Skip to main content

Sharing Files With Android Apps

There are times when you have to share one or more files with other apps? Let’s take an example. You might have to send images to image editors. On the other hand, you might also Copy & Paste files between external storage? The best way, in this case, is to send the file’s content URI to the receiving app. You can allow the receiving app with temporary access permissions to the file’s content URI.

Why is Content URI safe?

The reason for this is that the content URI only applies to the app that receives the URI.  Once that has been done, it expires automatically.   There are ways of generating a file’s content URI.  One of them is the getUriForFile() method which is offered by Android FileProvider component.
In this article, we will talk about ways of securing sharing files between apps by using content URIs and temporary permissions. The content URIs will be generated by using the Android FileProvider component.

1) Set up file sharing

The first thing that you need to do in the process to configure the app to offer a secure way of file handling. This way will be in the form of Content URI.
As we have discussed earlier, FileProvider component is a great way of creating content URIs. It performs the specified task on the basis of the specifications you provide in XML. Let us spend some time to explore ways of adding the default implementation of FileProvider. We will also look at ideas of pointing to the files that have to be shared with other apps.
Steps:
  1. Specify the FileProvider
  2. Specify Sharable Directories
NOTE: FileProvider class is an element of the v4 Support Library.

1.1) Specify the FileProvider

To be able to use FileProvider for the app, you need to have an entry in the manifest.  What does this entry do?  There are a couple of things it specifies including authorizing its use for creation of content URIs and also specifies the XML file’s name which is used to specify the directories that the app can share.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.demoapp">
    <application
        ...&gt;
        <provider
            android:name="android.support.v4.content.FileProvider"
            android:authorities="com.example.demoapp.fileprovider"
            android:grantUriPermissions="true"
            android:exported="false">
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
                android:resource="@xml/filepaths" />
        </provider>;
        ...
    </application>;
</manifest>
As you can see in provided code snippet, you need to add the element of <provider> in order to specify the FileProvider class as also the authority.
android:authorities attribute is used to specify the URI authority.  This is meant for those content URIs that are generated by the FileProider.  In the provide code snippet, the authority is com.example.demoapp.fileprovider
<meta-data> is the child element of the <provider> element , it points to an XML file that specifies the directories we want to share.
For the specification of the file’s name and path, the android: resource attribute is used.  This is sans the .xml extension.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sharing Simple Data In Android

As a  Android developer , you might want to integrate android apps with each other. Do you know how that functions?  Do you possess knowledge about the way in which they communicate?  If no, then for your reference, Android apps possess the ability to integrate as well as communicate with each other. There are ways in which simple data can be sent and received between applications. This can be done by using  Intent APIs  and the  ActionProvider object . In this article we will cover three ways to share simple data. Sending Simple Data to Other Apps Receiving Simple Data from Other Apps Adding an Easy Share Action 1. Sending Simple Data to Other Apps Sending & receiving data between apps is one of the most common uses of Intent. It allows for easy and quick sharing of information. One thumb rule to remember is that while constructing an Intent, it is imperative that you specify the action you want it to trigger. There are numerous actio...
Post a Comment
Read more
Android Push Notification Using Firebase Cloud Messaging In this tutorial, I’m gonna show you how to use the push notifications in your android applications. Before the Google I/O 2016 , we were using the Google Cloud Messaging service (GCM) to send the data from the server to the clients or the android power devices but in I/O 2016, Google introduced the Firebase Cloud Messaging which is a good alternative and easier to implement. Steps to implement FireBase push notification in Android 1: Import the code of FCM   https://drive.google.com/a/edreamz.in/file/d/0B1L0RecNhNk9UDhhOXRZQjJYU0k/view?usp=sharing 2: go to    https://console.firebase.google.com/  and create a new project. 4: Now put your app name and select your country. 5: Now click on Add Firebase to Your Android App. 6: Now you have to enter your projects package name and click on ADD APP. 7:After clicking add app you will get google-services.json fil...
Post a Comment
Read more

Using Edit Text IME Option in Android App

An  Editor Info  is most useful class when you have to deal with any type of user input in your  Android application . For e.g. in login/registration/search operations we can use it for more accurate keyboard input. An editor info class describes several attributes for text editing object that an input method will be directly communicating with edit text contents. Several options which we can use with  EditText IMEOption  are as follows: IME_ACTION_DONE : This action performs a “done” operation for nothing to input and the IME will be closed. IME_ACTION_GO : This action performs a “go” operation to take the user to the target of the text user typed. IME_ACTION_NEXT : This action performs a “next” operation taking the user to next field that will accept text. IME_ACTION_NONE : There is no available action. IME_ACTION_PREVIOUS : This action performs to move to the previous field after “Next” operation is performed. IME_ACTION_SEARCH : This action perfor...
Post a Comment
Read more