Android M Permissions : Confused on the usage of s

Question

I was going through the official doc about the new Permissions model in Android M. It talks about the shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale() function which returns true if the app has requested this permission previously and the user denied the request. If the user turned down the permission request in the past and chose the Don't ask again option, this method returns false.

But how can we differentiate between the following two cases?

Case 1: The app doesn't have a permission and the user has not been asked for the permission before. In this case, shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale() will return false because this is the first time we're asking the user.

Case 2: The user has denied the permission and selected "Don't ask again", in this case too shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale() will return false.

I would want to send the user to the App's settings page in Case 2. How do i go about differentiating these two cases?

Answer 1

If anyone is interested in a Kotlin solution, I refactored @muthuraj answer to be in Kotlin. Also modernized it a bit to have a completion block instead of listeners.

PermissionUtil

object PermissionUtil {
    private val PREFS_FILE_NAME = "preference"

    fun firstTimeAskingPermission(context: Context, permission: String, isFirstTime: Boolean) {
        val sharedPreference = context.getSharedPreferences(PREFS_FILE_NAME, MODE_PRIVATE)
        sharedPreference.preferences.edit().putBoolean(permission,
                isFirstTime).apply()
    }

    fun isFirstTimeAskingPermission(context: Context, permission: String): Boolean {
        val sharedPreference = context.getSharedPreferences(PREFS_FILE_NAME, MODE_PRIVATE)
        return sharedPreference.preferences.getBoolean(permission,
                true)
    }
}

PermissionHandler

enum class CheckPermissionResult {
    PermissionAsk,
    PermissionPreviouslyDenied,
    PermissionDisabled,
    PermissionGranted
}

typealias PermissionCheckCompletion = (CheckPermissionResult) -> Unit


object PermissionHandler {

    private fun shouldAskPermission(context: Context, permission: String): Boolean {
        return ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(context,
                permission) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
    }

    fun checkPermission(context: Context, permission: String, completion: PermissionCheckCompletion) {
        // If permission is not granted
        if (shouldAskPermission(context, permission)) {
            //If permission denied previously
            if ((context as Activity).shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(permission)) {
                completion(CheckPermissionResult.PermissionPreviouslyDenied)
            } else {
                // Permission denied or first time requested
                if (PermissionUtil.isFirstTimeAskingPermission(context,
                                permission)) {
                    PermissionUtil.firstTimeAskingPermission(context,
                            permission,
                            false)
                    completion(CheckPermissionResult.PermissionAsk)
                } else {
                    // Handle the feature without permission or ask user to manually allow permission
                    completion(CheckPermissionResult.PermissionDisabled)
                }
            }
        } else {
            completion(CheckPermissionResult.PermissionGranted)
        }
    }
}

Implementation

PermissionHandler.checkPermission(activity,
                    Manifest.permission.CAMERA) { result ->
                when (result) {
                    CheckPermissionResult.PermissionGranted -> {
                        // openCamera()
                    }
                    CheckPermissionResult.PermissionDisabled -> {
                        // displayAlert(noPermissionAlert)
                    }
                    CheckPermissionResult.PermissionAsk -> {
                        // requestCameraPermissions()
                    }
                    CheckPermissionResult.PermissionPreviouslyDenied -> {
                        // displayAlert(permissionRequestAlert)
                    }
                }
            }

Answer 2

Just post another option, if anyone may feel like. You can use EasyPermissions which was provided by Google itself, to, as said, "Simplify Android M system permissions".

Then you don't have to handle shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale directly.

Answer 3

After M Preview 1, if the dialog is displayed for the first time, there is no Never ask again checkbox.

If the user denies the permission request, there will be a Never ask again checkbox in the permission dialog the second time permission is requested.

So the logic should be like this:

1. Request permission:

   if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(context, Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
       ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(context, new String[]{Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE}, REQUEST_CODE);
   } else {
       //Do the stuff that requires permission...
   }
   

2. Check if the permission was denied or granted in onRequestPermissionsResult.

   If the permission was denied previously, this time there will be a Never ask again checkbox in the permission dialog.

   Call shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale to see if the user checked Never ask again. shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale method returns false only if the user selected Never ask again or device policy prohibits the app from having that permission:

   if (grantResults.length > 0){
       if(grantResults[0] == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
           //Do the stuff that requires permission...
       }else if (grantResults[0] == PackageManager.PERMISSION_DENIED){
           // Should we show an explanation?
           if (ActivityCompat.shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(context, Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)) {
               //Show permission explanation dialog...
           }else{
               //Never ask again selected, or device policy prohibits the app from having that permission.
               //So, disable that feature, or fall back to another situation...
           }
       }
   }
   

So, you won't have to track if a user checked Never ask again or not.

Answer 4

This code asks user to ask permission during runtime, if user allows, it execute result method, if user deny, it ask again with discription with user deny (it ask again with instructions), but if user choose never ask again. it handles never ask again, display open settings option with instructions.

public String storagePermissions = Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE;   
private static final int REQUEST_ACCESS =101;  

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
      if(checkSelfPermission(storagePermissions)== PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED){
          result();    // result  is your block of code 
      }else {
          requestPermissions(new String[]{storagePermissions},REQUEST_ACCESS);
      }

    }
    else{
        result();    //so if user is lower than api verison M, no permission is requested
    } 

}

 private void showMessageOKCancel(String message, DialogInterface.OnClickListener okListener) {
    new AlertDialog.Builder(MainActivity.this)
            .setMessage(message)
            .setTitle("Hi User..")
            .setPositiveButton("Ok", okListener)
            .setNegativeButton("Cancel", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {        //idea calling showMessage funtion again
                    Snackbar mySnackbar = Snackbar.make( findViewById(R.id.coordinatorlayout),"You Press Cancel.. ", Snackbar.LENGTH_INDEFINITE);
                    mySnackbar.setAction("Exit", new cancelButton());
                    mySnackbar.show();

                }
            })
            .create()
            .show();
}


private void result(){
          //your code
}

    @RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.M)
public class NeverAskAgain implements View.OnClickListener{
    @Override
    public void onClick(View view)
    {
        goToSettings();
    }
}
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.M)
private void goToSettings() {
    Intent myAppSettings = new Intent(Settings.ACTION_APPLICATION_DETAILS_SETTINGS, Uri.parse("package:" + getPackageName()));
    finish();
    myAppSettings.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_DEFAULT);
    myAppSettings.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    startActivityForResult(myAppSettings, REQUEST_APP_SETTINGS);
}
public class cancelButton implements View.OnClickListener{
    @Override
    public void onClick(View view){
        Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,"To use this app , you must grant storage permission",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);
        finish();
    }
    }


 @Override
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.M)
public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, @NonNull String permissions[], @NonNull int[] grantResults) {
    super.onRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode,permissions,grantResults);

    switch(requestCode) {
        case REQUEST_ACCESS:
                if (grantResults.length > 0 && grantResults[0] == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
                    // permission is granted
                    result();
                    break;
                }
                else if (!shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(permissions[0])){
                    showMessageOKCancel("You choose Never Ask Again,option",
                new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                        Snackbar mySnackbar = Snackbar.make(findViewById(R.id.coordinatorlayout), "Permission=>Storage=>On", Snackbar.LENGTH_INDEFINITE);
                        mySnackbar.setAction("Settings", new NeverAskAgain());
                        mySnackbar.show();
                    }
                     });
                    break;
                }
                else {
                    showMessageOKCancel("You Denid permission Request..",
                    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                            requestPermissions(new String[]{storagePermissions}, REQUEST_ACCESS);
                        }
                    });
                    break;
                }
        }
}

Answer 5

May be useful for someone:--

What I have noticed is, if we check the shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale() flag in to onRequestPermissionsResult() callback method, it shows only two states.

State 1:-Return true:-- Any time user clicks Deny permissions (including the very first time).

State 2:-Returns false :- if user selects “never asks again".

Link for detailed working example.