How to check if a file can be opened by a third party application before download

Question

In my application I want to download a file and view it. The issue is that I need to check whether there is any third party application installed on the device that can open the file format(Mime) before it is downloaded. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Create an ACTION_VIEW Intent with the right MIME type and a fake path to the file (or, better yet, the path you intend to download it to). Then, use PackageManager and queryIntentActivities() -- if you get back a list with 1+ items in it, then startActivity() on that Intent will succeed once you have downloaded the file.