Android file chooser

Question

I want to make a file uploader. And I hence I need a file chooser but I don't want to write this by myself. I find OI file manager and I think it suits me. But how can I force user to install OI file manager? If I cannot , is there a better way to include a file manager in my app? Thx

Solution

EDIT (02 Jan 2012):

I created a small open source Android Library Project that streamlines this process, while also providing a built-in file explorer (in case the user does not have one present). It's extremely simple to use, requiring only a few lines of code.

You can find it at GitHub: aFileChooser.

---

ORIGINAL

If you want the user to be able to choose any file in the system, you will need to include your own file manager, or advise the user to download one. I believe the best you can do is look for "openable" content in an Intent.createChooser() like this:

private static final int FILE_SELECT_CODE = 0;

private void showFileChooser() {
    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT); 
    intent.setType("*/*"); 
    intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);

    try {
        startActivityForResult(
                Intent.createChooser(intent, "Select a File to Upload"),
                FILE_SELECT_CODE);
    } catch (android.content.ActivityNotFoundException ex) {
        // Potentially direct the user to the Market with a Dialog
        Toast.makeText(this, "Please install a File Manager.", 
                Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
}

You would then listen for the selected file's Uri in onActivityResult() like so:

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    switch (requestCode) {
        case FILE_SELECT_CODE:
        if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            // Get the Uri of the selected file 
            Uri uri = data.getData();
            Log.d(TAG, "File Uri: " + uri.toString());
            // Get the path
            String path = FileUtils.getPath(this, uri);
            Log.d(TAG, "File Path: " + path);
            // Get the file instance
            // File file = new File(path);
            // Initiate the upload
        }
        break;
    }
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
}

The getPath() method in my FileUtils.java is:

public static String getPath(Context context, Uri uri) throws URISyntaxException {
    if ("content".equalsIgnoreCase(uri.getScheme())) {
        String[] projection = { "_data" };
        Cursor cursor = null;

        try {
            cursor = context.getContentResolver().query(uri, projection, null, null, null);
            int column_index = cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow("_data");
            if (cursor.moveToFirst()) {
                return cursor.getString(column_index);
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            // Eat it
        }
    }
    else if ("file".equalsIgnoreCase(uri.getScheme())) {
        return uri.getPath();
    }

    return null;
} 

Comments

[Kurtis Nusbaum]

I'd even go so far as to also direct them to app on the market.

[Bear]

Ｔhx, but Ｉ get the content uri ---content://org.openintents.cmfilemanager/mimetype//mnt/sdc‌​ard/1318638826728.jp‌​g instead of file path. Could I convert it into file path?

[Paul Burke]

Updated answer to show how to get the file path, as well as creating a File instance that gives you convenience callbacks like file.getName() and file.getAbsolutePath().

[Bear]

But I can't find FileUtils....

[Paul Burke]

Sorry, I forgot to include my FileUtils.getPath() at first.

[Zala Janaksinh]

without use file explorer it`s possible?can we make to display file structure in android?

[Benoit Duffez]

On Google Code the license was explicitly Apache 2.0, is it still the case on GitHub? Thanks.

[Paul Burke]

@Bicou Thanks for the note. Your nudge helped me to stop being lazy and make some minor changes. :-) I just pushed an update to the library that includes the license.

[Dheeraj Bhaskar]

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError com.ipaulpro.afilechooser.utils.FileUtils . What might I be doing wrong?

[Richard Walters]

Thanks for this, especially the getPath() code! I found on one device for me cursor.getString(column_index) returns a file:/// URL, and I had to run it through a second pass to extract the actual path name.

[vilpe89]

@Bear You just need to copy that getPath method to your own class and that's it!

[David Doria]

Do I have to use intents even if I don't need 3rd party components? Can this be used like a DialogFragment?

[Paul Burke]

@DavidDoria Sure, you can also simply call startActivity(Context, FileChooserActivity.class) and set the theme you want in the Manifest. Listen for the Uri in onActivityResult just as you would normally.

[David Doria]

@PaulBurke Sorry, I'm very new to this. I don't see a startActivity function here developer.android.com/reference/android/app/… that takes anything but an intent? The closest I found online was startActivity(new Intent(MainActivity.this, FileChooserActivity.class)); - is that the best way?

[Paul Burke]

@DavidDoria My apologies! I did mean startActivity(Intent).

[Phantômaxx]

So, one of the requirements for your app users is... install AndExplorer?!

[Chandan Reddy]

how can I enable multi select ..?

[keshav kowshik]

@PaulBurke: I am using your method to attach a file and upload it to server. But I am facing an error, can you please help me. Please see this question: stackoverflow.com/questions/30882833/…. Thanks in advance.

[wangqi060934]

This answer does not consider the uri like this:"content://com.android.providers.media.documents/docume‌​nt/image:62".

[Mehul Joisar]

@wangqi060934: how did you manage to work with such uri? please share your experience to achieve the functionality

[wangqi060934]

@MehulJoisar,the library " aFileChooser" is perfect now.

[Angad Singh]

Or you can use this one: github.com/Angads25/android-filepicker

[Code_Worm]

thanks a million aFileExplorer is amazing

[salih kallai]

Sir, how to filter a specific file type like pdf, doc ect...

[Mohamed Atef]

Here you can find all cases to select file from document and all types of mobiles github.com/memo1231014/MUT-master/blob/master/MUT/src/com/…

[JFreeman]

@PaulBurke - Thank you very much i used you android studio project and it worked great. The only problem i had is that when the onActivityResult function was called the REQUEST_CHOOSER did not trigger the correct action - found in your git-hub project, in your README.markdown file under usage in your switch. (i changed it to REQUEST_CODE)

[Mr. Sajid Shaikh]

is this lib provide multiple file selection ?

[learner]

Here path getiing null some time,i can see in log "coloumn name _data not able to find" message.

[Jomme]

Today, there are a lot of deprecated classes/methods in the module like 'AsyncTaskLoader'. Needs some updates.

[Ahmad]

Hi i have an issue in onActivityResult when i didn't select any file and press back it doesn't open again can any one help ?