Android ACTION_GET_CONTENT from Dropbox sources

Thanks for the report! I'm sending this along to the right people.

Any update on this? I've run into the same issue.

Apologies, no update right now. I'll check in with the right people again.

Has this been fixed recently? I did not run in to permission issues using the following code to initiate download...

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);

intent.setType("*/*");

startActivityForResult(intent, PICKFILE_RESULT_CODE );    

The uri returned in onActivityResult was this:

file:///storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch/Kanji%20Sketch%20Pad/KanjiKnowledge.ks

Processing the data in onActivityResult required a bit of a workaround for Dropbox, which I'll mention in a separate thread, but my app read the file okay. Does the issue only appear under certain circumstances?

I should add, I am using Android 5.0.2, device is HTCOne,

Still no news on potentially using content:// instead yet, but I'll ask engineering if something changed about the existing behavior/any guidance.

Thanks for your patience Craig. I heard back from engineering here with the following information:

• FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION seems to have no effect.
• On Android API level 18 (and presumably probably below), specifying READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE or WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE does not matter. The calling app is able to read the file irrespective of these settings.
• On Android API level 19 and above, the calling app needs the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE or WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission to be able to read the data provided by us.

Also, on Android API level 19 and above caller will need to read the data using the ContentResolver#openInputStream(fileUri) method to be able to read the files. While on API level 18 and below directly creating the file object to read the file works.

Thanks for that. I have not had any problems with reading the file. I am therefore unsure what the problem was that the other posters met.

I have read and write permissions set.

I initially used code like this (based on suggestions found online):

ParcelFileDescriptor mInputPFD = null ;
           try {
                mInputPFD = getContentResolver().openFileDescriptor(returnUri, "r");
           } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
                System.out.println("File not found...");
                return;
           }
if(mInputPFD!=null){
    fd = mInputPFD.getFileDescriptor();           
     FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(fd);
    //process the input stream
}

I tried the more direct method suggested above and it also worked:

FileInputStream fis = null ;
    try {
            fis = (FileInputStream) getContentResolver().openInputStream(returnUri);
    }
    catch (FileNotFoundException e1) {
             e1.printStackTrace();
             System.out.println("File not found...");            
             return ;
    }

 //process the input stream

I am using targeted Android API 19.

Can I assume that the ContentResolver#openInputStream(fileUri) method will also work on API 18 and lower?

openInputStream was added in API level 1 and is documented to support both content and file schemes, so it looks like it should work.

Hi, thanks for useful Dropbox.

I have same problem.
So, does the future version of Dropbox support `content://` URI?
I hope that Dropbox returns `content://` URI that works fine without `READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE` permission such as sharing files by `FileProvider`. I really hope so.
I don't want that the my apps require more permission that make users feel uneasy.
And then, I think that more users use Dropbox as the place to save files of more apps. Because since Kitkat many apps use `FileProvider` and they don't read/write the file  by oneself.