Issue when reading text file from Android Download folder with @ionic-native/file/ngx - Android 11

Ionic Native
1

have an Ionic 5 app that I am using @ionic-native/file/ngx and the cordova-plugin-file plugin to read in a text file into my app on Android.

My code is as shown below:

const path = this.file.externalRootDirectory + 'Download';

this.file.readAsText(path, 'foo.txt').then((file) => {
   console.log('process file');   
}).catch((e) => {
  console.log('error '+ e); 
});

This works on a couple of phones running Android 9 (I don’t have a device with Android 10). It does NOT work on a Pixel running Android 11. The promise returns null.

Things I have tried:

Used checkDir() to verify that the directory exists Used FileChooser and filePath.resolveNativePath Used androidPermissions READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE is set to true

Here is my Ionic info

Ionic:

   Ionic CLI                     : 6.12.2 (/Users/.nvm/versions/node/v12.18.3/lib/node_modules/@ionic/cli)
   Ionic Framework               : @ionic/angular 5.4.3
   @angular-devkit/build-angular : 0.1002.0
   @angular-devkit/schematics    : 10.1.7
   @angular/cli                  : 10.2.0
   @ionic/angular-toolkit        : 2.3.3

Cordova:

   Cordova CLI       : 10.0.0
   Cordova Platforms : android 9.0.0, ios 6.1.1
   Cordova Plugins   : cordova-plugin-ionic-keyboard 2.2.0, cordova-plugin-ionic-webview 5.0.0, (and 15 other plugins)

Utility:

   cordova-res (update available: 0.15.2) : 0.15.1
   native-run (update available: 1.2.2)   : 1.0.0

System:

   ios-sim : 8.0.2
   NodeJS  : v12.18.3 (/Users/.nvm/versions/node/v12.18.3/bin/node)
   npm     : 6.14.8
   OS      : macOS Catalina
   Xcode   : Xcode 12.2 Build version 12B45b

Any thoughts on what I can do to resolve this would be greatly appreciated.

2

I would use Capacitor’s Filesystem instead of this setup, but assuming you want to stick with Cordova, I would suggest reading through this issue.

3

Thanks for the response. I am currently 100% Cordova and use a lot of plugins currently not supported by Capacitor.

Is it easy to integrate this one Capacitor plugin and leave the rest of my app using Cordova platform and plugins?

4

Well, before you go down the Capacitor road, check that issue I linked and make sure your permission setup is copacetic.

5

Thanks for the comment. I believe my permissions are ok. Like I mentioned in my original post I am using the android-permissions plugin to verify that READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE is true. The last post in the link you provided states the following which seemed to be my situation. I have permission but the promise is returning null when trying to read.

@fragatak thanks! I’ve the permissions for the storage, but the file content is just “null”. Do you have any idea?

6

This issue was first reported on October 1st

As of API 29, there is a new file system policy. As long as you are targeting API 29 which the latest version of cordova-android does you can add the following flag to the config.xml to get it working:

requestLegacyExternalStorage

7 
<edit config file="app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml" mode="merge" target="/manifest/application" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<application android:networkSecurityConfig="@xml/network_security_config" 
`android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"` />
        </edit-config>

add it in your config.xml file and problem will be solved.It worked for me.
in android 10 or android api 29
before adding this android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"
while debugging you will get pop up access like this
allow myapp to access photos and media on your device

after adding this android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"
you will see
allow contacts to access photos media and files on your device.

in first case no file permission