read file from assets

Question

public class Utils {
    public static List<Message> getMessages() {
        //File file = new File("file:///android_asset/helloworld.txt");
        AssetManager assetManager = getAssets();
        InputStream ims = assetManager.open("helloworld.txt");    
     }
}

I am using this code trying to read a file from assets. I tried two ways to do this. First, when use File I received FileNotFoundException, when using AssetManager getAssets() method isn't recognized. Is there any solution here?

Answer 1

Here is a way to get an InputStream for a file in the assets folder without a Context, Activity, Fragment or Application. How you get the data from that InputStream is up to you. There are plenty of suggestions for that in other answers here.

Kotlin

val is = this.javaClass.classLoader.getResourceAsStream("assets/your_file.ext")

Java

InputStream is = this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("assets/your_file.ext");

A caveat is that the this keyword is only available within an instance method. Also, all bets are off if a custom ClassLoader is in play.

Answer 2

getAssets() method will work when you are calling inside the Activity class.

If you calling this method in non-Activity class then you need to call this method from Context which is passed from Activity class. So below is the line by you can access the method.

ContextInstance.getAssets();

ContextInstance may be passed as this of Activity class.

Answer 3

Here is a method to read a file in assets:

/**
 * Reads the text of an asset. Should not be run on the UI thread.
 * 
 * @param mgr
 *            The {@link AssetManager} obtained via {@link Context#getAssets()}
 * @param path
 *            The path to the asset.
 * @return The plain text of the asset
 */
public static String readAsset(AssetManager mgr, String path) {
    String contents = "";
    InputStream is = null;
    BufferedReader reader = null;
    try {
        is = mgr.open(path);
        reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
        contents = reader.readLine();
        String line = null;
        while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
            contents += '\n' + line;
        }
    } catch (final Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        if (is != null) {
            try {
                is.close();
            } catch (IOException ignored) {
            }
        }
        if (reader != null) {
            try {
                reader.close();
            } catch (IOException ignored) {
            }
        }
    }
    return contents;
}

Answer 4

public String ReadFromfile(String fileName, Context context) {
    StringBuilder returnString = new StringBuilder();
    InputStream fIn = null;
    InputStreamReader isr = null;
    BufferedReader input = null;
    try {
        fIn = context.getResources().getAssets()
                .open(fileName, Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);
        isr = new InputStreamReader(fIn);
        input = new BufferedReader(isr);
        String line = "";
        while ((line = input.readLine()) != null) {
            returnString.append(line);
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.getMessage();
    } finally {
        try {
            if (isr != null)
                isr.close();
            if (fIn != null)
                fIn.close();
            if (input != null)
                input.close();
        } catch (Exception e2) {
            e2.getMessage();
        }
    }
    return returnString.toString();
}

Answer 5

Reading and writing files have always been verbose and error-prone. Avoid these answers and just use Okio instead:

InputStream input = context.getAssets().open("helloworld.txt");
BufferedSource source = Okio.buffer(Okio.source(jsonStream));
String text = source.readByteString().string(Charset.forName("utf-8"));

Answer 6

cityfile.txt

   public void getCityStateFromLocal() {
        AssetManager am = getAssets();
        InputStream inputStream = null;
        try {
            inputStream = am.open("city_state.txt");
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        Map<String, String[]> map = new HashMap<String, String[]>();
        try {
            map = mapper.readValue(getStringFromInputStream(inputStream), new TypeReference<Map<String, String[]>>() {
            });
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        ConstantValues.arrayListStateName.clear();
        ConstantValues.arrayListCityByState.clear();
        if (map.size() > 0)
        {
            for (Map.Entry<String, String[]> e : map.entrySet()) {
                CityByState cityByState = new CityByState();
                String key = e.getKey();
                String[] value = e.getValue();
                ArrayList<String> s = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(value));
                ConstantValues.arrayListStateName.add(key);
                s.add(0,"Select City");
                cityByState.addValue(s);
                ConstantValues.arrayListCityByState.add(cityByState);
            }
        }
        ConstantValues.arrayListStateName.add(0,"Select States");
    }
 // Convert InputStream to String
    public String getStringFromInputStream(InputStream is) {
        BufferedReader br = null;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        String line;
        try {
            br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
            while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
                sb.append(line);
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            if (br != null) {
                try {
                    br.close();
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        }

        return sb + "";

    }