ACTION_PICK image picker returns diffrent uri form

Question

I'm using image picker to select a image and then uploading this image to the server .

My code is working perfectly in all android devices except for Mi phones.

For all device Uri returned is of type : content://media/external/images/media/523

For Mi devices Uri returned is of type:file:///storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera/IMG_20160912_160415.jpg

The Cursor cursor = context.getContentResolver().query() returns null if the uri is not in format content://*

 private void pickImage() {

        Intent photoPickerIntent = new Intent(
                Intent.ACTION_PICK,
                android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI);
        photoPickerIntent.setType("image/*");

        startActivityForResult(photoPickerIntent, 0);
    }

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



        if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            Uri selectedImageUri = data.getData();
            if (selectedImageUri != null) {
                selectedImagePath = Utils.getImagePath(selectedImageUri, DepositBankWireActivity.this);
                Log.i("uplaod", "selectedImagePath" + selectedImagePath);
}
}

 public static String getImagePath(Uri uri, Context context) {
        Log.i("getImagePath",""+uri+" mime "+getMimeType(uri,context));

            String[] projection = {MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA,
                    MediaStore.Images.ImageColumns.ORIENTATION};
            Cursor cursor = context.getContentResolver().query(uri, projection, null, null,
                    null);
            int column_index = cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA);
            cursor.moveToFirst();
            return cursor.getString(column_index);

    }

Is there a standard way to implement image picker which returns the correct image path from uri eg /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/Screenshots/test.png for upload.

Answer 1

There is no requirement for the DATA column of MediaStore to give you a filesystem path that you can use. For example, the image might be on removable storage on Android 4.4+, which the MediaStore can access, but you cannot. MediaStore can also have in its index images that are not local to the device, but are from services like Google Photos (so I've been told).

So, your first step is to get rid of getImagePath(), as it will be unreliable.

The simplest and most performant solution is to find a way to "compress the images and [do] a multipart image upload on the server" without filesystem access. For example, you have access to an InputStream via openInputStream() on ContentResolver, and that will work for both types of Uri shown in your question. Find some way to do your work using that InputStream.

If you determine that this is not possible, you will need to get that InputStream anyway and make a local copy of the content (e.g., in getCacheDir()). Then, use your local copy, deleting it when you are done.