Develop Reference

Android read pdf file from asset folder

I try to read a pdf file store in the assets folder. I see this solution :
Read a pdf file from assets folder
But like comments say this it's not working anymore, the file cannot be found, is there another solution for read a pdf file directly, without copy pdf in external storage ?
And I don't want to use PdfRenderer my minimal API is 17

Maybe this can be helpful for somebody so I post my answer :
private void openPdf(String pdfName){
AssetManager assetManager = getAssets();
InputStream in = null;
OutputStream out = null;
File file = new File(getFilesDir(), pdfName);
try
{
in = assetManager.open(pdfName);
out = openFileOutput(file.getName(), Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int read;
while ((read = in.read(buffer)) != -1)
{
out.write(buffer, 0, read);
}
in.close();
in = null;
out.flush();
out.close();
out = null;
} catch (Exception e)
{
Log.e("tag", e.getMessage());
}
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(
Uri.parse("file://" + getFilesDir() + "/"+pdfName),
"application/pdf");
startActivity(intent);
}
The pdf file is store inside the assets folder

How to read PDF file saved to internal storage of device?

I am using following code to download and read a PDF file from internal storage on device.
I am able to download the files successfully to the directory:
data/data/packagename/app_books/file.pdf
But I am unable to read the file using a PDF reader application like Adobe Reader.
Code to download file
//Creating an internal dir;
File mydir = getApplicationContext().getDir("books", Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);
try {
File file = new File(mydir, outputFileName);
URL downloadUrl = new URL(url);
URLConnection ucon = downloadUrl.openConnection();
ucon.connect();
InputStream is = ucon.getInputStream();
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(file);
byte data[] = new byte[1024];
int current = 0;
while ((current = is.read(data)) != -1) {
fos.write(data, 0, current);
}
is.close();
fos.flush();
fos.close();
isFileDownloaded=true;
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
isFileDownloaded = false;
System.out.println(outputFileName + " not downloaded");
}
if (isFileDownloaded)
System.out.println(outputFileName + " downloaded");
return isFileDownloaded;
Code to read the file
PackageManager packageManager = getPackageManager();
Intent testIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
testIntent.setType("application/pdf");
List list = packageManager.queryIntentActivities(testIntent,
PackageManager.MATCH_DEFAULT_ONLY);
try {
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
File fileToRead = new File(
"/data/data/com.example.filedownloader/app_books/Book.pdf");
Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(fileToRead.getAbsoluteFile());
intent.setDataAndType(uri, "application/pdf");
startActivity(intent);
} catch (Exception ex) {
Log.i(getClass().toString(), ex.toString());
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,
"Cannot open your selected file, try again later",
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
All works fine but the reader app says "File Path is not valid".

Your path is only valid for your app. Place the file in a place where other apps can 'see' it. Use GetExternalFilesDir() or getExternalStorageDirectory().

Note about files which are created inside the directory created by Context.getDir(String name, int mode) that they will only be accessible by your own application; you can only set the mode of the entire directory, not of individual files.
So you can use Context.openFileOutput(String name, int mode). I'm re-using your code for an example:
try {
// Now we use Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE for this file
FileOutputStream fos = openFileOutput(outputFileName,
Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);
// Download data and store it to `fos`
// ...
You might want to take a look at this guide: Using the Internal Storage.

If you would like to keep the file app specific, you can use PdfRenderer available for Lollipop and above builds. There are great tutorials on google and youtube that work well. The method you are using is a secure way to store a PDF file that is only readable from inside the app ONLY. No outside application like Adobe PDF Reader will be able to even see the file.It took me a lot of seaching but I found a solution to my specific usage by using this site and especially youtube.

How to download PDF file from asset folder to storage by making folder
make sure you have storage permission are given like marshmallow device support etc then follow these steps
private void CopyReadAssets()
{
AssetManager assetManager = getContext().getAssets();
FileInputStream in = null;
FileOutputStream out = null;
File sdcard = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
File dir = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()+File.separator+ "A_level");
File dir2;
if (dir.exists() && dir.isDirectory()){
Log.e("tag out", ""+ dir);
}else {
dir.mkdir();
Log.e("tag out", "not exist");
}
File file = new File(dir, mTitle+".pdf");
try
{
Log.e("tag out", ""+ file);
out = new FileOutputStream(file);
in = new FileInputStream (new File(mPath));
Log.e("tag In", ""+ in);
copyFile(in, out);
in.close();
in = null;
out.flush();
out.close();
out = null;
} catch (Exception e)
{
Log.e("tag out", ""+ out);
Log.e("tag In", ""+ in);
Log.e("tag", e.getMessage());
Log.e("tag", ""+file);
Log.i("tag",""+sdcard.getAbsolutePath() + "A_level");
}
}
private void copyFile(InputStream in, OutputStream out) throws IOException
{
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int read;
while ((read = in.read(buffer)) != -1)
{
out.write(buffer, 0, read);
}
}

Load the pdf file in app from assets

I have a PDF file stored in my assets. I want to load the PDF from my assets and read it in the app itself without using any 3rd party app to view.
I got the solution in this link. It works fine when selecting files from sdcard.

Following snippet might help you accessing files from asset folder and then open it:
private void ReadFromAssets()
{
AssetManager assetManager = getAssets();
InputStream in = null;
OutputStream out = null;
File file = new File(getFilesDir(), "file.pdf");
try
{
in = assetManager.open("file.pdf");
out = openFileOutput(file.getName(), Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);
copyFile(in, out);
in.close();
in = null;
out.flush();
out.close();
out = null;
} catch (Exception e)
{
Log.e("tag", e.getMessage());
}
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(
Uri.parse("file://" + getFilesDir() + "/file.pdf"),
"application/pdf");
startActivity(intent);
}
and copyFile method is as follows:
private void copyFile(InputStream in, OutputStream out) throws IOException
{
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int read;
while ((read = in.read(buffer)) != -1)
{
out.write(buffer, 0, read);
}
}
EDIT
For that purpose you'll have to use an ecternal library. It's explained quite well in the link below:
Render a PDF file using Java on Android
Hope this will help you.

Its better if you can open it using a webview
WebView web = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webView1);
web.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/yourpdf.pdf");
Hope it works.
Ooops just now I checked, the pdf cannot be loaded in the web view
Sorry

Android: how do I create File object from asset file?

I have a text file in the assets folder that I need to turn into a File object (not into InputStream). When I tried this, I got "no such file" exception:
String path = "file:///android_asset/datafile.txt";
URL url = new URL(path);
File file = new File(url.toURI()); // Get exception here
Can I modify this to get it to work?
By the way, I sort of tried to "code by example" looking at the following piece of code elsewhere in my project that references an HTML file in the assets folder
public static Dialog doDialog(final Context context) {
WebView wv = new WebView(context);
wv.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/help/index.html");
I do admit that I don't fully understand the above mechanism so it's possible that what I am trying to do can't work.
Thx!

You cannot get a File object directly from an asset, because the asset is not stored as a file. You will need to copy the asset to a file, then get a File object on your copy.

You cannot get a File object directly from an asset.
First, get an inputStream from your asset using for example AssetManager#open
Then copy the inputStream :
public static void writeBytesToFile(InputStream is, File file) throws IOException{
FileOutputStream fos = null;
try {
byte[] data = new byte[2048];
int nbread = 0;
fos = new FileOutputStream(file);
while((nbread=is.read(data))>-1){
fos.write(data,0,nbread);
}
}
catch (Exception ex) {
logger.error("Exception",ex);
}
finally{
if (fos!=null){
fos.close();
}
}
}

Contrary to what others say, you can obtain a File object from an asset as follows:
File myAsset = new File("android.resource://com.mycompany.app/assets/my-asset.txt");

This function missing in code. #wadali
private void copyFile(InputStream in, OutputStream out) throws IOException {
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int read;
while((read = in.read(buffer)) != -1){
out.write(buffer, 0, read);
}
}
Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4530294/4933464

how to read .pdf file in assets folder

File file = new File("android.resource://com.baltech.PdfReader/assets/raw/"+filename);
if (file.exists()) {
Uri targetUri = Uri.fromFile(file);
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(targetUri, "application/pdf");
try {
startActivity(intent);
}
catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
Toast.makeText(PdfReaderActivity.this, "No Application Available to View PDF", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
i want to read .pdf file which is in assets folder. what path i hav to give in filename. plz help. Thanks

I'm not sure if you got an answer to this already, seems pretty old, but this worked for me.
//you need to copy the input stream to a new file, so store it elsewhere
//this stores it to the sdcard in a new folder "MyApp"
String filename = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath() + "/MyApp/solicitation_form.pdf";
AssetManager assetManager = getAssets();
try {
InputStream pdfFileStream = assetManager.open("solicitation_form.pdf");
CreateFileFromInputStream(pdfFileStream, filename);
} catch (IOException e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
File pdfFile = new File(filename);
The CreateFileFromInputStream function is as follows
public void CreateFileFromInputStream(InputStream inStream, String path) throws IOException {
// write the inputStream to a FileOutputStream
OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(new File(path));
int read = 0;
byte[] bytes = new byte[1024];
while ((read = inStream.read(bytes)) != -1) {
out.write(bytes, 0, read);
}
inStream.close();
out.flush();
out.close();
}
Really hope this helps anyone else who reads this.

File file = new File("file:///android_asset/raw/"+filename);
replace the above line with below and try..
File file = new File("android.resource://com.com.com/raw/"+filename);
and place your PDF file raw folder instead of asset. Also change com.com.com with your package name.

Since assets files are stored inside apk file, there is no absolute path of the assets folder.
You might use a workaround creating a new file used as a buffer.
You should use AssetManager:
AssetManager mngr = getAssets();
InputStream ip = mngr.open(<filename in the assets folder>);
File assetFile = createFileFromInputStream(ip);
private File createFileFromInputStream(InputStream ip);
try{
File f=new File(<filename>);
OutputStream out=new FileOutputStream(f);
byte buf[]=new byte[1024];
int len;
while((len=inputStream.read(buf))>0)
out.write(buf,0,len);
out.close();
inputStream.close();
}catch (IOException e){}
}
}