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javaandroidandroid-sdcardandroid-storage

Android SAF get access to particular directory on SD Card

I'm still searching, but maybe anyone faced with the same issue. I'm maintaining an app. This app stores some data in two places (lets say on sdcard/example and external_memory/example). Before the migration to the newest Android Api everything worked fine using ExternalStorage.getAllExternalStoragePaths(). Now I'm still able to get both paths, but the sdcard/example path is not readable and not writable..

I read about the SAF, but in my case that is not a solution - the files stored in both directories are parsed using a native library (C++) - I need path to it like /storage/sdcard/example/test.xml. Otherwise the library is not able to read this file. Unfortunately I cannot change the library because of missing sources.

I would like to ask three questions:

  • Is there any other way to ask access to directory on SD Card and use this directory like the old way?
  • Maybe I can say Android - "hey, I want have Example directory on SD Card and maintain it"?
  • Or maybe I can use SAF without ContentResolver?

Moving files to /storage/sdcard/Android/data/com.example/files/ is not acceptable by stakeholders.

Solution

  • Is there any other way to ask access to directory on SD Card and use this directory like the old way?

    No, short of building a custom ROM or rooting the device.

    Maybe I can say Android - "hey, I want have Example directory on SD Card and maintain it"?

    No. The closest thing is getExternalFilesDirs(), getExternalCacheDirs(), and getExternalMediaDirs(). If those return 2+ items, the second and subsequent ones will be on removable media, and you can read and write to those paths. However, you do not control what the paths are.

    Or maybe I can use SAF without ContentResolver?

    No, insofar as you cannot get a filesystem path.