Get/pick an image from Android's built-in Gallery app programmatically

Question

This is a complete solution. I've just updated this example code with the information provided in the answer below by @mad. Also check the solution below from @Khobaib explaining how to deal with picasa images.

Update

I've just reviewed my original answer and created a simple Android Studio project you can checkout from github and import directly on your system.

https://github.com/hanscappelle/SO-2169649

(note that the multiple file selection still needs work)

Single Picture Selection

With support for images from file explorers thanks to user mad.

public class BrowsePictureActivity extends Activity {

    // this is the action code we use in our intent, 
    // this way we know we're looking at the response from our own action
    private static final int SELECT_PICTURE = 1;

    private String selectedImagePath;

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        findViewById(R.id.Button01)
                .setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

                    public void onClick(View arg0) {

                        // in onCreate or any event where your want the user to
                        // select a file
                        Intent intent = new Intent();
                        intent.setType("image/*");
                        intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
                        startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent,
                                "Select Picture"), SELECT_PICTURE);
                    }
                });
    }

    public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            if (requestCode == SELECT_PICTURE) {
                Uri selectedImageUri = data.getData();
                selectedImagePath = getPath(selectedImageUri);
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * helper to retrieve the path of an image URI
     */
    public String getPath(Uri uri) {
            // just some safety built in 
            if( uri == null ) {
                // TODO perform some logging or show user feedback
                return null;
            }
            // try to retrieve the image from the media store first
            // this will only work for images selected from gallery
            String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };
            Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
            if( cursor != null ){
                int column_index = cursor
                .getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
                cursor.moveToFirst();
                String path = cursor.getString(column_index);
                cursor.close();
                return path;
            }
            // this is our fallback here
            return uri.getPath();
    }

}

Selecting Multiple Pictures

Since someone requested that information in a comment and it's better to have information gathered.

Set an extra parameter EXTRA_ALLOW_MULTIPLE on the intent:

intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_ALLOW_MULTIPLE, true);

And in the Result handling check for that parameter:

if (Intent.ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE.equals(data.getAction()))
        && Intent.hasExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM)) {
    // retrieve a collection of selected images
    ArrayList<Parcelable> list = intent.getParcelableArrayListExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM);
    // iterate over these images
    if( list != null ) {
       for (Parcelable parcel : list) {
         Uri uri = (Uri) parcel;
         // TODO handle the images one by one here
       }
   }
} 

Note that this is only supported by API level 18+.

Here is an update to the fine code that hcpl posted. but this works with OI file manager, astro file manager AND the media gallery too (tested). so i guess it will work with every file manager (are there many others than those mentioned?). did some corrections to the code he wrote.

public class BrowsePicture extends Activity {

    //YOU CAN EDIT THIS TO WHATEVER YOU WANT
    private static final int SELECT_PICTURE = 1;

    private String selectedImagePath;
    //ADDED
    private String filemanagerstring;

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        ((Button) findViewById(R.id.Button01))
        .setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

            public void onClick(View arg0) {

                // in onCreate or any event where your want the user to
                // select a file
                Intent intent = new Intent();
                intent.setType("image/*");
                intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
                startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent,
                        "Select Picture"), SELECT_PICTURE);
            }
        });
    }

    //UPDATED
    public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            if (requestCode == SELECT_PICTURE) {
                Uri selectedImageUri = data.getData();

                //OI FILE Manager
                filemanagerstring = selectedImageUri.getPath();

                //MEDIA GALLERY
                selectedImagePath = getPath(selectedImageUri);

                //DEBUG PURPOSE - you can delete this if you want
                if(selectedImagePath!=null)
                    System.out.println(selectedImagePath);
                else System.out.println("selectedImagePath is null");
                if(filemanagerstring!=null)
                    System.out.println(filemanagerstring);
                else System.out.println("filemanagerstring is null");

                //NOW WE HAVE OUR WANTED STRING
                if(selectedImagePath!=null)
                    System.out.println("selectedImagePath is the right one for you!");
                else
                    System.out.println("filemanagerstring is the right one for you!");
            }
        }
    }

    //UPDATED!
    public String getPath(Uri uri) {
        String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };
        Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
        if(cursor!=null)
        {
            //HERE YOU WILL GET A NULLPOINTER IF CURSOR IS NULL
            //THIS CAN BE, IF YOU USED OI FILE MANAGER FOR PICKING THE MEDIA
            int column_index = cursor
            .getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
            cursor.moveToFirst();
            return cursor.getString(column_index);
        }
        else return null;
    }

hcpl's methods work perfectly pre-KitKat, but not working with the DocumentsProvider API. For that just simply follow the official Android tutorial for documentproviders: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/document-provider.html -> open a document, Bitmap section.

Simply I used hcpl's code and extended it: if the file with the retrieved path to the image throws exception I call this function:

private Bitmap getBitmapFromUri(Uri uri) throws IOException {
        ParcelFileDescriptor parcelFileDescriptor =
             getContentResolver().openFileDescriptor(uri, "r");
        FileDescriptor fileDescriptor = parcelFileDescriptor.getFileDescriptor();
        Bitmap image = BitmapFactory.decodeFileDescriptor(fileDescriptor);
        parcelFileDescriptor.close();
        return image;
}

Tested on Nexus 5.

basis with the above code, I reflected the code like below, may be it's more suitable:

public String getPath(Uri uri) {
    String selectedImagePath;
    //1:MEDIA GALLERY --- query from MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA
    String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };
    Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
    if(cursor != null){
        int column_index = cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
        cursor.moveToFirst();
        selectedImagePath = cursor.getString(column_index);
    }else{
        selectedImagePath = null;
    }

    if(selectedImagePath == null){
        //2:OI FILE Manager --- call method: uri.getPath()
        selectedImagePath = uri.getPath();
    }
    return selectedImagePath;
}

I went through the solution from @hcpl & @mad. hcpl's solution supports well for local image in the gallery & mad provided a better solution on top of that - it helps to load OI/Astro/Dropbox image as well. But in my app, while working on picasa library that's now integrated in Android Gallery, both solution fail.

I searched & analyzed a bit & eventually have come with a better & elegant solution that overcomes this limitation. Thanks to Dimitar Darazhanski for his blog, that helped me in this case, I modified a bit to make it easier to understand. Here is my solution goes -

public class BrowsePicture extends Activity {

//YOU CAN EDIT THIS TO WHATEVER YOU WANT
private static final int SELECT_PICTURE = 1;

private String selectedImagePath;
//ADDED
private String filemanagerstring;

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

    ((Button) findViewById(R.id.Button01))
    .setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

        public void onClick(View arg0) {

            // in onCreate or any event where your want the user to
            // select a file
            Intent intent = new Intent();
            intent.setType("image/*");
            intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
            startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent,
                    "Select Picture"), SELECT_PICTURE);
        }
    });
}

public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
        if (requestCode == SELECT_PICTURE) {
            Uri selectedImageUri = data.getData();
            Log.d("URI VAL", "selectedImageUri = " + selectedImageUri.toString());
            selectedImagePath = getPath(selectedImageUri);

            if(selectedImagePath!=null){         
                // IF LOCAL IMAGE, NO MATTER IF ITS DIRECTLY FROM GALLERY (EXCEPT PICASSA ALBUM),
                // OR OI/ASTRO FILE MANAGER. EVEN DROPBOX IS SUPPORTED BY THIS BECAUSE DROPBOX DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE 
                // IN THIS FORM - file:///storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/...
                System.out.println("local image"); 
            }
            else{
                System.out.println("picasa image!");
                loadPicasaImageFromGallery(selectedImageUri);
            }
        }
    }
}


// NEW METHOD FOR PICASA IMAGE LOAD
private void loadPicasaImageFromGallery(final Uri uri) {
    String[] projection = {  MediaColumns.DATA, MediaColumns.DISPLAY_NAME };
    Cursor cursor = getContentResolver().query(uri, projection, null, null, null);
    if(cursor != null) {
        cursor.moveToFirst();

        int columnIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(MediaColumns.DISPLAY_NAME);
        if (columnIndex != -1) {
            new Thread(new Runnable() {
                // NEW THREAD BECAUSE NETWORK REQUEST WILL BE MADE THAT WILL BE A LONG PROCESS & BLOCK UI
                // IF CALLED IN UI THREAD 
                public void run() {
                    try {
                        Bitmap bitmap = android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.getBitmap(getContentResolver(), uri);
                        // THIS IS THE BITMAP IMAGE WE ARE LOOKING FOR.
                    } catch (Exception ex) {
                        ex.printStackTrace();
                    }
                }
            }).start();
        }
    }
    cursor.close();
}


public String getPath(Uri uri) {
    String[] projection = {  MediaColumns.DATA};
    Cursor cursor = getContentResolver().query(uri, projection, null, null, null);
    if(cursor != null) {
        //HERE YOU WILL GET A NULLPOINTER IF CURSOR IS NULL
        //THIS CAN BE, IF YOU USED OI FILE MANAGER FOR PICKING THE MEDIA
        cursor.moveToFirst();
        int columnIndex = cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaColumns.DATA);
        String filePath = cursor.getString(columnIndex);
        cursor.close();
        return filePath;
    }
    else 
        return uri.getPath();               // FOR OI/ASTRO/Dropbox etc
}

Check it & let me know if there's some issue with it. I have tested it & it works well in every case.

Hope this will help everyone.

Assuming you have an image folder in your SD card directory for images only.

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
// tells your intent to get the contents
// opens the URI for your image directory on your sdcard
intent.setType("file:///sdcard/image/*"); 
startActivityForResult(intent, 1);

Then you can decide with what you would like to do with the content back in your activity.

This was an example to retrieve the path name for the image, test this with your code just to make sure you can handle the results coming back. You can change the code as needed to better fit your needs.

protected final void onActivityResult(final int requestCode, final int
                     resultCode, final Intent i) {
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, i);

  // this matches the request code in the above call
  if (requestCode == 1) {
      Uri _uri = i.getData();

    // this will be null if no image was selected...
    if (_uri != null) {
      // now we get the path to the image file
     cursor = getContentResolver().query(_uri, null,
                                      null, null, null);
     cursor.moveToFirst();
     String imageFilePath = cursor.getString(0);
     cursor.close();
     }
   }

My advice is to try to get retrieving images working correctly, I think the problem is the content of accessing the images on the sdcard. Take a look at Displaying images on sd card.

If you can get that up and running, probably by the example supplying a correct provider, you should be able to figure out a work-around for your code.

Keep me updated by updating this question with your progress. Good luck

this is my revisit to this topic, gathering all the information here, plus from other relevant stack overflow questions. It returns images from some provider, while handling out-of-memory conditions and image rotation. It supports gallery, picasa and file managers, like drop box. Usage is simple: as input, the constructor receives the content resolver and the uri. The output is the final bitmap.

/**
 * Creates resized images without exploding memory. Uses the method described in android
 * documentation concerning bitmap allocation, which is to subsample the image to a smaller size,
 * close to some expected size. This is required because the android standard library is unable to
 * create a reduced size image from an image file using memory comparable to the final size (and
 * loading a full sized multi-megapixel picture for processing may exceed application memory budget).
 */

public class UserPicture {
    static int MAX_WIDTH = 600;
    static int MAX_HEIGHT = 800;
    Uri uri;
    ContentResolver resolver;
    String path;
    Matrix orientation;
    int storedHeight;
    int storedWidth;

    public UserPicture(Uri uri, ContentResolver resolver) {
        this.uri = uri;
        this.resolver = resolver;
    }

    private boolean getInformation() throws IOException {
        if (getInformationFromMediaDatabase())
            return true;

        if (getInformationFromFileSystem())
            return true;

        return false;
    }

    /* Support for gallery apps and remote ("picasa") images */
    private boolean getInformationFromMediaDatabase() {
        String[] fields = { Media.DATA, ImageColumns.ORIENTATION };
        Cursor cursor = resolver.query(uri, fields, null, null, null);

        if (cursor == null)
            return false;

        cursor.moveToFirst();
        path = cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex(Media.DATA));
        int orientation = cursor.getInt(cursor.getColumnIndex(ImageColumns.ORIENTATION));
        this.orientation = new Matrix();
        this.orientation.setRotate(orientation);
        cursor.close();

        return true;
    }

    /* Support for file managers and dropbox */
    private boolean getInformationFromFileSystem() throws IOException {
        path = uri.getPath();

        if (path == null)
            return false;

        ExifInterface exif = new ExifInterface(path);
        int orientation = exif.getAttributeInt(ExifInterface.TAG_ORIENTATION,
                                               ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_NORMAL);

        this.orientation = new Matrix();
        switch(orientation) {
            case ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_NORMAL:
                /* Identity matrix */
                break;
            case ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_FLIP_HORIZONTAL:
                this.orientation.setScale(-1, 1);
                break;
            case ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_ROTATE_180:
                this.orientation.setRotate(180);
                break;
            case ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_FLIP_VERTICAL:
                this.orientation.setScale(1, -1);
                break;
            case ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_TRANSPOSE:
                this.orientation.setRotate(90);
                this.orientation.postScale(-1, 1);
                break;
            case ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_ROTATE_90:
                this.orientation.setRotate(90);
                break;
            case ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_TRANSVERSE:
                this.orientation.setRotate(-90);
                this.orientation.postScale(-1, 1);
                break;
            case ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_ROTATE_270:
                this.orientation.setRotate(-90);
                break;
        }

        return true;
    }

    private boolean getStoredDimensions() throws IOException {
        InputStream input = resolver.openInputStream(uri);
        Options options = new Options();
        options.inJustDecodeBounds = true;
        BitmapFactory.decodeStream(resolver.openInputStream(uri), null, options);

        /* The input stream could be reset instead of closed and reopened if it were possible
           to reliably wrap the input stream on a buffered stream, but it's not possible because
           decodeStream() places an upper read limit of 1024 bytes for a reset to be made (it calls
           mark(1024) on the stream). */
        input.close();

        if (options.outHeight <= 0 || options.outWidth <= 0)
            return false;

        storedHeight = options.outHeight;
        storedWidth = options.outWidth;

        return true;
    }

    public Bitmap getBitmap() throws IOException {
        if (!getInformation())
            throw new FileNotFoundException();

        if (!getStoredDimensions())
            throw new InvalidObjectException(null);

        RectF rect = new RectF(0, 0, storedWidth, storedHeight);
        orientation.mapRect(rect);
        int width = (int)rect.width();
        int height = (int)rect.height();
        int subSample = 1;

        while (width > MAX_WIDTH || height > MAX_HEIGHT) {
            width /= 2;
            height /= 2;
            subSample *= 2;
        }

        if (width == 0 || height == 0)
            throw new InvalidObjectException(null);

        Options options = new Options();
        options.inSampleSize = subSample;
        Bitmap subSampled = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(resolver.openInputStream(uri), null, options);

        Bitmap picture;
        if (!orientation.isIdentity()) {
            picture = Bitmap.createBitmap(subSampled, 0, 0, options.outWidth, options.outHeight,
                                          orientation, false);
            subSampled.recycle();
        } else
            picture = subSampled;

        return picture;
    }
}

References:

• http://developer.android.com/training/displaying-bitmaps/index.html
• Get/pick an image from Android's built-in Gallery app programmatically
• Strange out of memory issue while loading an image to a Bitmap object
• Set image orientation using ExifInterface
• https://gist.github.com/9re/1990019
• how to get bitmap information and then decode bitmap from internet-inputStream?