I know about the path_provider package but it doesn't do what i want, or maybe I'm not just using it right. I read after so many trials and errors that the getApplicationDocumentsDirectory() returns a directory that is accessible only by the app itself, but what if i want to write to a phone's local document directory or so and be able to view the file in my file explorer later on?
If you want to save where the file explorer reaches, you must use the method getExternalStorageDirectory(). It only works in Android and you'll need READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions.
Actually, you're able to find the files saved using getApplicationDocumentsDirectory() and getTemporaryDirectory() as well, but you'd need root access.
Related
Is it always safe to use the path "/storage/emulated/0/{MY APP NAME}" to store the files ?
I Want to store files in the external storage of the android device and I want to store it in a folder named after the app name this folder needs to be located in the external storage.
Have you tried the package path_provider https://pub.dev/packages/path_provider/install?
It comes with the methods getExternalStorageDirectory() and getApplicationDocumentsDirectory() which might be what you are looking for. As far as I know different os types are automatically considered as well.
try the same package of ext_storage named android_external_storage its the same concept putting the downloaded data for example to the download folder.
Check this thread.
The directory an app can access on sdcard looks like /storage/1718-0217/Android/data/com.example.app_name/files. You can get this with the code below.
(await getExternalStorageDirectories())?[1].path;
One app should only access some restricted directories on sdcard. Or you should use Permission.manageExternalStorage.request(), it is strongly restricted and always return false.
Fortunately, per-app directories can also be scanned by other services such like media.
I've looked up many topic but none seems to do what i need.
I am working on a website with flutter and i need to read a file thats located on the server.
Is this in any way possible?
Edit: The contents in this file change, so i have to update the contents on the website.
If you want to be able to access the file as if it was locally stored, then it needs to be registered under your assets in your pubspec.yaml & should be included in the project itself. Otherwise, you will have to fetch the file using something like DIO to fetch it from wherever it is hosted.
Thanks already. I stuck in this example for weeks.
in other examples mostly use apps own assets folder
I dont want to add file to asset folder.
I just want to get data from outside the app
and I want to assign this data to a variable
Filepicker package will solve the problem here is the link
You can access file name , path with this package
I'm a beginner at flutter and dart and had some issues with file handling using flutter.
I'm trying to store data locally in text files for my flutter application, and came across the standard tutorial on flutter's website which used path_provider and dart:io. It had instructions on getting the path and reading and writing to a file, however this didn't seem to work for files I added to the project. The only way to store to files was to first write using the inbuilt functions, then reading this newly created file. I can't add my own file and read it using flutter.
I also can't open the file created by flutter as I don't know where its stored. The path given by getApplicationDocumentsDirectory() returns the path /data/user/0/com.example.daily_challenges/app_flutter, and I don't know where to find this in my project.
In summary: How do I read a pre-existing file and how do I view the file created automatically by flutter.
Thanks :)
You can access the files from a physical device or simulator through Device File Explorer in Android Studio. Follow this guide
You won't be able to access getApplicationDocumentsDirectory().
If you are using android device, you can try to store it in getExternalStorageDirectory(). There's no equivalent in IOS though.
If you are running in a physical device. Open Device File Explorer in Android Studio and you can find the file under
data/data/your app package/app_flutter/fileName.txt
For example,
data/data/com.example.file_example/app_flutter/example.txt
And if you want to read the pre-existing file, you not need to anything specific, if you give the same file name, if not exist, it will create one, otherwise it will return the old one.
final File file = File(filePath);
file.writeAsStringSync('${text}', mode: FileMode.append);
For write, you consider using FileMode if you want to append text to the existing file. Or else by default overwrite will happen.
For read, you can consider this
final File file = File(filePath);
String text = await file.readAsString();
Just use Device File Explorer from Android Studio.
But the weird thing, path_provider gives you path like /data/user/0/your_app_id/..., but in fact all files are located in /data/data/your_app_id/..., as mentioned in previous answer.
What is the best way to use assets in Flutter , for example if i have a file for app configuration , should I store the file by getting the app directory using the path_provider plugin -without using assets- and store it ?, or should I add the file to my program folder -add the file to my assets- ?
the same question if I have a small Sqlite database.
and which of these methods is faster , and which is more secure ?
Assets are files that you add to your app during development. You can load them with rootBundle.load() or rootBundle.loadString() but you cannot modify or delete them.
In the app's directory you can store any files that your app downloads or generates from the internet while running. These files can then be opened, deleted, modified, etc. To access your app directory you need the package path_provider, which tells you the path to your app folder.
A sqlite database is normally stored in the app directory. An example package would be here sqflite.
For speed and security I can't make a difference. An app directory is designed so that only the app can access it. Assets are a part of the app, the application file can theoretically be unpacked by anyone. Therefore I would at least not store secret things in the assets.
Well, if by app configuration you mean the user's settings you can use Sqlite, SharedPreferences or Hive (Hive shows a benchmark that says that it is faster than SharedPreferences).
I believe that assets folder is used to store some common files for the app, like images, icons, fonts, etc. And I think that isn't recommended to store files with some kind of config file, mainly with critical info about the app configuration.