How to write a file to Android SD Card that is visible on PC

Question

I am trying to store data in a file while my application is running in order to easily get it off of the device when I connect it to a PC.

Right now, I am able to create the file and write to it, but my computer cannot see the file.

Note that I would really prefer not to use DDMS as I will be asking people with limited experience to do this.

I know it is writing the file, as I can see it on the device's file manager. If I copy the file into another directory on the device, I can then see it on a computer, but this isn't a valid workaround for my situation.

Here is what I have:

String fileName = "test";
String stuffToWrite = "testString";
try
{

  File sdCard = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS);
  File dir = new File (sdCard.getAbsolutePath());
  dir.mkdirs();
  File file = new File(dir, fileName + ".csv");

  file.setReadable(true,false);


  FileOutputStream fOut = new FileOutputStream(file);

  OutputStreamWriter osw = new OutputStreamWriter(fOut); 

  // Write the string to the file
  osw.write(stuffToWrite);

  /* ensure that everything is
   * really written out and close */
  osw.flush();
  osw.close();
}

Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

Try to add file.createNewFile();

File file = new File(dir, fileName + ".csv");
file.createNewFile();

Answer 2

The following example will create a file in the Android external storage root directory called "hello.txt":

package external.com;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.PrintWriter;

public class WriteExStorage extends Activity
{
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        String ex_storage_directory;

        ex_storage_directory = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().toString();

        File f = new File(ex_storage_directory, "hello.txt");

        try
        {
          PrintWriter p = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter(f));

          p.println("Hello External Storage!");
          p.close();
        }
        catch(java.io.IOException e)
        {
          return;
        }
    }

The call to getExternalStorageDirectory() will fail if the external storage device is not available. See getExternalStorageDirectory() for details.