Reading CSV File In Android App

Question

I'm working on a proof-of-concept app so that I can implement the feature in a larger app I'm making. I'm a bit new to Java and Android Dev but hopefully this shouldn't be too simple or complex of a question.

Basically, I'm trying to read in a list of strings from a CSV file and make it usable in displaying the list on the app's Main Activity.

I'm using an external class for reading in CSV's. Here's the class code:

CSVFile.java

package com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay;

import android.util.Log;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class CSVFile {
    InputStream inputStream;

    public CSVFile(InputStream inputStream){
        this.inputStream = inputStream;
    }

    public List read(){
        List resultList = new ArrayList();
        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));
        try {
            String csvLine;
            while ((csvLine = reader.readLine()) != null) {
                String[] row = csvLine.split(",");
                resultList.add(row);
                Log.d("VariableTag", row[0].toString());
            }
        }
        catch (IOException ex) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Error in reading CSV file: "+ex);
        }
        finally {
            try {
                inputStream.close();
            }
            catch (IOException e) {
                throw new RuntimeException("Error while closing input stream: "+e);
            }
        }
        return resultList;
    }
}

Here's my main activity code:

MainActivity.java

package com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    // Array of strings that's used to display on screen
    String[] mobileArray = {"Android","IPhone","WindowsMobile","Blackberry",
            "WebOS","Ubuntu","Windows7","Max OS X"};

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        prepArray();

        //Display List on Activity
        ArrayAdapter adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
                R.layout.activity_listview, mobileArray);
        ListView listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.mobile_list);
        listView.setAdapter(adapter);

    }

    //Get list of strings from CSV ready to use
    private void prepArray() {

        InputStream inputStream = getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.strings);
        CSVFile csvFile = new CSVFile(inputStream);
        List myList = csvFile.read();

        //This is where it has an error
        //Set first array in myList to this new array myArray
        String[] myArray = myList.get(0);

    }

}

I'm not actually to the point of setting the mobileArray array yet. Right now I'm just trying to "extract" the information out of the List object myList...

Can someone explain to me how this is done? Maybe I'm just not understanding the List type completely. It seems like when resultList is returned in the CSVFile read method, it's returned as an List object consisting of String array objects. But I can't seem to get it to work like that.

Any help is appreciated!

FINAL EDIT (working code)

private void prepArray() {

        try{
            CSVReader reader = new CSVReader(new InputStreamReader(getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.strings)));//Specify asset file name
            String [] nextLine;
            while ((nextLine = reader.readNext()) != null) {
                // nextLine[] is an array of values from the line
                System.out.println(nextLine[0] + nextLine[1] + "etc...");
                Log.d("VariableTag", nextLine[0]);
            }
        }catch(Exception e){
            e.printStackTrace();
            Toast.makeText(this, "The specified file was not found", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }

    }

EDIT

Now my prepArray function looks like the following:

    private void prepArray() {

        try{
            String csvfileString = this.getApplicationInfo().dataDir + File.separatorChar + "strings.csv"
            File csvfile = new File(csvfileString);
            CSVReader reader = new CSVReader(new FileReader("csvfile.getAbsolutePath()"));
            String [] nextLine;
            while ((nextLine = reader.readNext()) != null) {
                // nextLine[] is an array of values from the line
                System.out.println(nextLine[0] + nextLine[1] + "etc...");
            }
        }catch(FileNotFoundException e){
            e.printStackTrace();
            Toast.makeText(this, "The specified file was not found", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }

    }

Still produces the FileNotFoundException.

EDIT 2/3

Here's the log that's produced when I run the app on an actual phone with the strings.csv in a subfolder of strings (src\main\assets\strings\strings.csv) with the change you requested to the code:

03/27 17:44:01: Launching app
        $ adb push C:\Users\Roy\AndroidStudioProjects\ListDisplay\app\build\outputs\apk\app-debug.apk /data/local/tmp/com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay
        $ adb shell pm install -r "/data/local/tmp/com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay"
        pkg: /data/local/tmp/com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay
        Success


        $ adb shell am start -n "com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay/com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay.MainActivity" -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER -D
        Connecting to com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay
        D/HyLog: I : /data/font/config/sfconfig.dat, No such file or directory (2)
        D/HyLog: I : /data/font/config/dfactpre.dat, No such file or directory (2)
        D/HyLog: I : /data/font/config/sfconfig.dat, No such file or directory (2)
        W/ActivityThread: Application com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay is waiting for the debugger on port 8100...
        I/System.out: Sending WAIT chunk
        I/dalvikvm: Debugger is active
        I/System.out: Debugger has connected
        I/System.out: waiting for debugger to settle...
        Connected to the target VM, address: 'localhost:8609', transport: 'socket'
        I/System.out: waiting for debugger to settle...
        I/System.out: waiting for debugger to settle...
        I/System.out: waiting for debugger to settle...
        I/System.out: waiting for debugger to settle...
        I/System.out: waiting for debugger to settle...
        I/System.out: waiting for debugger to settle...
        I/System.out: waiting for debugger to settle...
        I/System.out: debugger has settled (1498)
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.view.Window$Callback.onProvideKeyboardShortcuts, referenced from method android.support.v7.view.WindowCallbackWrapper.onProvideKeyboardShortcuts
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve interface method 16152: Landroid/view/Window$Callback;.onProvideKeyboardShortcuts (Ljava/util/List;Landroid/view/Menu;I)V
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x72 at 0x0002
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to find class referenced in signature (Landroid/view/SearchEvent;)
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.view.Window$Callback.onSearchRequested, referenced from method android.support.v7.view.WindowCallbackWrapper.onSearchRequested
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve interface method 16154: Landroid/view/Window$Callback;.onSearchRequested (Landroid/view/SearchEvent;)Z
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x72 at 0x0002
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.view.Window$Callback.onWindowStartingActionMode, referenced from method android.support.v7.view.WindowCallbackWrapper.onWindowStartingActionMode
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve interface method 16158: Landroid/view/Window$Callback;.onWindowStartingActionMode (Landroid/view/ActionMode$Callback;I)Landroid/view/ActionMode;
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x72 at 0x0002
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.content.res.TypedArray.getChangingConfigurations, referenced from method android.support.v7.widget.TintTypedArray.getChangingConfigurations
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve virtual method 455: Landroid/content/res/TypedArray;.getChangingConfigurations ()I
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x6e at 0x0002
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.content.res.TypedArray.getType, referenced from method android.support.v7.widget.TintTypedArray.getType
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve virtual method 477: Landroid/content/res/TypedArray;.getType (I)I
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x6e at 0x0008
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.widget.FrameLayout.startActionModeForChild, referenced from method android.support.v7.widget.ActionBarContainer.startActionModeForChild
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve virtual method 16589: Landroid/widget/FrameLayout;.startActionModeForChild (Landroid/view/View;Landroid/view/ActionMode$Callback;I)Landroid/view/ActionMode;
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x6f at 0x0002
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.content.Context.getColorStateList, referenced from method android.support.v7.content.res.AppCompatResources.getColorStateList
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve virtual method 269: Landroid/content/Context;.getColorStateList (I)Landroid/content/res/ColorStateList;
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x6e at 0x0006
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.content.res.Resources.getDrawable, referenced from method android.support.v7.widget.ResourcesWrapper.getDrawable
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve virtual method 418: Landroid/content/res/Resources;.getDrawable (ILandroid/content/res/Resources$Theme;)Landroid/graphics/drawable/Drawable;
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x6e at 0x0002
        I/dalvikvm: Could not find method android.content.res.Resources.getDrawableForDensity, referenced from method android.support.v7.widget.ResourcesWrapper.getDrawableForDensity
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve virtual method 420: Landroid/content/res/Resources;.getDrawableForDensity (IILandroid/content/res/Resources$Theme;)Landroid/graphics/drawable/Drawable;
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x6e at 0x0002
        E/dalvikvm: Could not find class 'android.graphics.drawable.RippleDrawable', referenced from method android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatImageHelper.hasOverlappingRendering
        W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve instanceof 140 (Landroid/graphics/drawable/RippleDrawable;) in Landroid/support/v7/widget/AppCompatImageHelper;
        D/dalvikvm: VFY: replacing opcode 0x20 at 0x000c
        W/System.err: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /csvfile.getAbsolutePath(): open failed: ENOENT (No such file or directory)
        W/System.err:     at libcore.io.IoBridge.open(IoBridge.java:462)
        W/System.err:     at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:78)
        W/System.err:     at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:105)
        W/System.err:     at java.io.FileReader.<init>(FileReader.java:66)
        W/System.err:     at com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay.MainActivity.prepArray(MainActivity.java:43)
        W/System.err:     at com.yourtechwhiz.listdisplay.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:26)
        W/System.err:     at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:5287)
        W/System.err:     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1087)
        W/System.err:     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2145)
        W/System.err:     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2231)
        W/System.err:     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$700(ActivityThread.java:139)
        W/System.err:     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1401)
        W/System.err:     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
        W/System.err:     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
        W/System.err:     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5082)
        W/System.err:     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
        W/System.err:     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
        W/System.err:     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:782)
        W/System.err:     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:598)
        W/System.err:     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
        W/System.err: Caused by: libcore.io.ErrnoException: open failed: ENOENT (No such file or directory)
        W/System.err:     at libcore.io.Posix.open(Native Method)
        W/System.err:     at libcore.io.BlockGuardOs.open(BlockGuardOs.java:110)
        W/System.err:     at libcore.io.IoBridge.open(IoBridge.java:446)
        W/System.err:   ... 19 more
        I/Adreno-EGL: <qeglDrvAPI_eglInitialize:385>: EGL 1.4 QUALCOMM build:  ()
        OpenGL ES Shader Compiler Version: E031.24.00.01
        Build Date: 12/27/13 Fri
        Local Branch: qualcomm_only
        Remote Branch:
        Local Patches:
        Reconstruct Branch:
        D/OpenGLRenderer: Enabling debug mode 0
        D/OpenGLRenderer: GL error from OpenGLRenderer: 0x502
        E/OpenGLRenderer:   GL_INVALID_OPERATION

Answer 1

Try OpenCSV - it will make your life easier.

First, add this package to your gradle dependencies as follows

implementation 'com.opencsv:opencsv:4.6'

Then you can either do

import com.opencsv.CSVReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.FileReader;


...

try {
    CSVReader reader = new CSVReader(new FileReader("yourfile.csv"));
    String[] nextLine;
    while ((nextLine = reader.readNext()) != null) {
        // nextLine[] is an array of values from the line
        System.out.println(nextLine[0] + nextLine[1] + "etc...");
    }
} catch (IOException e) {

}

or

CSVReader reader = new CSVReader(new FileReader("yourfile.csv"));
List myEntries = reader.readAll();

---

Edit after comment

try {
    File csvfile = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/csvfile.csv");
    CSVReader reader = new CSVReader(new FileReader(csvfile.getAbsolutePath()));
    String[] nextLine;
    while ((nextLine = reader.readNext()) != null) {
        // nextLine[] is an array of values from the line
        System.out.println(nextLine[0] + nextLine[1] + "etc...");
    }
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
    Toast.makeText(this, "The specified file was not found", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}

If you want to package the .csv file with the application and have it install on the internal storage when the app installs, create an assets folder in your project src/main folder (e.g., c:\myapp\app\src\main\assets\), and put the .csv file in there, then reference it like this in your activity:

String csvfileString = this.getApplicationInfo().dataDir + File.separatorChar + "csvfile.csv"
File csvfile = new File(csvfileString);

Answer 2

The following snippet reads a CSV file from the raw resources folder (which will be packed into your .apk file upon compilation).

Android by default does not create the raw folder. Create a raw folder under res/raw in your project and copy your CSV File into it. Keep the name of the CSV file lower case and convert it into text format when asked. My CSV file name is welldata.csv.

In the snippet, WellData is the model class (with constructor, getter and setter) and wellDataList is the ArrayList to store the data.

private void readData() {
    InputStream is = getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.welldata);
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(
            new InputStreamReader(is, Charset.forName("UTF-8")));
    String line = "";

    try {
        while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
           // Split the line into different tokens (using the comma as a separator).
            String[] tokens = line.split(",");

            // Read the data and store it in the WellData POJO.
            WellData wellData = new WellData();
            wellData.setOwner(tokens[0]);
            wellData.setApi(tokens[1]);
            wellData.setLongitude(tokens[2]);
            wellData.setLatitude(tokens[3]);
            wellData.setProperty(tokens[4]);
            wellData.setWellName(tokens[5]);
            wellDataList.add(wellData);

            Log.d("MainActivity" ,"Just Created " + wellData);
        }
    } catch (IOException e1) {
        Log.e("MainActivity", "Error" + line, e1);
        e1.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Answer 3

This worked for me in Kotlin. You will need to place the myfile.csv file in the res/raw folder, creating the folder if it isn't there.

val inputStream: InputStream = resources.openRawResource(R.raw.myfile)
val reader = BufferedReader(InputStreamReader(inputStream, Charset.forName("UTF-8")))
reader.readLines().forEach {

    //get a string array of all items in this line
    val items = it.split(",")

    //do what you want with each item
}

EDIT: this will not work if any of your items contain ","

Answer 4

New coder for Android Studio. I've been researching how to read CSV files and this works best for my needs. (s0, s1, etc. Strings were defined at the beginning of my program).

    File fileDirectory = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS);
    File fileToGet = new File(fileDirectory,"aFileName.csv");
        try {
            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileToGet));
            String line;
            while ((line = br.readLine()) !=null) {
                String[] tokens = line.split(",");
                s0=tokens[0].toString(); s1=tokens[1].toString(); s2=tokens[2].toString();
                s3=tokens[3].toString(); s4=tokens[4].toString(); s5=tokens[5].toString();
                                                  }
            }
    } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

Answer 5

Here is a simple way, which worked for me.

MainActivity.java

// Do not forget to call readWeatherData() in onCreate or wherever you need to :)

// Defining ordered collection as WeatherSample class
private List<WeatherSample> weatherSamples = new ArrayList<>();

private void readWeatherData() {
    // Read the raw csv file
    InputStream is = getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.data);

    // Reads text from character-input stream, buffering characters for efficient reading
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(
            new InputStreamReader(is, Charset.forName("UTF-8"))
    );

    // Initialization
    String line = "";

    // Initialization
    try {
        // Step over headers
        reader.readLine();

        // If buffer is not empty
        while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
            Log.d("MyActivity","Line: " + line);
            // use comma as separator columns of CSV
            String[] tokens = line.split(",");
            // Read the data
            WeatherSample sample = new WeatherSample();

            // Setters
            sample.setMonth(tokens[0]);
            sample.setRainfall(Double.parseDouble(tokens[1]));
            sample.setSumHours(Integer.parseInt(tokens[2]));

            // Adding object to a class
            weatherSamples.add(sample);

            // Log the object
            Log.d("My Activity", "Just created: " + sample);
        }

    } catch (IOException e) {
        // Logs error with priority level
        Log.wtf("MyActivity", "Error reading data file on line" + line, e);

        // Prints throwable details
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

WeatherSample.java

public class WeatherSample {
private String month;
private double rainfall;
private int sumHours;

public String getMonth() {
    return month;
}

public void setMonth(String month) {
    this.month = month;
}

public double getRainfall() {
    return rainfall;
}

public void setRainfall(double rainfall) {
    this.rainfall = rainfall;
}

public int getSumHours() {
    return sumHours;
}

public void setSumHours(int sumHours) {
    this.sumHours = sumHours;
}

@Override
public String toString() {
    return "WeatherSample{" +
            "month='" + month + '\'' +
            ", rainfall=" + rainfall +
            ", sumHours=" + sumHours +
            '}';
}

}

As for your source CSV file, first create directory:
app -> res (Right click) -> New -> Android resource directory -> Resource type (raw) -> OK

Then copy and paste your .csv file into that newly appeared directory:
raw (Right click) -> Show in Explorer

Here is the source file I used for the project:
data.csv

If you still have some error, here is a link to the full project:
Source Code

Hope it helps, have fun :)

Answer 6

With a file named filename.csv in the folder res/raw:

   private void gettingItemsFromCSV() {

    BufferedInputStream bufferedInputStream = new BufferedInputStream(getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.filename));
    BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(
            new InputStreamReader(bufferedInputStream));

    try {
        String line;
        while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
            Log.i("Test123", line);
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

}

Answer 7

In the latest Android 11 version, you need to do something like this:

val reader = CSVReader(
            getApplication<Application>().applicationContext.assets.open("file-name.csv")
                .reader()
        )
        val myEntries: List<Array<String>> = reader.readAll()

In build.gradle(app level):

dependencies {
    ...

    // CSV reader
    implementation 'com.opencsv:opencsv:4.6'
}

In AndroidManifest.xml:

    <application
        android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"
        ...