android createTempFile throws permission denied?

Question

This is simple, but not working. I am trying to create a temp file (later a permanent storage file) for preview of an MP3 file. I have tried the following variants of the suffix as following example:

public class StudyFileIo extends Activity {
    private static final String TAG = "StudyFileIo";

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

        try {
            File tempFooFile = File
            .createTempFile("foo", "dat");
            Log.i(TAG, tempFooFile.getAbsolutePath());
        } catch (IOException e) {
            Log.e(TAG, e.toString());
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }
}

Log:

09-07 11:25:20.299 E/StudyFileIo( 8859): java.io.IOException: Permission denied
09-07 11:25:20.299 W/System.err( 8859): java.io.IOException: Permission denied
09-07 11:25:20.299 W/System.err( 8859):     at java.io.File.createNewFileImpl(Native Method)
09-07 11:25:20.299 W/System.err( 8859):     at java.io.File.createNewFile(File.java:1160)
09-07 11:25:20.299 W/System.err( 8859):     at java.io.File.createTempFile(File.java:1224)
09-07 11:25:20.299 W/System.err( 8859):     at java.io.File.createTempFile(File.java:1182)
09-07 11:25:20.299 W/System.err( 8859):     at com.mobibob.studyfileio.StudyFileIo.onCreate(StudyFileIo.java:25)
09-07 11:25:20.299 W/System.err( 8859):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
09-07 11:25:20.299 W/System.err( 8859):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2627)
09-07 11:25:20.309 W/System.err( 8859):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2679)
09-07 11:25:20.309 W/System.err( 8859):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2300(ActivityThread.java:125)
09-07 11:25:20.309 W/System.err( 8859):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2033)
09-07 11:25:20.309 W/System.err( 8859):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
09-07 11:25:20.309 W/System.err( 8859):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
09-07 11:25:20.309 W/System.err( 8859):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627)
09-07 11:25:20.309 W/System.err( 8859):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
09-07 11:25:20.309 W/System.err( 8859):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
09-07 11:25:20.319 W/System.err( 8859):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:876)
09-07 11:25:20.319 W/System.err( 8859):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:634)
09-07 11:25:20.319 W/System.err( 8859):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Is there some AndroidManifest.xml setting that I am missing (I am using default manifest)?

Answer 1

I think that you just missed the permission to write at the external storage, since temp files are created there by default. Add

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

to your manifest and it should work.

Answer 2

You need to create the temp files in a directory that your application owns. You should use createTempFile(String prefix, String suffix, File directory), where directory is the location to which the temp file is to be written. You can get a valid location for directory with the result from Context.getFilesDir() or Context.getDir(String name, int mode).