How to open a file in external storage from an application? (Android)

Question

I've added a button to my application which is supposed to open the download folder of the phone, and from there you should be able to click on files that were stored there, from the same app. Right now im saving some data there.

Problem is; I cant open the saved files in the folder. I can see the files stored right there, but when I press one of them you immediatley go back to the app and not the file that you pressed.

Is there something I'm missing? Are you not supposed to open files stored in external storage from another app?

I've tried adding permissions in manifest and checkSelfpermission for checks in runtime, but with no success.

Here's the button for opening download folder:

private void openSavedLocation(){
    if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(ExportAndImport.this, Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED)
    {
        ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(ExportAndImport.this, new String[] {Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE}, 1);
    }

    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
    Uri uri = Uri.parse(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS).getPath());
    intent.setDataAndType(uri, "text/xml");
    startActivity(Intent.createChooser(intent, "Open Folder"));}

I can open the file perfectly when Im opening it outside the app, not via this "createChooser". What could i be missing? Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

but when I press one of them you immediatley go back to the app and not the file that you pressed

That is what your code does. ACTION_GET_CONTENT says "let the user pick a piece of content". It does not say "open that piece of content in some other app". There is no single Intent action for saying "let the user pick a piece of content, then open that piece of content in some other app".

Is there something I'm missing?

If you want to try to open the XML in some other app:

• Use startActivityForResult() , not startActivity() , for your ACTION_GET_CONTENT request (and get rid of the createChooser() bit)
• Override onActivityResult() to get the result of the user's choice
• If the user chose something (ie, you get RESULT_OK in onActivityResult() ), create an ACTION_VIEW Intent wrapped around the Uri that you get from the Intent passed into onActivityResult() , and call startActivity() on the ACTION_VIEW Intent

If, instead, your objective is to open this XML in your app, you would:

• Use startActivityForResult() , not startActivity() , for your ACTION_GET_CONTENT request (and get rid of the createChooser() bit)
• Override onActivityResult() to get the result of the user's choice
• If the user chose something (ie, you get RESULT_OK in onActivityResult() ), get the Uri of the content from the Intent passed into onActivityResult() , then use ContentResolver to do something useful with that Uri (eg, openInputStream() to read in the content)

Here's the button for opening download folder

ACTION_GET_CONTENT uses the MIME type. It will not necessarily honor your supplied starting Uri .