Cannot open PDF file in external app

Question

I would like to open a PDF file when the user clicks on a button. Currently, i am using this code to achieve this:

Uri path = Uri.fromFile(new File("file:///android_asset/regola11_1.pdf"));
            Intent pdfIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
            pdfIntent.setDataAndType(path, "application/pdf");
            pdfIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
            startActivity(pdfIntent);

but it doesn't work.

When i select to use Adobe Acrobat, i get a message, displayed as a Toast, that says

"This file could not be accessed Check the location or the network and try again."

When i try with Drive PDF Viewer, i get

"Cannot display PDF ( regola11_1.pdf cannot be opened)"

The PDF file is stored in

app > build > intermediates > assets

Where is the problem?

EDIT

Now i'm using the following code:

File file = new File("\"file:///android_asset/regola11_1.pdf");
            Uri path = Uri.fromFile(file);
            Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
            intent.setDataAndType(path, "application/pdf");
            intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);

            try {
                context.startActivity(intent);
            }
            catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
                Toast.makeText(context, "No application available to view PDF", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            }

But when i try to open the PDF by clicking on the button, the app crashes.

This is the log i get:

05-31 10:05:25.132  24474-24474/? E/AndroidRuntime﹕ FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.andrey.andreyvedis.iamaref, PID: 24474
java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void android.content.Context.startActivity(android.content.Intent)' on a null object reference
        at com.andrey.andreyvedis.iamaref.FragmentR11.onClick(FragmentR11.java:147)
        at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:4781)
        at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:19873)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:739)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:135)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5293)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:372)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:904)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:699)

This is my class:

public class FragmentR11 extends Fragment implements  View.OnClickListener{
// TODO: Rename parameter arguments, choose names that match
// the fragment initialization parameters, e.g. ARG_ITEM_NUMBER
private static final String ARG_PARAM1 = "param1";
private static final String ARG_PARAM2 = "param2";
Context context;



// TODO: Rename and change types of parameters
private String mParam1;
private String mParam2;


/**
 * Use this factory method to create a new instance of
 * this fragment using the provided parameters.
 *
 * @param param1 Parameter 1.
 * @param param2 Parameter 2.
 * @return A new instance of fragment FragmentR11.
 */
// TODO: Rename and change types and number of parameters
public static FragmentR11 newInstance(String param1, String param2) {
    FragmentR11 fragment = new FragmentR11();
    Bundle args = new Bundle();
    args.putString(ARG_PARAM1, param1);
    args.putString(ARG_PARAM2, param2);
    fragment.setArguments(args);
    return fragment;
}

public FragmentR11() {
    // Required empty public constructor
}

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    if (getArguments() != null) {
        mParam1 = getArguments().getString(ARG_PARAM1);
        mParam2 = getArguments().getString(ARG_PARAM2);
    }



}

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                         Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    // Inflate the layout for this fragment
    return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_r11, container, false);


}

@Override
public void onViewCreated(View view, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState);

    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD1).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD2).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD3).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD4).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD5).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD6).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD7).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD8).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD9).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD10).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD11).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD12).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD13).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD14).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD15).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD16).setOnClickListener(this);
    getActivity().findViewById(R.id.bD17).setOnClickListener(this);


}

/**private void openPDF(final String pathToPDF) {
    File file = new File(pathToPDF);
    Uri path = Uri.fromFile(file);
    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
    intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
    intent.setDataAndType(path, "application/pdf");
    try {
        startActivity(intent);
    } catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
        Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Devi installare un'app per aprire PDF, come Adobe Acrobat Reader ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
}*/


@Override
public void onClick(View v) {



    switch(v.getId()){

        case R.id.bD1: {

            /**Uri path = Uri.fromFile(new File("regola11_1.pdf"));
            Intent pdfIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
            pdfIntent.setDataAndType(path, "application/pdf");
            pdfIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
            startActivity(pdfIntent);
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 1 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();*/

            File file = new File("\"file:///android_asset/regola11_1.pdf");
            Uri path = Uri.fromFile(file);
            Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
            intent.setDataAndType(path, "application/pdf");
            intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);

            try {
                context.startActivity(intent);
            }
            catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
                Toast.makeText(context, "No application available to view PDF", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            }
            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD2:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 2 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }


        case R.id.bD3:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 3 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD4:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 4 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD5:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 5 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD6:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 6 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD7:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 7 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD8:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 8 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD9:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 9 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD10:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 10 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD11:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 11 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD12:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 12 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD13:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 13 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD14:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 14 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD15:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 15 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD16:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 16 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }

        case R.id.bD17:

        {
            Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hai cliccato Regola 17 in Reg11 ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            break;
        }


    }

}

}

Can someone help me?

EDIT 2

I have found the solution, check my answer below for the code.

Thank you all for your answers.

Answer 1

Third-party apps cannot access your assets via file:///android_asset URLs.

You can:

• Try using my StreamProvider, to have a ContentProvider in your app that can serve the PDF straight from assets, or

• Use FileProvider from the Android Support package, after copying the file from assets to internal storage, as is demonstrated in this sample app, or

• Copy the file to external storage and use a Uri created from Uri.fromFile() to point to that copy

Answer 2

Ok guys, problem solved!

This is the code that i use to open a PDF file, stored on external memory:

File pdfFile = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(),"namePdfFile.pdf");//File path
            if (pdfFile.exists()) //Checking if the file exists or not
            {
                Uri path = Uri.fromFile(pdfFile);
                Intent objIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
                objIntent.setDataAndType(path, "application/pdf");
                objIntent.setFlags(Intent. FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
                startActivity(objIntent);//Starting the pdf viewer
            } else {

                Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "The file not exists! ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            }

Answer 3

My Problem is resolved after adding this permission :)

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

Answer 4

Add this Permission and check again :

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

it seems, there is a problem with accessing to the file.

Try to open another pdf file and let us know what's the Log.

and also i think you cannot use this : file:///android_asset

and take a look at this :

Choose the file with ExternalStorageDirectory:

File file = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath() +"/"+ filename);
Intent target = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
target.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFile(file),"application/pdf");
target.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_HISTORY);

Intent intent = Intent.createChooser(target, "Open File");

From : https://stackoverflow.com/a/17453242/4945820

With Assets Folder:

and here is the code, if you are using this with Assets Folder!

File file = new File("file:///android_asset/example.pdf");
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFile(file), "application/pdf");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_HISTORY);
startActivity(intent);

and then add above permission and check it again with Assets code. Also, check this: https://stackoverflow.com/q/28032029/4945820