Scan Media Files In Android

I once tried to use MediaScanner to resolve problems; however it turned out to be a failure. Now I make it.This post is to write down why I failed and how I work it out now. I think it could be deeper that other posts. ##Android Media Scanning Mechanism Android provides a great application for developers to add created media files to add them into the library. The application is called MediaProvider. Now let’s have a glance of MediaProvider.
The receiver part of its manifest

    <receiver android:name="MediaScannerReceiver">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
        </intent-filter>
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED" />
            <data android:scheme="file" />
        </intent-filter>
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MEDIA_UNMOUNTED" />
            <data android:scheme="file" />
        </intent-filter>
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE" />
            <data android:scheme="file" />
        </intent-filter>
    </receiver>

The MediaScannerReceiver will receive the above intents with right action and data scheme. ###How the MediaScannerRecieve handles the intent

It will scan internal storage only after receiving the action android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED
All intent but the android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED intent should carry the file scheme data
It will scan external storage when receiving the Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_MOUNTED intent.
It will scan the single file when receiving the Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE intent.
###How the MediaScannerService works Actually receiver does not do scanning. It will start a service called MediaScannerService. The service part of its manifest

   <service android:name="MediaScannerService" android:exported="true">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.media.IMediaScannerService" />
        </intent-filter>
    </service>

scanFile Method

private Uri scanFile(String path, String mimeType) {
    String volumeName = MediaProvider.EXTERNAL_VOLUME;
    openDatabase(volumeName);
    MediaScanner scanner = createMediaScanner();
    return scanner.scanSingleFile(path, volumeName, mimeType);
}

scan Method

private void scan(String[] directories, String volumeName) {
    // don't sleep while scanning
    mWakeLock.acquire();

    ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
    values.put(MediaStore.MEDIA_SCANNER_VOLUME, volumeName);
    Uri scanUri = getContentResolver().insert(MediaStore.getMediaScannerUri(), values);

    Uri uri = Uri.parse("file://" + directories[0]);
    sendBroadcast(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_STARTED, uri));
    
    try {
        if (volumeName.equals(MediaProvider.EXTERNAL_VOLUME)) {
            openDatabase(volumeName);
        }

        MediaScanner scanner = createMediaScanner();
        scanner.scanDirectories(directories, volumeName);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        Log.e(TAG, "exception in MediaScanner.scan()", e);
    }

    getContentResolver().delete(scanUri, null, null);

    sendBroadcast(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_FINISHED, uri));
    mWakeLock.release();
}

Actually the scan code is not really in the MediaScannerService

private MediaScanner createMediaScanner() {
        MediaScanner scanner = new MediaScanner(this);
        Locale locale = getResources().getConfiguration().locale;
        if (locale != null) {
            String language = locale.getLanguage();
            String country = locale.getCountry();
            String localeString = null;
            if (language != null) {
                if (country != null) {
                    scanner.setLocale(language + "_" + country);
                } else {
                    scanner.setLocale(language);
                }
            }    
        }
        
        return scanner;
}

It’s using the android.media.MediaScanner https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/cd92588/media/java/android/media/MediaScanner.java

##How To Scan A Created File Now I am going to introduce two ways to add a created file into the media library. ###The Simplest Method Just send a broadcast, as we have posted above. Just send a broadcast intent to MediaScannerReceiver.

String saveAs = "Your_Created_File_Path"
Uri contentUri = Uri.fromFile(new File(saveAs));
Intent mediaScanIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE,contentUri);
getContext().sendBroadcast(mediaScanIntent);

The above method maybe has been seen thousands of times. Actually it should work. However I failed and failed in sending broadcast intent. In the following section. I will point out why the sending broadcast not works. Even though you get well on with sending broadcast,it’s strongly recommended to read the Section Why Sending MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE broadcast not works.
###Use MediaScannerConnection

public void mediaScan(File file) {
    MediaScannerConnection.scanFile(getActivity(),
            new String[] { file.getAbsolutePath() }, null,
            new OnScanCompletedListener() {
                @Override
                public void onScanCompleted(String path, Uri uri) {
                    Log.v("MediaScanWork", "file " + path
                            + " was scanned seccessfully: " + uri);
                }
            });
}

the scanFile method is introduced since API 8 ###Create an instance and call scanFile (String path, String mimeType) It’s really easy, just read the post http://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/MediaScannerConnection.html

###How To Scan Mutiple Files

Sending Mutiple Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE broadcast intents.
Use the second method by filled the second params with an array of paths.

##Why Sending MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE broadcast not works Actually someone may think sending ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE works on some devices but not on other devices. Actually it’s. Is it a API limit?
No, It’s has someting to do with your file path. Take a look at this

public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
    String action = intent.getAction();
    Uri uri = intent.getData();
    if (action.equals(Intent.ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED)) {
        // scan internal storage
        scan(context, MediaProvider.INTERNAL_VOLUME);
    } else {
        if (uri.getScheme().equals("file")) {
            // handle intents related to external storage
            String path = uri.getPath();
            String externalStoragePath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getPath();

            Log.d(TAG, "action: " + action + " path: " + path);
            if (action.equals(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_MOUNTED)) {
                // scan whenever any volume is mounted
                scan(context, MediaProvider.EXTERNAL_VOLUME);
            } else if (action.equals(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE) &&
                    path != null && path.startsWith(externalStoragePath + "/")) {
                scanFile(context, path);
            }
        }
    }
}

Every part is right except the intent data. I mean the file path. You may hardcode the filepath. This is my example

final String saveAs = "/sdcard/" + System.currentTimeMillis() + "_add.png";
Uri contentUri = Uri.fromFile(new File(saveAs));
Intent mediaScanIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE,contentUri);
getContext().sendBroadcast(mediaScanIntent);
Uri uri = mediaScanIntent.getData();
String path = uri.getPath();
String externalStoragePath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getPath();
Log.i("LOGTAG", "Androidyue onReceive intent= " + mediaScanIntent 
                        + ";path=" + path + ";externalStoragePath=" +
                        externalStoragePath);

And this is the output log

LOGTAG Androidyue onReceive intent= Intent { act=android.intent.action.MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE dat=file:///sdcard/1390136305831_add.png };path=/sdcard/1390136305831_add.png;externalStoragePath=/mnt/sdcard

So in the sending broadcast, your action is right, your data schema OK, your data path not null;but your path /sdcard/1390136305831_add.png does not startswith the externalStoragePath /mnt/sdcard/ And so the scan file is actually not called. In conclusion your hardcoding path results in the failure.

##Remove From Media Library If we deleted a file ,it means that we need to remove the file from the media library. ###Simply sending a broadcast? Can we simple sending a broadcast to the MediaScannerReceiver? I also wish it could. But actually it does not work. Look at this code for the explanation.

// this function is used to scan a single file
public Uri scanSingleFile(String path, String volumeName, String mimeType) {
    try {
        initialize(volumeName);
        prescan(path, true);

        File file = new File(path);
        if (!file.exists()) {
            return null;
        }

        // lastModified is in milliseconds on Files.
        long lastModifiedSeconds = file.lastModified() / 1000;

        // always scan the file, so we can return the content://media Uri for existing files
        return mClient.doScanFile(path, mimeType, lastModifiedSeconds, file.length(),
                false, true, MediaScanner.isNoMediaPath(path));
    } catch (RemoteException e) {
        Log.e(TAG, "RemoteException in MediaScanner.scanFile()", e);
        return null;
    }
}

As the above code points out, It does have a check before the real scanning. Then how should I do?

public void testDeleteFile() {
    String existingFilePath = "/mnt/sdcard/1390116362913_add.png";
    File  existingFile = new File(existingFilePath);
    existingFile.delete();
    ContentResolver resolver = getActivity().getContentResolver();
    resolver.delete(Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI, Images.Media.DATA + "=?", new String[]{existingFilePath});
   
}

The above code works. Just remove from Media Provider

##Special

You could check the external.db or internal.db file under /data/data/com.android.providers.media/ for more detailed information.

###Others

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Scan Media Files in Android