Unable to use openFileInput in a BroadcastReceiver

Question

Im new to coding and Im trying to learn it on my own but I have run into the problem in the app I am developing of being unable to use openFileInput in a broadcast reciever. Here is the code:

public class AlarmReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {



}

//end of read froms

DateFormat format = DateFormat.getDateInstance();

TextView text;
Button btn;

DateFormat formate = DateFormat.getTimeInstance();
Calendar calender2 = Calendar.getInstance();
TextView txt2;
Button btn2;

//read froms start

private String readFromFilename() {

    String ret = "";

    try {
        InputStream inputStream = openFileInput("config.txt");

        if (inputStream != null) {
            InputStreamReader inputStreamReader = new InputStreamReader(inputStream);
            BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(inputStreamReader);
            String receiveString = "";
            StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();

            while ((receiveString = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
                stringBuilder.append(receiveString);
            }

            inputStream.close();
            ret = stringBuilder.toString();
        }
    } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
        Log.e("login activity", "File not found: " + e.toString());
    } catch (IOException e) {
        Log.e("login activity", "Can not read file: " + e.toString());
    }

    return ret;
}

If anyone can help i would appreciate any tips or work arounds. The exact error it gives is that it cannot resolve the method. When I tried to research it on my own they mentioned something about context but I couldnt find an example of it in code.

Answer 1

openFileInput() is a method on Context. You will notice that the second parameter to onReceive() is a Context. Hence, you can call openFileInput() on that Context object.

That being said, please note that onReceive() is called on the main application thread, and doing disk I/O on the main application thread is not a good idea.