Android Question [Solved] Content Chooser - earliest Android version?

Note that these values may point to resources other than regular files. Still you can pass them to methods that expect Dir and FileName.
Only content types that can be opened with an InputStream are supported.

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agraham said:

As I understand it ContentChooser uses the android.intent.action.GET_CONTENT Intent with the android.intent.category.OPENABLE and a category and a mime type and these have been in Android since the Universe was created. Note that the returned Dir and Filename are not necessarily an actual File path as noted in the Phone library.

I would have expected that the File Manager would work, but I only have Android 11 and 10 devices to test. On them using B4A TextEditor I can successfully open files using the Cx File Explorer, Ghost Commander and X-plore file managers. Both 10 and 11 bring up a choice of several file managers and external memory locations so maybe the Galaxy A70 has a custom chooser. I can't explain the failure on earlier devices.

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Private Sub HandleLoadResult(Result As LoadResult)
    
'*** Added line to Log Result.   
Log("Result = " & Result)
    
    
    
    If Result.Success Then
        Dim s As String
        Try
            s = File.ReadString(Result.Dir, Result.FileName)
            toast.Show($"File '${Result.RealName}' loaded"$)
        Catch
            s = "Error loading file"
            Log(LastException)
        End Try
        txtField.Text = s
    End If
End Sub

** Activity (main) Resume **
** Activity (main) Pause event (activity is not paused). **
sending message to waiting queue (OnActivityResult)
running waiting messages (1)
** Activity (main) Resume **
Result = [Dir=ContentDir, FileName=content://com.android.externalstorage.documents/document/6434-6130%3AAAA%2FAAA.txt, IsInitialized=true
, MimeType=text/plain, Modified=1632295702000, RealName=AAA.txt
, Size=3, Success=true]

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** Activity (main) Resume **
** Activity (main) Pause event (activity is not paused). **
--------- beginning of system
sending message to waiting queue (OnActivityResult)
running waiting messages (1)
error extracting information from file provider
(RuntimeException) java.lang.RuntimeException: Object should first be initialized (Cursor).
** Activity (main) Resume **
Result = [Dir=, FileName=/storage/extSdCard/AAA/AAA.TXT .txt, MimeType=
, RealName=, Modified=0, Size=0
, IsInitialized=true, Success=true]
(ErrnoException) android.system.ErrnoException: open failed: EACCES (Permission denied)
** Activity (main) Pause event (activity is not paused). **

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Erel said:

There is indeed a confusing issue here.
ContentChooser is supported by all Android version.

The issue is related to FileProvider and the ever-changing storage restrictions.
Starting from Android 7+ (API 24), well behaving apps, return a content:// url, which your app can access without any permission.
On older versions you get a plain old file path, however for your app to be able to access it, you need to request the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissi

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