I've been trying to figure out a way to open the Android File Manager directly in my app's Documents directory so the user can select a JSON file among several without requiring the user to go search for the file path /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.company.app/files/Documents/. So far, I can make the "go find it yourself" tactic work, but not the "take the user to the directory for them" approach. Here's what I've tried:
// this is the "go find it yourself" approach that I've used:
String filename = this.getResources().getString(R.string.ExportImportFileNameString);
File directory = this.getExternalFilesDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOCUMENTS);
Uri dirPathUri = Uri.fromFile(directory);
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
intent.setType("*/*");
Intent.createChooser(intent, "Open in...");
intent.putExtra(DocumentsContract.EXTRA_INITIAL_URI, directory);
startActivityForResult(intent, IMPORT_REQUEST);
When my onActivityComplete handler is called for IMPORT_REQUEST I see the returned data looks like dat=content://com.lge.filemanager.FileProvider/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.company.app/files/Documents/SelectedFile.json flg=0x1 }
I've tried to invoke two different combinations of intent.setDataAndType instead of intent.setTypefollowing and that fails to let me select anything:
// This setDataAndType setup does not allow the user to open File Manager, nor navigate to the app Documents:
intent.setDataAndType(dirPath2, "application/json");
// This allows opening of File Manager but returns immediately without allowing the user to select a file, and returns a null data pointer:
intent.setDataAndType(dirPath2, "*/*");
Note that I've tried creating the intent object with ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT, ACTION_GET_CONTENT, and ACTION_VIEW with the similar result. If I only have one file, I know I can have the app simply open a stream reader for a known file name as such:
File directory = this.getExternalFilesDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOCUMENTS);
File importFile = new File(directory, filename);
try
{
fis = new FileInputStream (importFile);
InputStreamReader inputStreamReader =
new InputStreamReader(fis, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
...
However, that doesn't allow me the flexibility that I desire to allow a user to select from multiple files. Can anyone illuminate what's going on here and how to correct the situation.
Based on Commonsware feedback, here's what I have for the solution to this question:
//--------------
// Get the documents location for this app
File directory = this.getExternalFilesDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOCUMENTS);
File desiredFilePath = new File(directory.toString());
try{
// read all pathnames for files and directory
File[] allFilesInDirectory = desiredFilePath.listFiles();
// prepare array to place all path strings into
ArrayList<String> filesInDirectoryArray = new ArrayList<String>();
// retrieve each pathname file array
// but someone could simply use the "path" object instead
for(File path:allFilesInDirectory){
if (path != null){
// put all file paths into string array
filesInDirectoryArray.add(path.getPath());
// could discriminate based on file extension, if so desired
}
}
// send file path array for processing
ProcessDocuments(filesInDirectoryArray);
}catch(SecurityException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}