Android OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE intent root locations

Question

I'm using the Directory Selection API, which was introduced in Android 5.0 (API level 21) to let users pick a directory to save a file to.

To select a directory I build and send an ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE intent like in the following code:

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE);
startActivityForResult(intent, REQUEST_CODE_OPEN_DIRECTORY);

I get the following popup:

However, if I let users choose a file using ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT intent:

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);
intent.setType("*/*");
startActivityForResult(intent, FILE_CHOOSER_ACTIVITY_REQUEST_CODE);

Then, I get the following popup:

I'm testing it in my Android 5.0.1 Nexus Tab 10. Why do I get different root locations using ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE and ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT? Maybe only Internal Storage Document Provider instance supports subtree selection?

I would also like allowing users pick a Google Drive directory using ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE.

Both ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE and ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT reference say:

When invoked, the system will display the various DocumentsProvider instances installed on the device, letting the user navigate through them.

Thank you very much in advance

Answer 1

The result at my end is exactely same with yours, that is, cannot select subtree on Google Drive.

Based on the Android official sample about OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE: The system displays all DocumentsProvider instances that support subtree selection

So I think the reason is that Google Drive DocumentsProvider instance did not support handle OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE yet.

Answer 2

I know this is an old issue, but the situation is still the same. The file requester opened up by ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE does not list providers such as Google Drive or OneDrive, However, these providers DO show up when using ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT.

I worked around this issue by using ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT and specifying that the user could select multiple files. The processing in the callback to process the selections is a bit different, but it works for me.

Here is the code to set up the intent:

                Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT);
                intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);
                intent.setType("image/jpeg");
                intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_ALLOW_MULTIPLE, true);

                startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent, "Choose Photos"), RQS_OPEN_PHOTO_TREE);

And here is the onActivitryResult():

@Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);

        if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {
            if (requestCode == RQS_OPEN_PHOTO_TREE) {
                ClipData clipData = data.getClipData();
                Uri pUri = data.getData();
                if (clipData == null && pUri == null) {
                    // No files were selected. Don't know if this can actually happen...
                    Toast.makeText(this, "No jpeg files selected", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                } else if( clipData != null){  // User selected multiple files
                    for (int i = 0; i < clipData.getItemCount(); i++) {
                        ClipData.Item item = clipData.getItemAt(i);
                        Uri uri = item.getUri();
                        /*
                         * Process the returned Uri
                        */
                    }
                }
                else { 
                        /*
                         * The user only selected one file
                         * The Uri for the file is in pUri
                        */
                }
            }
        }
    }

I hope this helps other in the future....