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androidfilepdfassets

How to open a pdf stored either in res/raw or assets folder?

I'm going to show a pdf in my application, and the pdf has to be bundled with the application.

What is a good way to do this?

I have read that it might be possible to do this by adding the pdf file to a res/raw folder and read it from there, but i get project errors when i put the pdf file there.

So i tried to put the pdf file in the asset folder of the project, and it gave no errors.

This is how i've tried to show the pdf:

File pdfFile = new File("res/raw/file.pdf");
Uri path = Uri.fromFile(pdfFile);
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(path, "application/pdf");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Solution

  • You would be able to show it from raw/ or assets/ if your application actually implemented a PDF reader. Since you want it to be displayed in a separate application (such as Adobe Reader), I suggest doing the following:

    1. Store the PDF file in the assets/ directory.
    2. When the user wants to view it, copy it somewhere public. Look into openFileOutput or getExternalFilesDir.
    3. Launch the Intent just like you are doing now, except use getAbsolutePath() on the newly created file for the intent's data.

    Be aware that a user might not have a PDF reading application. In this case, it is useful to catch the ActivityNotFoundException and show an appropriate message.