ContentResolver always returns null

Question

I'm trying to get the content type of a local file on my android device. My code is

File file = new File(uploadPath.replace("file://",""));
Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(file);
ContentResolver contentResolver = getApplicationContext().getContentResolver();
String type = contentResolver.getType(uri);

My upload path is file:///storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera/20141016_181148.jpg. However, I always get my type as null. Why is that??

In my case getType() returned null because the file extension was in upper case (.JPG) ... ContentResolver.getType() didn't like that for whatever reason ... — PrfctByDsgn, Nov 24 '20 at 18:39

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 21 '19 at 11:08

4

If you're working with latest coding standards, there are a lot of changes in terms of how the storage is managed and we access it. To answer your question, you got to replace Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(file); with below code:

Java:

 Uri uri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(
                            context,
                            context.getPackageName() + ".provider",
                            file
                        );

Kotlin:

val uri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(
                                context,
                                context.packageName + ".provider",
                                file
                            )

Don't forget to check the official documentation on

I hope this helps!

answered Aug 21 '19 at 11:08

Ashutosh Tiwari

424
3
13

Throws an exception for me, 'Couldn't find meta-data for provider with authority com.test.app.provider'. In my case the file lives in my apps sandbox, so I doubt I need to use the FileProvider API. Uri.fromFile(file) works fine, however I cannot get the contentType. – lostintranslation Aug 06 '21 at 14:15
1

@lostintranslation You really have to read over the [documentation](https://developer.android.com/reference/androidx/core/content/FileProvider) for this to understand. Using FileProvider also requires adding code to your manifest file also. – lasec0203 Aug 21 '21 at 08:56

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 02 '17 at 21:36

2

The content resolver will return null if the uri scheme is not content://

answered May 02 '17 at 21:36

m_drazzi

106
1
8

Can you document your answer? – Razvan Cristian Lung Jul 11 '19 at 01:38
Sweet, so what is the right way to get content type for a file:// scheme? – lostintranslation Aug 06 '21 at 14:15

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

1

to get the type of a file, look in there : How to determine MIME type of file in android?

Reasons about possible null value:

What causes Android's ContentResolver.query() to return null?

from what i can see the uri is probably incorrect.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

Community

1
1

answered Nov 17 '14 at 23:13

tangerine

836
1
8
14

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 08 '23 at 16:02

0

in kotlin

get the mime with ContentResolver

var cr:ContentResolver = context.contentResolver
    var mime = cr.getType(uri)

the results will look like this: mime = "image/jpeg"

answered Jan 08 '23 at 16:02

Hezy Ziv

3,652
2
14
8

ContentResolver always returns null

4 Answers4