FilePicker doesn't take into account IsExternalStorageManager

[KieranDevvs]

Description

When using FilePicker with the permissions: https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/manage-all-files, I still get a cached file copy rather than the original file path.

My use case is that I am building a document editor and need an easy way to read and write files anywhere on the device file system.

My original issue that this stems from: #4195
My work around: #6004

Steps to Reproduce

Give your application MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions, as well as special intent: ACTION_MANAGE_ALL_FILES_ACCESS_PERMISSION by going into Android settings -> Application Permissions -> Special App Access -> All Files Access -> Enable

Then open the MAUI.Essentials.FilePicker and select a file. The file path returned will be a cached copy.

Version with bug

RC1

Last version that worked well

Unknown/Other

Affected platforms

Android

Affected platform versions

Android 11 - API 30

Did you find any workaround?

I have managed to work around the issue by creating platform specific file handling, and on android, Im calling the android API directly:

var currentActivity = Platform.CurrentActivity;

// Makes sure the app has ACTION_MANAGE_ALL_FILES_ACCESS_PERMISSION before trying to read the file.
if (!Environment.IsExternalStorageManager) 
{
    var uri = Uri.Parse($"package:{Application.Context?.ApplicationInfo?.PackageName}");
    var permissionIntent = new Intent(Settings.ActionManageAppAllFilesAccessPermission, uri);
    currentActivity.StartActivity(permissionIntent);
}

var intent = new Intent(Intent.ActionOpenDocument);
intent.AddCategory(Intent.CategoryOpenable);
intent.SetType("application/json");

intent.PutExtra(DocumentsContract.ExtraInitialUri, MediaStore.Downloads.ExternalContentUri);

currentActivity.StartActivityForResult(intent, 1);

And then using the System.IO.File API to write data back to the path returned by the android file select activity.

Relevant log output

No response

[jfversluis]

I see you mention preview 13 as the affected version. Could you please update to the latest version RC1 and try again?

Hi @KieranDevvs. We have added the "s/needs-info" label to this issue, which indicates that we have an open question for you before we can take further action. This issue will be closed automatically in 7 days if we do not hear back from you by then - please feel free to re-open it if you come back to this issue after that time.

[KieranDevvs]

I see you mention preview 13 as the affected version. Could you please update to the latest version RC1 and try again?

The issue is still present on RC1.
The application has the correct permissions as prior to testing the RC1 Storage API, I called the Android API which worked.

[NJCCJohnWatson]

Hi KieranDevvs
I watched your issue of #6004 and this,I don't get the point of you question.
Is it the api said can manage all files ,but now still just copy the file of you FilePicker picked to /cache path right?
If so,I have same issue.Would you might to tell me that did you fix this issue on your project?and how?
Thank you

[KieranDevvs]

Hi KieranDevvs I watched your issue of #6004 and this,I don't get the point of you question. Is it the api said can manage all files ,but now still just copy the file of you FilePicker picked to /cache path right? If so,I have same issue.Would you might to tell me that did you fix this issue on your project?and how? Thank you

MAUI has its own helper library called essentials that provides a wrapper api around each platform.
For example, without the essentials library, you would have to handle the logic of reading and writing files from persistent storage on both iOS and Android separately because they both have differing implementation details.

The Android API has changed in recent versions so that applications can no longer access files outside of their own domain however, there are some applications that need the functionality to access files outside of their application domain thus the later versions of the Android API have included the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission so that they can request the user authorize this behaviour on their device.

The issue I have raised is referring to the problem that the essentials file manager API does not take into account this new permission and thus there is no way to obtain this behaviour on Android while using the essentials library.

My work around is to call the Android API explicitly (rather than calling the essentials api) as shown in the screenshots:

[NJCCJohnWatson]

Thank you for your explain about this permision issue!
I'll tried to do on my Project ,Thank you again!

[VincentBu]

repro with vs main build(32621.322)