ) {
// Create a path where we will place our picture in the user's
// public pictures directory. Note that you should be careful about
// what you place here, since the user often manages these files. For
// pictures and other media owned by the application, consider
// Context.getExternalMediaDir().
File path = null;
if (((fType.equals(sourceSink.Types.photo.toString())) || (fType.equals(sourceSink.Types.file.toString())) ) ){
path = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(
Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES);
}
if (fType.equals(sourceSink.Types.music.toString())) {
path = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(
Environment.DIRECTORY_MUSIC);
}
if (fType.equals(sourceSink.Types.video.toString())) {
path = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(
Environment.DIRECTORY_MOVIES);
}
File file = new File(path, "/" + fname);
try {
// Make sure the Pictures directory exists.
path.mkdirs();
// Very simple code to copy a picture from the application's
// resource into the external file. Note that this code does
// no error checking, and assumes the picture is small (does not
// try to copy it in chunks). Note that if external storage is
// not currently mounted this will silently fail.
InputStream is = getResources().openRawResource(res);
OutputStream os = new FileOutputStream(file);
byte[] data = new byte[is.available()];
is.read(data);
os.write(data);
is.close();
os.close();
scanMedia(file);
} catch (IOException e) {
// Unable to create file, likely because external storage is
// not currently mounted.
Log.w("ExternalStorage", "Error writing " + file, e);
}
}

then it's easy - just do the second half of the answer I provided and write them out. /data/data/ folder is never going to be viewed by anything other than your app.

where to write a text file and how to set it up for an sd card

I know this is a popular question but I have looked at all of the other responses and none of them seem to work. What I want to do is write some code to a text file. My first question: is there a way to view that text file without writing code to the console? Second, I dont know where in my phone it goes and I want to see it to help trouble shoot, so if you know how to do that too, it would be great. So now I will give you an overview of what is happening. When I start my program it checks to see if the file exists, if it doesn't it reads a file out of my assets folder and copies that info and sends it to a file into the sd card. If it exits it reads the info from the sd card. Next if I press a button and change numbers and print it to my sd card again then I close it using task managers then when I come back the original information is here. I don't feel like it is being able to find my sd card location. So far I have used.
File outfilepath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
String FileName = "ExSettings.txt" ;
File outfile = new File(outfilepath.getAbsolutePath()+"/TimeLeft/"+FileName);
File outfilepath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
String FileName = "ExSettings.txt" ;
File outfile = new File(outfilepath, FileName);
Any Ideas?

This is a function that I wrote which will take in a list array and write to a file line by line.
It will use the path in fileName to make a new folder called myfolder in the root of the SDCard, an inside will be your file of newtextfile.txt.
List<String> File_Contents = new ArrayList<String>();
File_Contents.add("This is line one");
File_Contents.add("This is line two");
File f = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath() + "/myfolder/newtextfile.txt");
f.mkDirs();
try {
BufferedWriter out = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(f));
for (int x = 0; x < File_Contents.size(); x++) {
out.write(File_Contents.get(x));
out.write(System.getProperty("line.separator"));
}
out.close();
return true;
} catch (Exception e) {
return false;
}

access android media directory?

ey up. ive built a simple music app that reads wav files from the sdcard and plays them.
how do i access the default media directory?
this is how i get the sdcard
public void LoadSounds() throws IOException
{
String extState = Environment.getExternalStorageState();
if(!extState.equals(Environment.MEDIA_MOUNTED)) {
//handle error here
}
else {
File sd = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory ()); //this needs to be a folder the user can access, like media
as usual the docs dont give an actual example of usage but it says this - If you're using API Level 8 or greater, use getExternalFilesDir() to open a File that represents the external storage directory where you should save your files. This method takes a type parameter that specifies the type of subdirectory you want, such as DIRECTORY_MUSIC...
how do i use it?
thank you
edit:
this makes it crash if i try to fill a spinner array with file path Strings.
File path = getExternalFilesDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_MUSIC);
File sd = new File(path, "/myFolder");
File[] sdDirList = sd.listFiles(new WavFilter());
if (sdDirList != null)
{
//sort the spinner
amountofiles = sdDirList.length;
array_spinner=new String[amountofiles];
......
final Spinner s = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.spinner1); //crashes here
ArrayAdapter<?> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<Object>(this,
android.R.layout.select_dialog_item, array_spinner);
EDIT2:
ok so ive done this test that is supposed to write a txt file to the music directory.
i run the app, no txt file is written anywhere on the device i can find.
// Path to write files to
String path = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_MUSIC).getAbsolutePath();
String fname = "mytest.txt";
// Current state of the external media
String extState = Environment.getExternalStorageState();
// External media can be written onto
if (extState.equals(Environment.MEDIA_MOUNTED))
{
try {
// Make sure the path exists
boolean exists = (new File(path)).exists();
if (!exists){ new File(path).mkdirs(); }
// Open output stream
FileOutputStream fOut = new FileOutputStream(path + fname);
fOut.write("Test".getBytes());
// Close output stream
fOut.flush();
fOut.close();
} catch (IOException ioe) {
ioe.printStackTrace();
}
}
another edit: i will get this working!!
so if i use this line it creates a folder on the sdcard called 'Musictest'. dont understand??
String path = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_MUSIC + "test").getAbsolutePath();
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Final Edit:
right so this will look for a folder called test in the devices music directory.
if it doesnt exist, it will be created.
(some fixing to be done here, error if empty) it then lists the files in the directory and adds them to an array.
public void LoadSounds() throws IOException
{
String extState = Environment.getExternalStorageState();
// Path to write files to
String path = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_MUSIC + "/test").getAbsolutePath();
if(!extState.equals(Environment.MEDIA_MOUNTED)) {
//handle error here
}
else {
//do your file work here
// Make sure the path exists
boolean exists = (new File(path)).exists();
//if not create it
if (!exists){ new File(path).mkdirs(); }
File sd = new File(path);
//This will return an array with all the Files (directories and files)
//in the external storage folder
File[] sdDirList = sd.listFiles();
if (sdDirList != null)
{
//add the files to the spinner array
array_spinnerLoad=new String[sdDirList.length];
files = new String[sdDirList.length];
for(int i=0;i<sdDirList.length;i++){
array_spinnerLoad[i] = sdDirList[i].getName();
files[i] = sdDirList[i].getAbsolutePath();
}
}
}
}

as mentioned in the docs, getExternalFilesDir() return File. And File object can represent either file or directory.
Therefore:
File musicDirectory = new File( getExternalFilesDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_MUSIC));
Will give you the object to play with.