Cannot share a preview

[elodie]

Hi Dropbox support team,

I would like to be able to share a document between the dropbox app and and my android app. My app supports the following intent filter:

<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND"/>
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
    <data android:mimeType="application/pdf"/>
</intent-filter>

It works great when I export a file saved in dropbox to my app but it's broken when I share a document that is not saved in dropbox yet.

Steps to reproduce: 

    - open a doc from any email client using the dropbox preview

    - tap on the menu icon and tap on "Share to"

    -> the shared Uri doesn't allow me to read the file (I am using the ContentResolver)

The uri format passed between the apps is "file:///data/user/0/com.dropbox.android/global/external/docpreviews/XXXXX.pdf}".

I tried to shared this file with Inbox, Gmail, Slack... none of those apps are able to complete the action. 

Is there a way a can read the file?

Would it be possible to pass a Uri that can be resolved by the ContentResolver?

Thanks,

[Greg-DB]

Unfortunately, the Dropbox Android app doesn't currently support content links, but I'll be sure to pass this along as a feature request.

[elodie]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your quick answer.

It's true that supporting content links would solve my issue but I don't think it's the only problem.

When the document is saved in Dropbox I can read the file from the Uri passed by dropbox

(format is file:///storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/XXX ) even if it's not a content link.

But when I try to share a document that is not saved yet, the Uri passed by the dropbox app doesn't seem to exist. I get a FileNotFoundException.

Would it be possible to pass the Uri passed by the mail client as a temporary solution?

I don't see how the "share to" option in the dropbox preview screen is supposed to work otherwise. Does it work in some cases?

[Greg-DB]

Thanks for elaborating. I'll have the team take a look to see if we can offer a solution.