Latest Android app breaks viewing log files

I've created 21 test files with different file extensions with appropriate content, a mix of text and binary files. 4 of these extensions are "homemade" (marked in bold below) but I would still expect the Dropbox app to allow me to choose the viewer for each and keep that mapping as the preferred viewer:

.bak
.cache
.conf
.css
.db
.deb
.downloaded
.html
.ico
.ini
.jar
.json
.log
.m3u
.png
.properties
.sh
.txt
.xlsx
.xml
.zip

I've dusted off an old phone with a previous version of the Dropbox app and that works with more file extensions (but still not all).

Here's the comparison:

• Dropbox 310.2.2 Android 9: 13 out of 21 work
• Dropbox 320.2.10 Android 12: 9 out of 21 work (4 less than before: .ini, .json, .log, .properties.xml no longer work but .zip has started working)
  

If you contact me via e-mail I can share a link to my Dropbox folder structure with the test files.

Dropbox 310.2.2 Android 9: 13 out of 21 work

1. Text

1.1 Failure (should give me the opportunity to use Log Viewer or Dropbox Text Editor)

.bak
.cache
.conf
.deb
.downloaded

1.2 Success

.css
.html
.ini
.json
.log
.m3u
.properties
.sh
.txt
.xml

2. Binary

2.1 Failure (don't have viewers installed for these, so this is to be expected)

.db
.jar
.zip

2.2 Success

.ico
.png
.xlsx

Dropbox 320.2.10 Android 12

1. Text

1.1 Failure (should give me the opportunity to use Log Viewer or Dropbox Text Editor)

.bak
.cache
.conf
.deb
.downloaded
.ini
.json
.log
.properties
.xml

1.2 Success

.css
.html
.m3u
.sh
.txt

2. Binary

2.1 Failure (don't have viewers installed for these, so this is to be expected)

.db
.jar

2.2 Success

.ico
.png
.xlsx
.zip

Hi moftot 

Thanks for the additional context and the offer to provide your folder structure. I have checked with the team, and they don't believe they need that information right now, but we will certainly reach out if that changes.

In the meantime, we are working on a fix. I will update this thread when I have more news!

Regards,

Ben

Hi moftot 

A fix for this file extension issue was deployed with the latest beta build, which you can find here.

Apologies for linking the Desktop build. You can find the instructions for accessing the Android beta here.

Let us know if you are still experiencing any problems viewing these file extensions after installing the beta and I will make sure it gets passed onto the correct team.

Regards,

Ben

Thanks, but not sure how I'm supposed to install a desktop build on my Android phone?

That's just the wrong link. You can get the Android beta from the Play Store by following these instructions. 

Thanks for providing the correct link.

A little progress: I can now open log files, but I cannot choose the viewer, they're always opened in Dropbox Text Editor.

It seems completely random whether a given file extension will allow choice of viewer or not. I'll provide a complete list of behavior for each of the file extensions I've mentioned previously tomorrow.

This behavior is based on the Android sharing system, and depends on whether you have other apps installed that are configured to receive this file type. Android no longer supports sharing raw files, so we have to move to ContentProviders, which is like a URI for the web, with the "filename" being represented by the file's content id. We also add the mime-type of the file when we search for apps that can open it, and unfortunately I've seen lots of log files with a mime-type of `application/octet-stream` instead of `text/plain`, which is used for unknown binary files.  This problem is likely due to apps that use file extensions to determine if they can open a file, or that aren't set up to open `application/octet-stream` files.

I'll file a ticket internally to investigate if there's a way we can make this better.

But I noticed this major change in behavior after upgrading to Dropbox 320, not after upgrading the OS so not sure how your explanation could apply.

Also not sure how MIME type comes into play. As I understand it, the Dropbox API doesn't support setting MIME type per file, so how do you determine the MIME type by file extension, by guessing? I don't understand what you mean by log files with incorrect MIME type? It's a text file, hence not possible to store MIME type in the file itself.

Here's what I see:

Dropbox 324.1.2 Android 12

1.1 Failure (should give me the opportunity to use Log Viewer or Dropbox Text Editor)

.bak
.cache
.conf
.deb
.downloaded

1.2 Success

.ini
.json
.m3u (had to reselect which app, had already done this prior to 320.2.10, not sure why I had to do that again)
.properties

1.3 Partial Success (opens in Dropbox Text Editor, doesn't allow to use Log Viewer or another relevant app)

.log
.sh
.txt
.xml

1.4 Inconsistent Behavior (opens in one viewer when "clicked", opens in another viewer via Open with..., yet doesn't allow selection of which app)

.css
.html

2. Binary

2.1 Failure (don't have viewers installed for these, so this is to be expected)

.db
.jar

2.2 Success

.ico
.png
.xlsx

The reason that you saw this after upgrading the Dropbox app is because we constantly have to upgrade the app to keep it up to date with new restrictions and policies put in place by the Android OS. So while you didn't upgrade your OS, the legacy way we were checking for apps that could open files was no longer supported on newer OS versions, so we had to update how we do things to ensure that it works for everyone.

As I mentioned, I've started discussions for this internally to look into how we can try to make this work more like it used to (while still being compatible with new Android versions).