In Android 4.4 KitKat, Google/AOSP made the following change to the API specification, much to the detriment of app developers and users:
You can read my rather unhappy write-up about it here: https://plus.google.com/108338299717386673901/posts/gjnmuaDM8sn
This only applies to dual-storage devices, i.e., devices with a user-writable internal flash storage AND a removable SD card. But if your device has both, as of Android 4.4, apps will no longer be able to write arbitrarily to the "secondary" storage (the SD card).
There is however still an API exposed that will allow you to write to secondary storage, notably the media content provider. This is far from an ideal solution, and I imagine that someday it will not be possible.
I've written a tiny bit of code to let your applications continue to work with files on the SD card using the media content provider. This code should only be used to write to the secondary storage on Android 4.4+ devices if all else fails. I would strongly recommend that you NEVER rely on this code. This code DOES NOT use root access.
The class:
Source download (or cut/paste the above): http://android.nextapp.com/content/mediawrite/v1/MediaFile.java
Eclipse project with test app: http://android.nextapp.com/content/mediawrite/v1/MediaWrite.zip
APK of test app: http://android.nextapp.com/content/mediawrite/v1/MediaWrite.apk
The test project is currently configured to target the path /storage/extSdCard/MediaWriteTest (this is correct for a Note3, at least on 4.3...make sure you don't have anything there). Edit MainActivity.java in the Eclipse project to change it.
And again, let me stress that the above code might not work in the future should Google dislike it. I wouldn't recommend that the average app developer make use of this code, but if you're writing a file manager (or something else that competes with any of my other apps)
, it might be useful to you. And actually at the time of writing, this functionality is NOT in FX File Explorer or WebSharing.
Source: http://source.android.com/devices/tech/storage/index.html
You can read my rather unhappy write-up about it here: https://plus.google.com/108338299717386673901/posts/gjnmuaDM8sn
This only applies to dual-storage devices, i.e., devices with a user-writable internal flash storage AND a removable SD card. But if your device has both, as of Android 4.4, apps will no longer be able to write arbitrarily to the "secondary" storage (the SD card).
There is however still an API exposed that will allow you to write to secondary storage, notably the media content provider. This is far from an ideal solution, and I imagine that someday it will not be possible.
I've written a tiny bit of code to let your applications continue to work with files on the SD card using the media content provider. This code should only be used to write to the secondary storage on Android 4.4+ devices if all else fails. I would strongly recommend that you NEVER rely on this code. This code DOES NOT use root access.
The class:
Code:
/*
* Copyright (C) 2014 NextApp, Inc.
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
* BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language
* governing permissions and limitations under the License.
*/
package nextapp.mediafile;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import android.content.ContentResolver;
import android.content.ContentValues;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.provider.MediaStore;
/**
* Wrapper for manipulating files via the Android Media Content Provider. As of Android 4.4 KitKat, applications can no longer write
* to the "secondary storage" of a device. Write operations using the java.io.File API will thus fail. This class restores access to
* those write operations by way of the Media Content Provider.
*
* Note that this class relies on the internal operational characteristics of the media content provider API, and as such is not
* guaranteed to be future-proof. Then again, we did all think the java.io.File API was going to be future-proof for media card
* access, so all bets are off.
*
* If you're forced to use this class, it's because Google/AOSP made a very poor API decision in Android 4.4 KitKat.
* Read more at https://plus.google.com/+TodLiebeck/posts/gjnmuaDM8sn
*
* Your application must declare the permission "android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE".
*/
public class MediaFile {
private final File file;
private final ContentResolver contentResolver;
private final Uri filesUri;
private final Uri imagesUri;
public MediaFile(ContentResolver contentResolver, File file) {
this.file = file;
this.contentResolver = contentResolver;
filesUri = MediaStore.Files.getContentUri("external");
imagesUri = MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
}
/**
* Deletes the file. Returns true if the file has been successfully deleted or otherwise does not exist. This operation is not
* recursive.
*/
public boolean delete()
throws IOException {
if (!file.exists()) {
return true;
}
boolean directory = file.isDirectory();
if (directory) {
// Verify directory does not contain any files/directories within it.
String[] files = file.list();
if (files != null && files.length > 0) {
return false;
}
}
String where = MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA + "=?";
String[] selectionArgs = new String[] { file.getAbsolutePath() };
// Delete the entry from the media database. This will actually delete media files (images, audio, and video).
contentResolver.delete(filesUri, where, selectionArgs);
if (file.exists()) {
// If the file is not a media file, create a new entry suggesting that this location is an image, even
// though it is not.
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DATA, file.getAbsolutePath());
contentResolver.insert(imagesUri, values);
// Delete the created entry, such that content provider will delete the file.
contentResolver.delete(filesUri, where, selectionArgs);
}
return !file.exists();
}
public File getFile() {
return file;
}
/**
* Creates a new directory. Returns true if the directory was successfully created or exists.
*/
public boolean mkdir()
throws IOException {
if (file.exists()) {
return file.isDirectory();
}
ContentValues values;
Uri uri;
// Create a media database entry for the directory. This step will not actually cause the directory to be created.
values = new ContentValues();
values.put(MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DATA, file.getAbsolutePath());
contentResolver.insert(filesUri, values);
// Create an entry for a temporary image file within the created directory.
// This step actually causes the creation of the directory.
values = new ContentValues();
values.put(MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DATA, file.getAbsolutePath() + "/temp.jpg");
uri = contentResolver.insert(imagesUri, values);
// Delete the temporary entry.
contentResolver.delete(uri, null, null);
return file.exists();
}
/**
* Returns an OutputStream to write to the file. The file will be truncated immediately.
*/
public OutputStream write()
throws IOException {
if (file.exists() && file.isDirectory()) {
throw new IOException("File exists and is a directory.");
}
// Delete any existing entry from the media database.
// This may also delete the file (for media types), but that is irrelevant as it will be truncated momentarily in any case.
String where = MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA + "=?";
String[] selectionArgs = new String[] { file.getAbsolutePath() };
contentResolver.delete(filesUri, where, selectionArgs);
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DATA, file.getAbsolutePath());
Uri uri = contentResolver.insert(filesUri, values);
if (uri == null) {
// Should not occur.
throw new IOException("Internal error.");
}
return contentResolver.openOutputStream(uri);
}
}Source download (or cut/paste the above): http://android.nextapp.com/content/mediawrite/v1/MediaFile.java
Eclipse project with test app: http://android.nextapp.com/content/mediawrite/v1/MediaWrite.zip
APK of test app: http://android.nextapp.com/content/mediawrite/v1/MediaWrite.apk
The test project is currently configured to target the path /storage/extSdCard/MediaWriteTest (this is correct for a Note3, at least on 4.3...make sure you don't have anything there). Edit MainActivity.java in the Eclipse project to change it.
And again, let me stress that the above code might not work in the future should Google dislike it. I wouldn't recommend that the average app developer make use of this code, but if you're writing a file manager (or something else that competes with any of my other apps)
, it might be useful to you. And actually at the time of writing, this functionality is NOT in FX File Explorer or WebSharing.
Last edited:
