If you haven't done so already, you will need to give your app the correct permission to write to the SD Card by adding the line below to your Manifest:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
Getting runtime permissions
You should be checking if the user has granted permission of external storage by using:
if (checkSelfPermission(android.Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
Log.v(TAG,"Permission is granted");
//File write logic here
return true;
}
If not, you need to ask the user to grant your app a permission:
ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this, new String[]{Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE}, REQUEST_CODE);
Of course these are for marshmallow devices only so you need to check if your app is running on Marshmallow:
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23) {
//do your check here
}
Be also sure that your activity implements OnRequestPermissionResult
The entire permission looks like this:
public boolean isStoragePermissionGranted() {
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23) {
if (checkSelfPermission(android.Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
== PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
Log.v(TAG,"Permission is granted");
return true;
} else {
Log.v(TAG,"Permission is revoked");
ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this, new String[]{Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE}, 1);
return false;
}
}
else { //permission is automatically granted on sdk<23 upon installation
Log.v(TAG,"Permission is granted");
return true;
}
}
Permission result callback:
@Override
public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, String[] permissions, int[] grantResults) {
super.onRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
if(grantResults[0]== PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED){
Log.v(TAG,"Permission: "+permissions[0]+ "was "+grantResults[0]);
//resume tasks needing this permission
}
}
Also
SD Card directory is /sdcard but you shouldn't be hard coding it. Instead, make a call to Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() to get the directory:
File sdDir = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
Code to write into external storage
Source
/** Method to check whether external media available and writable. This is adapted from
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html#filesExternal */
private void checkExternalMedia(){
boolean mExternalStorageAvailable = false;
boolean mExternalStorageWriteable = false;
String state = Environment.getExternalStorageState();
if (Environment.MEDIA_MOUNTED.equals(state)) {
// Can read and write the media
mExternalStorageAvailable = mExternalStorageWriteable = true;
} else if (Environment.MEDIA_MOUNTED_READ_ONLY.equals(state)) {
// Can only read the media
mExternalStorageAvailable = true;
mExternalStorageWriteable = false;
} else {
// Can't read or write
mExternalStorageAvailable = mExternalStorageWriteable = false;
}
}
/** Method to write ascii text characters to file on SD card. Note that you must add a
WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission to the manifest file or this method will throw
a FileNotFound Exception because you won't have write permission. */
private void writeToSDFile(){
// Find the root of the external storage.
// See http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data- storage.html#filesExternal
File root = android.os.Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
// See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3551821/android-write-to-sd-card-folder
File dir = new File (root.getAbsolutePath() + "/download");
dir.mkdirs();
File file = new File(dir, "myData.txt");
try {
FileOutputStream f = new FileOutputStream(file);
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(f);
pw.println("Hi , How are you");
pw.println("Hello");
pw.flush();
pw.close();
f.close();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
Log.i(TAG, "******* File not found. Did you" +
" add a WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission to the manifest?");
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
/** Method to read in a text file placed in the res/raw directory of the application. The
method reads in all lines of the file sequentially. */
private void readRaw(){
InputStream is = this.getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.textfile);
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(is);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr, 8192); // 2nd arg is buffer size
// More efficient (less readable) implementation of above is the composite expression
/*BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
this.getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.textfile)), 8192);*/
try {
String test;
while (true){
test = br.readLine();
// readLine() returns null if no more lines in the file
if(test == null) break;
}
isr.close();
is.close();
br.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
In addition to that
Shared storage may not always be available, since removable media can be ejected by the user.
