How to copy a file to another saved in SDCARD in Android?

Hello all…

This tutorial explains how to copy a file contents to another in Android. The file to copy is saved in SDCARD, however you can change the path to save it in your application sandbox.
if you want to save it in your sandbox, change the path to

/data/data/your_packagename/your_file.extension

Now we will see the layout for the program.


<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context=".CopyFileActivity" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tv1"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/hello_world" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tv2"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/hello_world" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btn1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Copy First file to second" />
    
      <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tv3"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="" />

</LinearLayout>

Now this is the java program that does the copying.

package com.coderzheaven.copyfiletoanother;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class CopyFileActivity extends Activity {

	@Override
	protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		setContentView(R.layout.activity_copy_file);

		Button btn = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btn1);
		TextView tv1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tv1);
		final TextView tv2 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tv2);
		final TextView tv3 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tv3);

		final String path1 = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()
				+ "/first_file.txt";
		final String path2 = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()
				+ "/second_file.txt";

		File file1 = new File(path1);
		tv1.setText("First File  : " + file1.getPath() + "(" + file1.length()
				+ " Bytes)\nFirst file contents : \n" + readFromSD(path1));

		File file2 = new File(path2);
		tv2.setText("Second File  : " + file2.getPath() + "(" + file2.length()
				+ " Bytes)");

		btn.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

			@Override
			public void onClick(View v) {
				if (copyFile(path1, path2))
					Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "File Copied.",
							Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
				else
					Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "File Not Copied.",
							Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

				tv3.setText("Second File Contents :" + readFromSD(path2));

			}
		});

	}

	public static boolean copyFile(String from, String to) {
		try {
			int bytesum = 0;
			int byteread = 0;
			File oldfile = new File(from);
			if (oldfile.exists()) {
				InputStream inStream = new FileInputStream(from);
				FileOutputStream fs = new FileOutputStream(to);
				byte[] buffer = new byte[1444];
				while ((byteread = inStream.read(buffer)) != -1) {
					bytesum += byteread;
					fs.write(buffer, 0, byteread);
				}
				inStream.close();
				fs.close();
			}
			return true;
		} catch (Exception e) {
			System.out.println(e.getMessage());
			return false;
		}
	}

	public String readFromSD(String path) {
		File file = new File(path);
		StringBuilder text = new StringBuilder();
		try {
			BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
			String line;
			while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
				text.append(line);
				text.append('\n');
			}
		} catch (IOException e) {
		}
		return text.toString();
	}

}

Note : if you are writing to Sdcard, then always give this permission in the AndroidManifest file.

  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

Another important thing is here I am not creating the file to copy, simply assuming that the first file is present in the sdcard in the correct path.

Copy File

Copy File

Download complete Android source code from here.

Download the tutorial PDF from here.

How to read and write files to SDCARD and application SandBox in Android – A complete example?

Here is a complete example of How to read and write files to SDCARD and application SandBox in Android.

First create a new project and inside the mainActivity paste this code.

package com.coderzheaven.filesexample;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends Activity implements OnClickListener {

	EditText edittext;
	Button b1, b2, b3, b4;
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        
        edittext = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.ed);
        edittext.setLines(10);
        b1 = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button1);
        b2 = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button2);
        b3 = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button3);
        b4 = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button4);
        
        b1.setOnClickListener(this);
        b2.setOnClickListener(this);
        b3.setOnClickListener(this);
        b4.setOnClickListener(this);        
        
    }
	@Override
	public void onClick(View v) {
		int id = v.getId();
		MyFile file = new MyFile(v.getContext());
		
		switch(id){
			case R.id.button1:
				if(!edittext.getText().toString().trim().equals("")){
					file.writeToSD(edittext.getText().toString());
				}else{
					Toast.makeText(v.getContext(), "Please enter some contents for the file", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
				}
				break;
				
			case R.id.button2:
				edittext.setText(file.readFromSD());
				break;
			
			case R.id.button3:
				if(!edittext.getText().toString().trim().equals("")){
					file.writeToSandBox(edittext.getText().toString());
				}else{
					Toast.makeText(v.getContext(), "Please enter some contents for the file", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
				}
				break;
				
			case R.id.button4:
				edittext.setText(file.readFromSandBox());
				break;
		}
		
		
		
	}

}

Now create another class named MyFile.java and copy this code into it.

package com.coderzheaven.filesexample;

import java.io. BufferedReader;
import java.io.BufferedWriter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;

import android.annotation.SuppressLint;
import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.util.Log;

public class MyFile {

	String TAG = "MyFile";
	Context context;
	public MyFile(Context context){
		this.context = context;
	}
	
	public Boolean writeToSD(String text){
		Boolean write_successful = false;
		 File root=null;  
	        try {  
	            // check for SDcard   
	            root = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();  
	            Log.i(TAG,"path.." +root.getAbsolutePath());  
	  
	            //check sdcard permission  
	            if (root.canWrite()){  
	                File fileDir = new File(root.getAbsolutePath());  
	                fileDir.mkdirs();  
	  
	                File file= new File(fileDir, "samplefile.txt");  
	                FileWriter filewriter = new FileWriter(file);  
	                BufferedWriter out = new BufferedWriter(filewriter);  
	                out.write(text);  
	                out.close();  
	                write_successful = true;
	            }  
	        } catch (IOException e) {  
	            Log.e("ERROR:---", "Could not write file to SDCard" + e.getMessage());  
	            write_successful = false;
	        }  
		return write_successful;
	}
	
	public String readFromSD(){
		File sdcard = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
		File file = new File(sdcard,"samplefile.txt");
		StringBuilder text = new StringBuilder();
		try {
		    BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
		    String line;
		    while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
		        text.append(line);
		        text.append('\n');
		    }
		}
		catch (IOException e) {
		}
		return text.toString();
	}

	@SuppressLint("WorldReadableFiles")
	@SuppressWarnings("static-access")
	public Boolean writeToSandBox(String text){
		Boolean write_successful = false;
		try{
			FileOutputStream fOut = context.openFileOutput("samplefile.txt",
					context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);
			OutputStreamWriter osw = new OutputStreamWriter(fOut); 
			osw.write(text);
			osw.flush();
			osw.close();
		}catch(Exception e){
			write_successful = false;
		}
		return write_successful;
	}
	public String readFromSandBox(){
		String str ="";
		String new_str = "";
		try{
			FileInputStream fIn = context.openFileInput("samplefile.txt");
            InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(fIn);
            BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(isr);
           
			while((str=br.readLine())!=null)
            {
				new_str +=str;
				System.out.println(new_str);
            }            
		}catch(Exception e)
		{			
		}
		return new_str;
	}
}

Now the layout for the xml file.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/LinearLayout1"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/ed"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
		android:lines="5" android:gravity="top|left" android:inputType="textMultiLine"
		android:scrollHorizontally="false" 
		android:minWidth="10.0dip"
		android:maxWidth="5.0dip"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>


    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button1"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Write File to SDCARD" />
    
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button2"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Read File from SDCARD" />
    
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button3"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Write File to Application SandBox" />
    
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button4"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Read File from Application SandBox" />

</LinearLayout>

Note you should give this permission in the AndroidManifest file.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

OK Done. Now run the project.

To view the files

1. To see the SDCARD
Open File explorer -> expand sdcard (or mnt/sdcard).
2. To see the Application SANDBOX
Open File explorer -> expand data/data/your_package_name/files.

Files Example

Download
.

Please leave your valuable comments on this post.

Join the Forum discussion on this post

How to download a file to your android device from a remote server with a custom progressbar showing progress?

Actually this is really simple.

I have already posted an example for how to download a file in this post.

How to Download an image in ANDROID programatically?

This is another one little different with a progressbar included.

Previously I have shown three other methods to upload files to a server.
Check these posts to refer this.

1. Uploading audio, video or image files from Android to server
2. How to Upload Multiple files in one request along with other string parameters in android?
3. ANDROID – Upload an image to a server.

OK We will start now.
This is the file we are going to download.

http://coderzheaven.com/sample_folder/sample_file.png

First we will create a simple layout with a button that will download a file on it’s onClick event.

This is the contents of main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    >
<TextView  
	android:id="@+id/tv1"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:text="Downloading File with ProgressBar Demo From Coderzheaven"
    />
<Button 
	android:id="@+id/b1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:text="Download File"
    android:onClick="downloadFile"
    />
</LinearLayout>

download a file to your android device from a remote server with a custom progressbar showing progress

Now we will write the java code to download the file.
Copy this code to your main java file. My file is named “DownloadFileDemo1.java”.

package com.coderzheaven.pack;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.Dialog;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.Window;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ProgressBar;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class DownloadFileDemo1 extends Activity {
	
    ProgressBar pb;
    Dialog dialog;
    int downloadedSize = 0;
    int totalSize = 0;
    TextView cur_val;
    String dwnload_file_path = "http://coderzheaven.com/sample_folder/sample_file.png";
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
      
        Button b = (Button) findViewById(R.id.b1);
        b.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
			@Override
			public void onClick(View v) {
				 showProgress(dwnload_file_path);
			        
			        new Thread(new Runnable() {
			            public void run() {
			            	 downloadFile();
			            }
			          }).start();
			}
		});
    }
  	    
    void downloadFile(){
    	
    	try {
    		URL url = new URL(dwnload_file_path);
    		HttpURLConnection urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();

    		urlConnection.setRequestMethod("GET");
    		urlConnection.setDoOutput(true);

    		//connect
    		urlConnection.connect();

    		//set the path where we want to save the file    		
    		File SDCardRoot = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(); 
    		//create a new file, to save the downloaded file 
    		File file = new File(SDCardRoot,"downloaded_file.png");
 
    		FileOutputStream fileOutput = new FileOutputStream(file);

    		//Stream used for reading the data from the internet
    		InputStream inputStream = urlConnection.getInputStream();

    		//this is the total size of the file which we are downloading
    		totalSize = urlConnection.getContentLength();

    		runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
			    public void run() {
			    	pb.setMax(totalSize);
			    }			    
			});
    		
    		//create a buffer...
    		byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
    		int bufferLength = 0;

    		while ( (bufferLength = inputStream.read(buffer)) > 0 ) {
    			fileOutput.write(buffer, 0, bufferLength);
    			downloadedSize += bufferLength;
    			// update the progressbar //
    			runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
    			    public void run() {
    			    	pb.setProgress(downloadedSize);
    			    	float per = ((float)downloadedSize/totalSize) * 100;
    			    	cur_val.setText("Downloaded " + downloadedSize + "KB / " + totalSize + "KB (" + (int)per + "%)" );
    			    }
    			});
    		}
    		//close the output stream when complete //
    		fileOutput.close();
    		runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
			    public void run() {
			    	// pb.dismiss(); // if you want close it..
			    }
			});    		
    	
    	} catch (final MalformedURLException e) {
    		showError("Error : MalformedURLException " + e);  		
    		e.printStackTrace();
    	} catch (final IOException e) {
    		showError("Error : IOException " + e);  		
    		e.printStackTrace();
    	}
    	catch (final Exception e) {
    		showError("Error : Please check your internet connection " + e);
    	}    	
    }
    
    void showError(final String err){
    	runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
		    public void run() {
		    	Toast.makeText(DownloadFileDemo1.this, err, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
		    }
		});
    }
    
    void showProgress(String file_path){
    	dialog = new Dialog(DownloadFileDemo1.this);
    	dialog.requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
    	dialog.setContentView(R.layout.myprogressdialog);
    	dialog.setTitle("Download Progress");

    	TextView text = (TextView) dialog.findViewById(R.id.tv1);
    	text.setText("Downloading file from ... " + file_path);
    	cur_val = (TextView) dialog.findViewById(R.id.cur_pg_tv);
    	cur_val.setText("Starting download...");
    	dialog.show();
    	
    	pb = (ProgressBar)dialog.findViewById(R.id.progress_bar);
    	pb.setProgress(0);
    	pb.setProgressDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.green_progress));  
    }
}

OK now we have to make a layout for the progressdialog since it is a custom one.

create a new xml file inside res/layout folder and name it myprogressdialog.xml and copy this code into it.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              android:id="@+id/layout_root"
              android:orientation="vertical"
              android:layout_width="fill_parent"
              android:layout_height="fill_parent"
              android:padding="10dp"
              >
    
    <TextView 
    	android:id="@+id/tv1"
      	android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      	android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      	android:textColor="#FFF"
      	android:text="hello"
      	android:textStyle="bold"  
    />
       
    <TextView 
    	android:id="@+id/cur_pg_tv"
      	android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      	android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      	android:textColor="#0F0"
      	android:text="hello"
      	android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
      	android:textStyle="bold|italic"    />       
    <ProgressBar   
		android:id="@+id/progress_bar"  
		android:layout_width="fill_parent"  
		android:layout_height="wrap_content"  
		android:progress="0"  
		android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
		android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"
		style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleHorizontal"  
		android:maxHeight="10dip"  
		android:minHeight="10dip"  
	/>  
	
</LinearLayout>

Now create a new file inside res/drawable folder and name it “green_progress.xml” and copy this code into it.
This xml is used for giving a green color to the progressbar.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

<item android:id="@android:id/background">
    <shape>
        <corners android:radius="5dip" />
        <gradient
                android:startColor="#ff9d9e9d"
                android:centerColor="#ff5a5d5a"
                android:centerY="0.75"
                android:endColor="#ff747674"
                android:angle="270"
        />
    </shape>
</item>
<item
    android:id="@android:id/progress">
    <clip>
        <shape>
            <corners
                android:radius="5dip" />
            <gradient
                	android:startColor="@color/greenStart"
                    android:centerColor="@color/greenMid"
                    android:centerY="0.75"
                    android:endColor="@color/greenEnd"
                    android:angle="270"
            />
        </shape>
    </clip>
</item>
</layer-list>

OK now we have customized the progressbar.

This line sets the progressbar to green color.

pb.setProgressDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.green_progress));

The showProgress() method inside the java code will invoke the custom progressbar.

Now the main thing..
Dont forget to add the permissions to the manifest file.

These two are the permissions we need .


This is the AndroidManifest file for this example.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      package="com.coderzheaven.pack"
      android:versionCode="1"
      android:versionName="1.0">
      
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
    
    <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
        <activity android:name=".DownloadFileDemo1"
                  android:label="@string/app_name">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
</manifest> 

download a file to your android device from a remote server with a custom progressbar showing progress

download a file to your android device from a remote server with a custom progressbar showing progress

download a file to your android device from a remote server with a custom progressbar showing progress

The file will be downloaded to the sdcard root. Please go to the DDMS perpective and open the File Explorer and expand the SDCARD to see the downloaded file.

Check the screen shot..

download a file to your android device from a remote server with a custom progressbar showing progress

Download.

How to check whether SDCARD in mounted in android?

This simple code snippet checks whether SDCARD is mounted in an android device or not.

if(Environment.getExternalStorageState().equals(Environment.MEDIA_MOUNTED)) {

    // SD Card is mounted

} else {

    // SD Card is not mounted

}

How to check SDCard free space in ANDROID?

This is a simple example that shows how many bytes are free in your SDCard.
Inorder to run this example, you have to create an SDCard and start the emulator with the SDCard.

Now create a fresh project and name it “FreeSpaceActivity.java” and copy the following code to it.

package pack.coderzheaven.check_space;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.os.StatFs;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class FreeSpaceActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        StatFs stat_fs = new StatFs(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getPath());
        double avail_sd_space = (double)stat_fs.getAvailableBlocks() *(double)stat_fs.getBlockSize();
        double GB_Available = (avail_sd_space / 1073741824);
        System.out.println("Available GB : " + GB_Available);

        TextView tv = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.tv);
        tv.setText("Your SD Card is " + GB_Available + " bytes free." );
        tv.setTextColor(Color.GREEN);
        tv.setTextSize(20);
    }
}

The main.xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    >
<TextView
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text=""
    android:id="@+id/tv"
    />
</LinearLayout>

AndroidManifest file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      package="pack.coderzheaven.check_space"
      android:versionCode="1"
      android:versionName="1.0">
    <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
        <activity android:name=".FreeSpaceActivity"
                  android:label="@string/app_name">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
</manifest>

Please leave your comments if the post was useful.

Free space in SD Card

Free Space in SD Card