Delete a file in Android when you have a path of form `/storage/1018-2710/Pictures/oLvCVPZrNxk.jpg`

Question

So I am trying to delete a file from Android External storage, the problem is, I've tried getting the path multiple times in multiple different ways. Using MediaStore Api I've come really close but cannot figure out how to do it. I cannot get the EXTERNAL_URI because the projection requires Strings and EXTERNAL_URI on MediaStore returns a URI not a String.

This is how I load images, the GalleryImage class just contains, file path /storage/1018-2710/Pictures/oLvCVPZrNxk.jpg, and some booleans to handle selection. I tried adding external URI but failed to do so.

public class ImageLoader {
    public ArrayList<GalleryImage> getAllShownImagesPath(Context context) {
        Uri uri;
        Cursor cursor;
        int column_index_data, column_index_folder_name, column_index_content_uri;
        ArrayList<GalleryImage> listOfAllImages = new ArrayList<GalleryImage>();
        String absolutePathOfImage = null;
        uri = android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;

        String[] projection = { MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA,
                MediaStore.Images.Media.BUCKET_DISPLAY_NAME,
        };

        cursor = context.getContentResolver().query(uri, projection, null,
                null, null);

        column_index_data = cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.MediaColumns.DATA);
        column_index_folder_name = cursor
                .getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.BUCKET_DISPLAY_NAME);

        while (cursor.moveToNext()) {
            absolutePathOfImage = cursor.getString(column_index_data);
         //   String externalURI = cursor.getString();
            String externalURI = ""; //empty,  beacuse I couldnt get it to work...

            listOfAllImages.add(new GalleryImage(false, false , absolutePathOfImage, externalURI));
        }


        cursor.close();

        return listOfAllImages;
    }
}

And here in my fragment is where I am trying to delete the Images

 if(item.getItemId() == R.id.delete_selected){
                    //Uri root = MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
                    String root = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().toString();
                    for(GalleryImage i : mViewModel.selectedImages){
                        File file = new File(root + i.getmImageUrl());
                        if (file.exists()) {
                            if (file.delete()) {
                                System.out.println("file Deleted :" + file.getPath());
                            } else {
                                System.out.println("file not Deleted :" + file.getPath());
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }

I tried like 4,5 different combinations but none of which seemed to work, I am trying to get the proper Path of the image, I saw that maybe using the EXTERNAL_URI would be the way to go but I don't know how to get it into my GalleryImage. Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

    public void deleteSelectedImages(){
        for(GalleryImage img : selectedImages){
            File file = new File(img.getmImageUrl());
            if(!file.exists()) {
                return;
            }

            String canonicalPath;
            ContentResolver contentResolver = getApplication().getContentResolver();
            try {
                canonicalPath = file.getCanonicalPath();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                canonicalPath = file.getAbsolutePath();
            }
            final Uri uri = MediaStore.Files.getContentUri("external");
            final int result = contentResolver.delete(uri,
                    MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DATA + "=?", new String[]{canonicalPath});
            if (result == 0) {
                final String absolutePath = file.getAbsolutePath();
                if (!absolutePath.equals(canonicalPath)) {
                    contentResolver.delete(uri,
                            MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DATA + "=?", new String[]{absolutePath});
                }
            }

            images.remove(img);
        }

        imagesLiveData.setValue(images);
        selectedImages.clear();
        Toast.makeText(getApplication().getApplicationContext(), "Succesfully deleted image(s)", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }

Hopefully it will help someone