kotlin send email with attachment fails with URI

Question

I have the following kotlin code to send an email with an attachment:

val file = File(directory, filename)
file.createNewFile()
file.writeText("My Text", Charsets.UTF_8)
// ---- file is written succesfully, now let us
// try to get the URI and pass it for the intent

val fileURI = FileProvider.getUriForFile(this, "com.mydomain.myapp", file!!)

val emailIntent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND).apply {
        putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, "My subject"))
        putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "My message")
        putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, fileURI)
    }
emailIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
emailIntent.type = "text/plain"
startActivity(emailIntent)

Now, when I run the above code, I get an error:

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'android.content.res.XmlResourceParser android.content.pm.ProviderInfo.loadXmlMetaData(android.content.pm.PackageManager, java.lang.String)' on a null object reference

for the fileURI assignment line. If instead of FileProvider, if I use:

putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, file!!.toURI())

as the extra intent parameter, then I get an error:

W/Bundle: Key android.intent.extra.STREAM expected Parcelable but value was a java.net.URI.  The default value <null> was returned.

03-22 11:39:06.625 9620-9620/com.secretsapp.secretsapp W/Bundle: Attempt to cast generated internal exception:

W/Bundle: Key android.intent.extra.STREAM expected Parcelable but value was a java.net.URI.  The default value <null> was returned.
   W/Bundle: Attempt to cast generated internal exception:
   java.lang.ClassCastException: java.net.URI cannot be cast to android.os.Parcelable
   at android.os.Bundle.getParcelable(Bundle.java:945)

The file is created under a sub-directory under the global Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOCUMENTS) directory and the app has Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission too. Any pointers on how I can get the URI for the file and attach it to the email intent ?

CommonsWare · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-22 18:01:43Z

2

For your first attempt — which is the correct approach — your <provider> does not have an authority value of com.mydomain.myapp. The authority string in the <provider> element in the manifest must match the 2nd parameter that you pass to getUriForFile(). This is covered in the documentation for FileProvider.

For your second attempt, toURI() returns a URI, not a Uri. While you could switch that to Uri.fromFile(), you will then crash on Android 7.0+, once your targetSdkVersion climbs to 24 or higher. Use the FileProvider approach.

edited Mar 22, 2018 at 18:01

answered Mar 22, 2018 at 11:48

CommonsWare

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1 Comment

Sankar Over a year ago

I have got it working. I have totally ignored the <provider> tag. After a bit of a frantic googling, I found it. Thanks. I am marking this as the accepted answer, however May be you could paste some code (of the manifest) so that it would be useful for people who come looking for a solution ?

Manzotin · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-17 10:02:12Z

Implementation of CommonsWare's answer

manifest:

<application> 
...
<provider
            android:name="android.support.v4.content.FileProvider" <- or use your provider implementation
            android:authorities="com.your.package.fileprovider" <- must end with .fileprovider
            android:exported="false"
            android:grantUriPermissions="true">
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
                android:resource="@xml/provider_paths" />
        </provider>
...
</application

res/xml/provider_paths.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<paths>
    <external-path path="Android/data/" name="files_root" />
    <external-path path="." name="external_storage_root" />
</paths>

Use Sankar' implementation, but to get file uri, authority must equal the one declared in manifest:

val fileURI = FileProvider.getUriForFile(context, "$packageName.fileprovider", yourFile)

halfer · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-26 10:12:43Z

0

Use below code for send email with intent in Kotlin:

private fun sendEmail() {
    val filename = "contacts_sid.vcf"
    val filelocation = File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath(), filename)
    val path = Uri.fromFile(filelocation)
    val emailIntent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND)
    // set the type to 'email'
    emailIntent.type = "vnd.android.cursor.dir/email"
    val to = arrayOf("[email protected]")
    emailIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, to)
    // the attachment
    emailIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, path)
    // the mail subject
    emailIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, "Subject")
    startActivity(Intent.createChooser(emailIntent, "Send email..."))
}

edited Mar 26, 2018 at 10:12

halfer

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answered Mar 22, 2018 at 11:57

user4571931

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