CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidfile-io
user502187
user502187

Reputation:

Is there a ContentResolver to obtain a File instead of a FileDescriptor?

I am using an intent to invoke a file chooser that is external to my app. Some of the file chooser applications return an Uri of scheme "content".

I need to obtain the last modified date of the chosen object. How do I do that when the scheme is "content"? I didn't find an appropriate API.

There is some API that returns a FileDescriptor. But I don't get the last modified date from a FileDescriptor. Any help appreciate.

Best Regards

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2208

Answers (1)

zmarties
zmarties

Reputation: 4869

In general you can't do what you want - there is no API to get a File for an item described by a "content" URI because a content URI does not have to correspond with a file anyway.

In practice it is possible to get a File path for some content URIs:

  • as you describe, sometimes you can get lucky, and manipulate the content uri by changing the content scheme to a file scheme

  • If the content URI came from the Media store, then you can do a query to get the file path

    public static String getPathnameFromMediaUri(Activity activity, Uri contentUri)
    {
        String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };
        Cursor cursor = activity.managedQuery(contentUri, projection, null, null, null);
        int column_index = cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
        cursor.moveToFirst();
        return cursor.getString(column_index);
    }

There are a whole host of other questions asking pretty much the same thing that provide further ideas (or slightly different working of the same ideas)

Upvotes: 3

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