FileAccess Error when opening document file on Android. Only works using MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.

[edoartworks]

Tested versions

• Reproducible in v4.4.1.stable.official [49a5bc7]
• Not reproducible in any earlier version because the Native FileDialog for Android was introduced in 4.4
• Happens on both Gradle and non-Gradle builds

System information

v4.4.1.stable - Samsung Galaxy S23 (SM-S9110) - Android 14

Issue description

On Android, I want to select a .txt file from the phone storage, using the native FileDialog.
This works fine and I'm able to get the file path correctly (although with a caveat. More info at the end).

In my test case, the example text file is located in: /storage/emulated/0/Documents/test.txt

Then, I want to load that file using: FileAccess.open(file_path, FileAccess.READ)
This is where I get ERROR 7: ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

This happens when exporting with no permissions. Because according to android documentation... my app shouldn't need any file access permission to access that file.

From that page:

Because the user is involved in selecting the files or directories that your app can access, this mechanism doesn't require any system permissions, and user control and privacy is enhanced.

Instead, when I enable MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, the file is loaded correctly.
But I definitely don't want to use this permission, because any user installing my app could be questioning why on earth it's asking for full file access 😅

I would expect the file to load without setting any special permission.
Unless I'm missing something?

---

Something else I don't understand is that, using Native FileDialog, seems like I'm restricted to selecting files only in certain folders, like /Documents or /Download.
If I try to load any file from other folders, it simply doesn't trigger the FileDialog file_selected signal (but it still does with MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission enabled) 🤔

Steps to reproduce

1. Add a hidden FileDialog to your scene, and a button to show it.
2. On the FileDialog, make sure to enable use_native_dialog and set Access = FileSystem
3. Bind the FileDialog _on_file_dialog_file_selected signal
4. Bind the button _on_button_pressed signal
5. Use this code to open the Dialog and Open the file
6. Deploy on Android device and observe

---

This is my code:

extends Control

func _ready() -> void:
	OS.request_permissions()


func _on_file_dialog_file_selected(path: String) -> void:
	print("Selected file: ", path)
	print("File exists? ", FileAccess.file_exists(path))
	
	var file = FileAccess.open(path, FileAccess.READ)
	if file:
		print(file.get_as_text())
	else:
		print("ERROR opening file: ")
		print(FileAccess.get_open_error())


func _on_button_pressed() -> void:
	$FileDialog.popup()

Minimal reproduction project (MRP)

FileDialogTest.zip

[llama-nl]

Then, I want to load that file using: FileAccess.open(file_path, FileAccess.READ_WRITE) This is where I get ERROR 7: ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

The error is wrong. @syntaxerror247

This happens when exporting with no permissions. Because according to android documentation... my app shouldn't need any file access permission to access that file.

Yes, the docs say that you don't need permission for your own application storage, but must require permission to read or write internal storage, see this

Instead, when I enable MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, the file is loaded correctly. But I definitely don't want to use this permission, because any user installing my app could be questioning why on earth it's asking for full file access 😅

You can use READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE or WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE to read and write files. As previously said, to access internal storage permission is required.

[edoartworks]

but must require permission to read or write internal storage, see this

Yes I see on that page it says that Documents and other files (which is what I want. A simple text file) use the shared access framework and don't require permission.

Or are you saying that txt files don't count as documents for some reasons?
I also tried loading pdf files with the same results.

[edoartworks]

Update:
seems like the issue is not related to the native FileDialog.

If I try to load the file by passing the path directly: FileAccess.open("/storage/emulated/0/Documents/test.txt", FileAccess.READ)
it still produces the same error.

The issue of FileDialog file_selected signal not triggering on certain folders, might be a separate issue.

[azuriancomet]

Currently the only workaround is to create your own Android plugin and handle your external storage related stuff directly, using the Android API:
https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/shared/documents-files

For example you could transfer the file to the internal storage via the plugin, and then do whatever it is you want to do directly from Godot.

It is worth adding that requesting MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE might give you some headache if you try to get your app on the Play Store, as per: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10467955

This is quite problematic for games that make use of godot's resource packs for patches or mods, as there is currently no way of loading those files without requesting MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE.

[syntaxerror247]

Update: seems like the issue is not related to the native FileDialog.

If I try to load the file by passing the path directly: FileAccess.open("/storage/emulated/0/Documents/test.txt", FileAccess.READ) it still produces the same error.

FileAccess currently uses the MediaStore API internally so it has all the limitations of that, i.e without permission, you can only access files your app has created and is limited to Documents and Download directory. For eg, if your app has created the txt file then it would be able to load it without any permission.

The issue of FileDialog file_selected signal not triggering on certain folders, might be a separate issue.

Signal is not triggered because that location is not accessible with the MediaStore API without the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.

[syntaxerror247]

Closing this report as it's a limitation of the API we're using internally, not a bug.
See the related proposal to fully support SAF, which would help to overcome these limitations:
godotengine/godot-proposals#12669