Android bluetooth print stopped working on 4.1

Question

We have an application that prints images to a bluetooth printer. This application has been working fine on Android 4.0 ICS but when we upgraded one of them to Android 4.1 jelly bean, printing stopped working with this in logcat:

W/System.err(19319): java.lang.SecurityException: Permission Denial: writing com.android.bluetooth.opp.BluetoothOppProvider uri content://com.android.bluetooth.opp/btopp from pid=19319, uid=10106 requires android.permission.ACCESS_BLUETOOTH_SHARE, or grantUriPermission()

The problem is that we are declaring that permission, so this error makes no sense to us. Here is the line from our manifest

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.turner.itstrategy.LumenboxClient"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="11" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_BLUETOOTH_SHARE"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />

     (stuff removed)
</manifest>

Here is the code we are using to print. This code has been taken from examples on stackoverflow and elsewhere.

ContentValues values = new ContentValues();

String path = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().toString();
File imageFile = new File(path, "CurrentLumenboxPrint.jpg");

//build the message to send on BT
values.put(BluetoothShare.URI, Uri.fromFile(imageFile).toString());
values.put(BluetoothShare.MIMETYPE, "image/jpeg");
values.put(BluetoothShare.DESTINATION, device.getAddress());
values.put(BluetoothShare.DIRECTION, BluetoothShare.DIRECTION_OUTBOUND);
Long ts = System.currentTimeMillis();
values.put(BluetoothShare.TIMESTAMP, ts);

// Here is where the exception happens      
final Uri contentUri = getApplicationContext().getContentResolver().insert(BluetoothShare.CONTENT_URI, values);

Right now we are dead in the water.. any advice appreciated.

Answer 1

Figured out this will no longer work on 4.1. The permission to write directly to the content provider is now protected with "signed" meaning you would have to sign your app with the same key used to sign the bluetooth app.

So here is how we ended up doing it. First use the share intent to send it directly to the app:

Intent sharingIntent = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_SEND);
sharingIntent.setType("image/jpeg");
sharingIntent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.android.bluetooth", "com.android.bluetooth.opp.BluetoothOppLauncherActivity"));
sharingIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, Uri.fromFile(imageFile));
startActivity(sharingIntent);

That works, but it pops up the "Select device" UI. If you don't want that you have to handle the intent android.bluetooth.devicepicker.action.LAUNCH and respond with the broadcast message android.bluetooth.devicepicker.action.DEVICE_SELECTED. But the user could still gets the chooser popup.

UPDATE: I wrote a blog post with a full description of how to do this.