Develop Reference

Android 10: How to delete MediaStore item and it's associated data on file system programmatically?

I am updating my app to use Scoped Storage feature introduced in Android 10.
My app works with MediaStore and displays images, videos and audio files and provides ability for user to delete item.
What I did earlier to delete file:
Got path from MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA
Used new File(path).delete() to delete that file
Manually updating MediaStore
Now that MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA is not available I migrated to deleting items from MediaStore using ContentResolver.delete()
For example I have uri of the item: content://media/external/images/media/502 (its valid uri, I display it's thumbnail in grid). It doesnt matter whether I inserted this item in MediaStore or some other app did.
I use context.getContentResolver().delete(uri, null, null). It either succeeds in deletion (returns 1 row) or catching RecoverableSecurityException to use startIntentSenderForResult() to get access to current uri and then using the same getContentResolver().delete() to delete it in onActivityResult() and then getting successful deletion.
Either way that item is removed from MediaStore and is neither showing in result when I query MediaStore for images, nor in other applications.
BUT this file exists on file system (checked using SAF and various file managers (Google Files, Total Commander))
Sometimes (depends on Android version and media type) these items are brought back to MediaStore after phone reboot (or after opening Google Photos - it scans file system)
For example: Android 10 on my Google Pixel and Google Pixel 3a XL behaves as described above for Images/Video/Audio, but Android 9 on Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite behaves like this only with Audio files, while deleting Images/Video fine.
I have android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="false" in manifest.
Is there a way to force MediaStore to delete data on file system as well? Why is file on file system left behind?

Yes, as you have pointed out that's how we had to delete media files. We have to delete the physical copy of the file by forming a File object and also delete the indexed file in MediaStore using ContentResolver.delete() (or) do a media scan on the deleted file which would remove it's entry in MediaStore.
This is how it used to work in below Android 10 os. And would still work the same in Android 10 as well if you had opted out of scoped storage by specifying it in manifest android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"
Now in Android 11 you are forced to use scoped storage. If you want to delete any media file which is not created by you, you have to get the permission from the user. You can get the permission using MediaStore.createDeleteRequest(). This will show a dialog by description what operation users are about to perform, once the permission is granted, android has an internal code to take care of deleting both the physical file and the entry in MediaStore.
private void requestDeletePermission(List<Uri> uriList){
if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.R) {
PendingIntent pi = MediaStore.createDeleteRequest(mActivity.getContentResolver(), uriList);
try {
startIntentSenderForResult(pi.getIntentSender(), REQUEST_PERM_DELETE, null, 0, 0,
0);
} catch (SendIntentException e) { }
}
}
The above code would do both, requesting the permission to delete, and once permission granted delete the files as well.
And the callback result you would get it in onActivityResult()

Use this function to delete file using display name of the file:
This func will delete MediaStore item and it's associated data on file system in Android-10 or Android-Q
Note: In my case I am working with files like MediaStore.Files.FileColumns..
public static boolean deleteFileUsingDisplayName(Context context, String displayName) {
Uri uri = getUriFromDisplayName(context, displayName);
if (uri != null) {
final ContentResolver resolver = context.getContentResolver();
String[] selectionArgsPdf = new String[]{displayName};
try {
resolver.delete(uri, MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DISPLAY_NAME + "=?", selectionArgsPdf);
return true;
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
// show some alert message
}
}
return false;
}
Use this function to get Uri from DisplayName
public static Uri getUriFromDisplayName(Context context, String displayName) {
String[] projection;
projection = new String[]{MediaStore.Files.FileColumns._ID};
// TODO This will break if we have no matching item in the MediaStore.
Cursor cursor = context.getContentResolver().query(extUri, projection,
MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DISPLAY_NAME + " LIKE ?", new String[]{displayName}, null);
assert cursor != null;
cursor.moveToFirst();
if (cursor.getCount() > 0) {
int columnIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(projection[0]);
long fileId = cursor.getLong(columnIndex);
cursor.close();
return Uri.parse(extUri.toString() + "/" + fileId);
} else {
return null;
}
}

According to my observations there is no force delete.
I usually add several checks if a file has really been deleted
on Android Q it is also not possible to delete an entire album without the user manually confirming each file. this makes deleting files on the device uninteresting for me

I'm also experiencing the same issue, but with Huawei models where it fails with image & video files.
I've found that there are some reported bugs about it, although Google have discarded 2 of them because they can't reproduce it.
I would advice that you star them and add some more details.
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/157714528
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/142270549
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/145348304
Update:
I've created a new issue ticket, as some of the above have been discarded by google as not reproducible:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/184355104

I fixed this problem in my app for Android 10 by opting out of scoped storage (android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true") and requesting WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE for Android 10 as well:
<uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
android:maxSdkVersion="29"
tools:ignore="ScopedStorage" />
Then ContentResolver.delete will not trigger RecoverableSecurityException and will also delete the file from disk. Given you requested and was granted Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
Note: If you don't care about deleting files not created by your app or created by previous installations of your app, then you don't need to request that permission.

API 29 Mediastore Access

My app creates playlists in the android mediastore. All is well for api's including 28 however, api 29 seems to require additional permissions.
Inserting a new playlist name and id works without issue. When it comes to inserting track id and play order, an access permission exception is thrown.
In verifying the Uri, i found that when resolver.insert for API 29 the exception error is:
java.lang.SecurityException: myapp_name has no access to content://media/external_primary/audio/media/146
The code:
Uri exturi = MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.Members.getContentUri("external", playlist_id);
// exturi : content://media/external/audio/playlists/227/members
// values : audio_id=146 play_order=0
values.put(MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.Members.PLAY_ORDER, play_order);
values.put(MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.Members.AUDIO_ID, audio_id);
try {
resolver.insert(exturi, values);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Strange thing is that although inserting a new playlist into Mediastore works but adding tracks (track_id, play order) gives an access permission error
How to resolve this exception error for API 29?
Update Feb 2021:
a small step forward, I am pretty sure I need to get Documenturi for the original uri but still gives me the access error. So the issue does not lie with accessing the tracks but with the uri itself.
doc_uri = MediaStore.getDocumentUri(context,playlist_members_uri);
java.lang.SecurityException: com.flyingdutchman.newplaylistmanager has no access to content://media/external/audio/playlists/130/members

I think this is an Android 10 bug, so I've filed a report here: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/147619577 (includes instructions for an emulator test case to reproduce it if that interests you). Please consider starring it to let the Android team know that it affects you.
From what I can tell, it only affects files on 'external' storage, like sdcards mounted on /storage/XXXX-XXXX
In the meantime, the only fix that some of my users were able to successfully apply is to move their music files to the internal storage (reboot and wait for the media scan to finish to be sure that MediaStore is up-to-date).

in my further research for the answer, I came across this;
All about the media database (Mediastore) with android 11

Create playlist with uri "MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI", and the date row in external.db for the playlist is:
_id
_display_name
volume_name
308
New playlist.m3u
external_primary
The playlist's volume name is "external_primary".
2.
Music file is under flash card
Music file's id in external.db is 278
The volume name of flash card is "1EDD-DDE0"
When add this music file to playlist, got below exception:
Exception message: java.lang.SecurityException: has no access to content://media/external_primary/audio/media/278
If I create playlist with uri MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.getContentUri("1edd-dde0"), then music can be successfully added to the playlist.
It seems that the reason is the mismatch of volume name between playlist and the music file to be added. Only when playlist's volume name is same to music file's, inserting operation can be complete.

Update for android 11.
Worth noting that the media database has moved from
/data/data/com.android.providers.media
to
/data/data/com.google.android.providers.media.module
also the structures have changes significantly
and

I came across the same issue. As the MediaProvider changes to Google's MediaProvider, the Scoped Storage feature is activated. When you try to modify a playlist file, but it's not created by your app (or it did be created by your app, but after OTA to new Android version, which changes to use Google's MediaProvider, it scans your playlist file and put a record to its database, but leaves the owner_package_name colume empty, it's a new colume, the old MediaProvider database has no owner_package_name colume, so no one could tell this playlist file was created by you), you will get a SecurityException says you have no access to this file.
You can check if the playlist file was owned by your app before doing the 'insert' operation:
Uri uri = MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.getContentUri(MediaStore.VOLUME_EXTERNAL_PRIMARY);
String[] projection = new String[] {
MediaStore.Audio.Playlists._ID,
MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.NAME,
MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.OWNER_PACKAGE_NAME,
};
String where = MediaStore.Audio.Playlists._ID + "=?";
String[] args = new String[] {playlistFileId};
Cursor cursor = resolver.query(uri, projection, where, args, null);
if (cursor != null) {
cursor.moveToFirst();
if (!cursor.isAfterLast()) {
String ownerPkg = cursor.getString(
cursor.getColumnIndex(MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.OWNER_PACKAGE_NAME));
// print ownerPkg here
}
}
If the owner package name of this playlist file is empty or other app's package name, that you probably have no access to write this playlist file due to the scoped storage feature limit.
According to this document, we can consider using MediaStore.createWriteRequest() method to prompt user to grant write permission to playlist file for our own app, but this request only available to certain kind of files, like images, audios, videos etc, but not for some other kinds like playlist files which ends in .m3u suffix.
Also, according to this, when you try to operate some image or audio files that's not created by your app in public storage, you will get a RecoverableSecurityException and you can use this exception to prompt user to get user consent to modify the file, but for playlist kind files, you will just get SecurityException instead of RecoverableSecurityException.
So the result is, you may never be able to access to that playlist file again, you can not modify it, and you can not delete it too. My solution is just create a new playlist file, so it's owned by my app, now I finally have full access to it. You may need to migrate your old playlist data to the new one.

AND FINALLY I FIND THIS
MediaStore.Audio.Playlists
This class was deprecated in API level 31.
Android playlists are now deprecated. We (Google) will keep the current functionality for compatibility resons, but we will no longer take feature request. We do not advise adding new usages of Android Playlists. M3U files can be used as an alternative.
In conclusion, no longer a relevant post

I have implemented the SAF so do not use scopedStorage and have access once the user accepts.
The fact that I can insert new playlist entries clearly shows access to MediaStore, I can also delete these. However trying to add tracks to these playlists does not work for api29. Inserting/deleting a new playlist does not involve any files located on internal or external sdcards as it is simply adding values.
the permissions for both internal and external sdcard:
2020-07-12 14:39:04.435 11858-11858/com.flyingdutchman.newplaylistmanager E/onCreate:: uriPermission: UriPermission {uri=content://com.android.externalstorage.documents/tree/17F5-240A%3A, modeFlags=3, persistedTime=1594551961263}
2020-07-12 14:39:04.435 11858-11858/com.flyingdutchman.newplaylistmanager E/onCreate:: uriPermission: UriPermission {uri=content://com.android.externalstorage.documents/tree/primary%3A, modeFlags=3, persistedTime=1594551926876}
The question now becomes
How do I ensure saf permissions are recognised by the resolver.insert method when inserting/modify tracks into the Media database

Update May 2020
Stepping through the resolver code with debug F7
Scenario 1 results in permission error (incorrect MediaStore.VOLUME_EXTERNAL).
playlist_uri = MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.getContentUri(MediaStore.VOLUME_EXTERNAL);
playlist_members_uri = MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.getContentUri(MediaStore.VOLUME_EXTERNAL_PRIMARY)
.buildUpon()
.appendEncodedPath(Long.toString(playlist_id))
.appendEncodedPath("members")
.build();
acquireProvider(mContext, auth); = media
Uri createdRow = provider.insert(mPackageName, mAttributionTag, url, values, extras); = null
mPackageName=com.flyingdutchman.newplaylistmanager
mAttributionTag=null
values[0] = 206
values[1]=69
values[2]=1
extras=null
DatabaseUtils.java
public static final void readExceptionFromParcel(Parcel reply) {
int code = reply.readExceptionCode();
if (code == 0) return;
String msg = reply.readString();
DatabaseUtils.readExceptionFromParcel(reply, msg, code);
}
msg = com.flyingdutchman.newplaylistmanager has no access to content://media/external_primary/audio/playlists/206
Scenario 2 results in NO permission error BUT no tracks added to audio_playlists_map table.
playlist_uri = MediaStore.Audio.Playlists.getContentUri(MediaStore.VOLUME_EXTERNAL_PRIMARY);
url=content://media/external_primary/audio/playlists/206/members

Media scanner for secondary storage on Android Q

With the newer Android Q many things changed, especially with scoped storage and gradual deprecation of file:/// URIs. The problem is the lack of documentation on how to handle media files correctly on Android Q devices.
I have a media file (audio) management application and I could not find yet a reliable way to tell to the OS that I performed a change to a file so that it can update its MediaStore record.
Option #1: MediaScannerService
MediaScannerConnection.scanFile(context, new String[]{ filePath }, new String[]{"audio/*"}, new MediaScannerConnection.OnScanCompletedListener() {
#Override
public void onScanCompleted(String s, Uri uri) {
}
});
Works with file:// URIs from primary storage
Not works with file:// URIs from secondary storage (such as removable storage)
Not works with any content:// URI
Option #2: broadcast
context.sendBroadcast(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE, uri));
Not working at all
Soon deprecated
Option #3: manual MediaStore insertion
AudioFileContentValues are some column values from MediaStore.Audio.AudioColumns.
Old method based on file:// URI:
Uri uri = MediaStore.Audio.Media.getContentUriForPath(file_path);
newUri = context.getContentResolver().insert(uri, AudioFileContentValues);
MediaStore.Audio.Media.getContentUriForPath is deprecated
Still not working
Newer method based on what I could put together from documentation:
Uri collection = MediaStore.Audio.Media.getContentUri(correctVolume);
newUri = context.getContentResolver().insert(collection, AudioFileContentValues);
Where correctVolume would be external from primary storage, while it would be something like 0000-0000 for secondary storage, depending on where the file is located.
Insertion returns a content URI such as content://media/external/audio/media/125 but then no record is persisted inside MediaStore for files located in primary storage
Insertion fails with no URI returned and no record in MediaStore
These are more or less all the methods available in previous Android versions but none of them now allow me to notify the system that I changed some audio file metadata and to get Android to update MediaStore records. Event though option #1 is partially working, this could never be a valuable solution because it's clearly not supporting content URIs.
Is there any reliable way to trigger media scan on Android Q, despite where the file is located? We shouldn't even care about file location, according to Google, since we will soon only use content URIs. MediaStore has always been a little frustrating in my opinion, but now the situation is pretty worse.

I'm also currently struggling with that.
I think what you want to do you cannot do any longer once you are on Android Q, because you are not allowed to access the Music directory on Q. You are only allowed to create and access files in directories you created. You did not create the music directory.
Now every change to the Media has to happen threw the MediaStore. So you insert your Music file beforehand and then get an outputstream from the MediaStore to write to it. All the changes on Q on Media should be done threw the MediaStore hence you informing the MediaStore of changes cannot even occur anymore, because you never directly access the File.
This has one giant caviat in that all the new things in MediaStore that make that possible do not exist in older versions of Android. So I do currently believe that you will need to implement everything twice, sadly. At least if you want to actively influences where your music is saved to that is.
Those two MediaStore columns are new in Q and do not exist before Q, witch you'll probably need to use in Q
MediaStore.Audio.Media.RELATIVE_PATH with that you can influence the path where it's saved. So I put "Music/MyAppName/MyLibraryName" there and that will end up saving "song.mp3" into "Music/MyAppName/MyLibraryName/song.mp3"
MediaStore.Audio.Media.IS_PENDING this you should be setting to 1 while the song is still being written and then afterwards you can update it to 0.
I've also now started to implement things twice with if checks for Android versions. It's annoying. I don't want to do it. But it seems like that's the only way.
I'm just gonna put a bit of code here on how I managed inserting music on Android.Q and below. It's not perfect. I have to specify the MIME type for Q, because flacs would now become .flac.mp3 somehow, because it does not quite seem to get that.
So, anyways this is a part that I have updated already to work with Q and before, it downloads a Music file from a music player on my NAS. The app is written in kotlin, not sure if that's a problem for you.
override fun execute(library : Library, remoteApi: RemoteApi, ctx: Context) : Boolean {
var success = false
if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.Q) {
val values = ContentValues().apply {
put(MediaStore.Audio.Media.RELATIVE_PATH, library.rootFolderRelativePath)
put(MediaStore.Audio.Media.DISPLAY_NAME, remoteLibraryEntry.getFilename())
put(MediaStore.Audio.Media.IS_PENDING, 1)
}
val collection = MediaStore.Audio.Media
.getContentUri(MediaStore.VOLUME_EXTERNAL_PRIMARY)
val uri = ctx.contentResolver.insert(collection, values)
ctx.contentResolver.openOutputStream(uri!!).use {
success = remoteApi.downloadMusic(remoteLibraryEntry, it!!)
}
if(success) {
values.clear()
val songId = JDrop.mediaHelper.getSongId(uri)
JDrop.db.music.insert(Music(mediaStoreId = songId, remoteId = remoteLibraryEntry.remoteId, libraryId = library.id))
values.put(MediaStore.Audio.Media.IS_PENDING, 0)
ctx.contentResolver.update(uri, values, null, null)
} else {
ctx.contentResolver.delete(uri, null, null)
}
} else {
val file = File("${library.rootFolderPublicDirectory}/${remoteLibraryEntry.getFilename()}")
if(file.exists()) file.delete()
success = remoteApi.downloadMusic(remoteLibraryEntry, file.outputStream())
if (success) {
MediaScannerConnection.scanFile(ctx, arrayOf(file.path), arrayOf("audio/*")) { _, uri ->
val songId = JDrop.mediaHelper.getSongId(uri)
JDrop.db.music.insert(Music(mediaStoreId = songId, remoteId = remoteLibraryEntry.remoteId, libraryId = library.id))
}
}
}
return success
}
And the MediaStoreHelper Method being this here
fun getSongId(uri : Uri) : Long {
val cursor = resolver.query(uri, arrayOf(Media._ID), null, null, null)
return if(cursor != null && cursor.moveToNext()) {
val idIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(Media._ID)
val id = cursor.getLong(idIndex)
cursor.close()
id
} else {
cursor?.close()
-1
}
}
One thing when you do not specify the MIME type it seems to assume mp3 is the MIME type. So .flac files would get saved as name.flac.mp3, because it adds the mp3 file type if there is none and it thinks it's a mp3. It does not add another .mp3 for mp3 files. I don't currently have the MIME type anywhere... so I'm gonna go ahead and do this now, I guess.
There is also a helpful google IO talk about scoped/shared storage https://youtu.be/3EtBw5s9iRY
That probably won't answer all of your questions. It sure enough didn't for me. But it was a helpful start to have a rough idea what they even did change to begin with.
For deleting and updating files its kinda the same on Q if you call delete on a mediastore entry, the file will be deleted. Before, Q you have to manually delete the file also. But if you do that on Q your app will crash. So again you have to check wether or not youre on Q or an older version of android and take appropriate actions.

Handle response from ACTION_GET_CONTENT

Does anyone have a recommendation for the best way to handle URI results from the ACTION_GET_CONTENT intent?
I am finding that applications that handle the intent provide different data back in return. When selecting files from the Download directory in three different file pickers I get significantly different results.
The KitKat download gallery:
content://com.android.providers.downloads.documents/document/1438
Genymotion (CyanogenMod) Browser:
file:///storage/emulated/0/Download/334SIGCO-PHRH-FEB14.xls
Android
File Manager:
content://com.smartwho.SmartFileManager/mimetype//storage/emulated/0/Download/334
PhrPrint.xls
I'm concerned that when I release my app I will get responses back from the user that I didn't anticipate in code and it will crash. Given that the three tools I've tested have all provided different answers, I'm concerned for what will happen in the wild.
Ultimately I will need to read the contents of the selected file into an InputStream and read the data (.xls via jxl) into my data structure. But first I need to check the data to get the file name and verify the data type so I can provide feedback to the user that they have a valid file type.
I can use the ContentResolver to do that with the KitKat Download Gallery, but the code fails for both of the other options. Code follows:
public void setFileUri(Uri fileUri) {
ContentResolver resolver = mFragment.getActivity().getContentResolver();
//Check if the file is of the right data type
if(resolver.getType(fileUri).equals(REQUIRED_FILE_TYPE)) {
mFileUri = fileUri;
mComplete = true;
}
Cursor cursor = resolver.query(fileUri, null, null, null, null);
cursor.moveToFirst();
((FileSelectFragment)mFragment).setFileNameView(cursor.getString(
cursor.getColumnIndex(OpenableColumns.DISPLAY_NAME)),
mComplete);
}
Thank you in advance.

[Android]Gallery loading problems with HTC Desire : wrong path?

I want to show an images gallery. The problem is during the loading of them.
At the beginning, I was loading the images with :
images = new File("/sdcard/DCIM/Camera/");
if(images.listFiles().length==0)
//no images, do some other stuff...
else
//put images in the gallery and do some stuff
This code works with the emulator (Android 2.2 - API Level 8) and with a Samsung Galaxy S2 (Android 2.2.1). But I ask some friends to test this code with their own phones (HTC, LG...).
With an HTC Desire, there is a problem during this loading. The code is going into "//no images" but they have images in the album (for example from Camera...) My friend said to me that :
album is stored in the internal storage and not in the SD Card with HTC.
So i've tried to check others directory, like this :
//Get the internal content
images = new File(MediaStore.Images.Media.INTERNAL_CONTENT_URI.getPath());
if (!images.isDirectory()) {
//Get the external content
images = new File(MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI.getPath());
}
if (!images.isDirectory()) {
//Get the SD Card content
images = new File("/sdcard/DCIM/Camera/");
}
But still not working :( That is not the good directory :/
So, my question is : how can i get the good path for images with all android phone ? is their an Object which is able to return the path of the album ?
Thanks :)
(sorry for mistakes)

I did some checking and it looks like you are trying to access the MediaStore incorrectly. It should be accessed via a cursor and not directly as a file.
This is because as mentioned at http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/content-providers.html
Content providers expose their data as a simple table on a database model, where each row is a record and each column is data of a particular type and meaning.
So basically you can't read the URI as a file. It is a table of data.
Here's an example from that same page on how to access it.
import android.provider.Contacts.People;
import android.content.ContentUris;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.database.Cursor;
// Use the ContentUris method to produce the base URI for the contact with _ID == 23.
Uri myPerson = ContentUris.withAppendedId(People.CONTENT_URI, 23);
// Alternatively, use the Uri method to produce the base URI.
// It takes a string rather than an integer.
Uri myPerson = Uri.withAppendedPath(People.CONTENT_URI, "23");
// Then query for this specific record:
Cursor cur = managedQuery(myPerson, null, null, null, null);
Also, here's another Stackoverflow question that has some examples that shows how to use the cursor.
How to query Android MediaStore Content Provider, avoiding orphaned images?
Finally, based on the links above I would just use the mediastore object as a cursor on all devices and that will solve the problem you are having with different directories.
Hope this helps,
George