Open an image in Android's built-in Gallery app programmatically

Question

Hi all,

I am trying to open an image / picture in the Gallery built-in app from inside my application.

I have a URI of the picture (the picture is located on the SD card).

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Assuming you have an image folder in your SD card directory for images only.

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
// tells your intent to get the contents
// opens the URI for your image directory on your sdcard
intent.setType("file:///sdcard/image/*"); 
startActivityForResult(intent, 1);

Then you can decide with what you would like to do with the content back in your activity.

This was an example to retrieve the path name for the image, test this with your code just to make sure you can handle the results coming back. You can change the code as needed to better fit your needs.

protected final void onActivityResult(final int requestCode, final int
                     resultCode, final Intent i) {
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, i);

  // this matches the request code in the above call
  if (requestCode == 1) {
      Uri _uri = i.getData();

    // this will be null if no image was selected...
    if (_uri != null) {
      // now we get the path to the image file
     cursor = getContentResolver().query(_uri, null,
                                      null, null, null);
     cursor.moveToFirst();
     String imageFilePath = cursor.getString(0);
     cursor.close();
     }
   }

My advice is to try to get retrieving images working correctly, I think the problem is the content of accessing the images on the sdcard. Take a look at Displaying images on sd card.

If you can get that up and running, probably by the example supplying a correct provider, you should be able to figure out a work-around for your code.

Keep me updated by updating this question with your progress. Good luck

Answer 2

This is a complete solution

public class BrowsePicture extends Activity {

private static final int SELECT_PICTURE = 1;

private String selectedImagePath;

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

    ((Button) findViewById(R.id.Button01))
            .setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

                public void onClick(View arg0) {

                    // in onCreate or any event where your want the user to
                    // select a file
                    Intent intent = new Intent();
                    intent.setType("image/*");
                    intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
                    startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent,
                            "Select Picture"), SELECT_PICTURE);
                }
            });
}

public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
        if (requestCode == SELECT_PICTURE) {
            Uri selectedImageUri = data.getData();
            selectedImagePath = getPath(selectedImageUri);
        }
    }
}

public String getPath(Uri uri) {
    String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };
    Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
    int column_index = cursor
            .getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
    cursor.moveToFirst();
    return cursor.getString(column_index);
}

}

Answer 3

I'm missing something here and can't the example to work. I'm actually more interested in taking a local drawable resource in my app and opening that image in the Gallery app.

Is it necessary to stage that image on the SD card prior to opening it in the Gallery? How would that be accomplished.

As it stands now, when I execute the click, I'm presented with the Gallery app with the original images that were previously stored there. I was expecting to see the image I was attempting to pass...

What am I missing?