How to use native android file-open-dialog?

Question

I've seen this dialog to pick/open a file on android in some apps and it seems to me as the native one. But I can't find a way to use it in my own apps. The language of the attached screenshot is German, but I'm sure someone will recognize it. Screenshot of the file-dialog

Primitivism

Answer 1

You can use the intent ACTION_GET_CONTENT with the MIME type */*.

It will return the URI in onActivityResult()

@Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        Intent intent = new Intent()
        .setType("*/*")
        .setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);

        startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent, "Select a file"), 123);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
        if(requestCode == 123 && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            Uri selectedfile = data.getData(); //The uri with the location of the file
        }
    }

Bareilly

Yeah, this way is even better, because it also allows access to files in apps like Dropbox. Dropbox is not shown in the list when ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT is used. – Primitivism

When I do this with set_type("image/*") on KITKAT, it does not take me to this dialog, but instead a list of apps to be used for opening pops up. – Myotome

I am not satisfied with this dialog, I would like to open a ZIP file with it like: ZipFile z=new ZipFile(file); this is not possible... – Etheridge

hi, i have same problem but i use Unity3ds C#.is possible open native file Dialog in game with c# code? – Tumble

Answer 2

That appears to be the system UI for the Storage Access Framework. You would use ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT to allow the user to open an existing document, or ACTION_CREATE_DOCUMENT to allow the user to create a new document.

However, this is not a file UI. It is a content UI. The user can browse things that are not locally stored — in the screenshot, the user can browse their Google Drive and One Drive areas. And, what you get is a Uri pointing to content, not a file path.

Allrud

Yes, that's exactly what I've searched for! Thanks so much! Just didn't know that this is called content, but it absolutely makes sense... – Primitivism

Answer 3

See Android developer documents and files documentations. In Kotlin you can launch file open dialog like that:

/**
 * Starts bookmarks import workflow by showing file selection dialog.
 */
private fun showImportBookmarksDialog() {
val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT).apply {
    addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE)
    type = "*/*" // That's needed for some reason, crashes otherwise
      putExtra(
        // List all file types you want the user to be able to select
        Intent.EXTRA_MIME_TYPES, arrayOf(
            "text/html", // .html
            "text/plain" // .txt
        )
    )
}
bookmarkImportFilePicker.launch(intent)
// See bookmarkImportFilePicker declaration below for result handler
}

// Assuming you have context access as a fragment or an activity
val bookmarkImportFilePicker = registerForActivityResult(ActivityResultContracts.StartActivityForResult()) {
        result: ActivityResult ->
    if (result.resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {
        // Using content resolver to get an input stream from selected URI
        // See:  https://commonsware.com/blog/2016/03/15/how-consume-content-uri.html
        result.data?.data?.let{ uri ->
            context?.contentResolver?.openInputStream(uri).let { inputStream ->
                val mimeType = context?.contentResolver?.getType(uri)
                // TODO: do your stuff like check the MIME type and read from that input stream
        }
    }
}

Dilator