How to pick an image from gallery (SD Card) for my app?

Android Problem Overview

This question was originally asked for Android 1.6.

I am working on photos options in my app.

I have a button and an ImageView in my Activity. When I click the button it would redirect to the gallery and I would be able to select an image. The selected image would appear in my ImageView.

Android Solutions

Solution 1 - Android

Updated answer, nearly 5 years later:

The code in the original answer no longer works reliably, as images from various sources sometimes return with a different content URI, i.e. content:// rather than file://. A better solution is to simply use context.getContentResolver().openInputStream(intent.getData()), as that will return an InputStream that you can handle as you choose.

For example, BitmapFactory.decodeStream() works perfectly in this situation, as you can also then use the Options and inSampleSize field to downsample large images and avoid memory problems.

However, things like Google Drive return URIs to images which have not actually been downloaded yet. Therefore you need to perform the getContentResolver() code on a background thread.

Original answer:

The other answers explained how to send the intent, but they didn't explain well how to handle the response. Here's some sample code on how to do that:

protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, 
       Intent imageReturnedIntent) {
	super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, imageReturnedIntent); 
	
	switch(requestCode) { 
	case REQ_CODE_PICK_IMAGE:
		if(resultCode == RESULT_OK){  
			Uri selectedImage = imageReturnedIntent.getData();
			String[] filePathColumn = {MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA};

			Cursor cursor = getContentResolver().query(
                               selectedImage, filePathColumn, null, null, null);
			cursor.moveToFirst();
			
			int columnIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(filePathColumn[0]);
			String filePath = cursor.getString(columnIndex);
			cursor.close();
			
			
			Bitmap yourSelectedImage = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(filePath);
		}
	}
}

After this, you've got the selected image stored in "yourSelectedImage" to do whatever you want with. This code works by getting the location of the image in the ContentResolver database, but that on its own isn't enough. Each image has about 18 columns of information, ranging from its filepath to 'date last modified' to the GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken, though many of the fields aren't actually used.

To save time as you don't actually need the other fields, cursor search is done with a filter. The filter works by specifying the name of the column you want, MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA, which is the path, and then giving that string[] to the cursor query. The cursor query returns with the path, but you don't know which column it's in until you use the columnIndex code. That simply gets the number of the column based on its name, the same one used in the filtering process. Once you've got that, you're finally able to decode the image into a bitmap with the last line of code I gave.

Solution 2 - Android

private static final int SELECT_PHOTO = 100;

Start intent

Intent photoPickerIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK);
photoPickerIntent.setType("image/*");
startActivityForResult(photoPickerIntent, SELECT_PHOTO);

Process result

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent imageReturnedIntent) { 
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, imageReturnedIntent); 

    switch(requestCode) { 
    case SELECT_PHOTO:
        if(resultCode == RESULT_OK){  
            Uri selectedImage = imageReturnedIntent.getData();
            InputStream imageStream = getContentResolver().openInputStream(selectedImage);
            Bitmap yourSelectedImage = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(imageStream);
        }
    }
}

Alternatively, you can also downsample your image to avoid OutOfMemory errors.

private Bitmap decodeUri(Uri selectedImage) throws FileNotFoundException {
	
	    // Decode image size
	    BitmapFactory.Options o = new BitmapFactory.Options();
	    o.inJustDecodeBounds = true;
	    BitmapFactory.decodeStream(getContentResolver().openInputStream(selectedImage), null, o);

	    // The new size we want to scale to
	    final int REQUIRED_SIZE = 140;

	    // Find the correct scale value. It should be the power of 2.
	    int width_tmp = o.outWidth, height_tmp = o.outHeight;
	    int scale = 1;
	    while (true) {
            if (width_tmp / 2 < REQUIRED_SIZE
	           || height_tmp / 2 < REQUIRED_SIZE) {
	            break;
            }
	        width_tmp /= 2;
	        height_tmp /= 2;
	        scale *= 2;
	    }

	    // Decode with inSampleSize
	    BitmapFactory.Options o2 = new BitmapFactory.Options();
	    o2.inSampleSize = scale;
	    return BitmapFactory.decodeStream(getContentResolver().openInputStream(selectedImage), null, o2);
	
    }

Solution 3 - Android

You have to start the gallery intent for a result.

Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK,
               android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI);
startActivityForResult(i, ACTIVITY_SELECT_IMAGE);

Then in onActivityForResult, call intent.getData() to get the Uri of the Image. Then you need to get the Image from the ContentProvider.

Solution 4 - Android

Here is a tested code for image and video.It will work for all APIs less than 19 and greater than 19 as well.

Image:

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT <= 19) {
                        Intent i = new Intent();
                        i.setType("image/*");
                        i.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
                        i.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);
                        startActivityForResult(i, 10);
                    } else if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 19) {
                        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK, android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI);
                        startActivityForResult(intent, 10);
                    }

Video:

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT <= 19) {
                        Intent i = new Intent();
                        i.setType("video/*");
                        i.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
                        i.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);
                        startActivityForResult(i, 20);
                    } else if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 19) {
                        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK, android.provider.MediaStore.Video.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI);
                        startActivityForResult(intent, 20);
                    }

     @Override
    public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
        if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {               
            if (requestCode == 10) {
                Uri selectedImageUri = data.getData();
                String selectedImagePath = getRealPathFromURI(selectedImageUri);
            } else if (requestCode == 20) {
                Uri selectedVideoUri = data.getData();
                String selectedVideoPath = getRealPathFromURI(selectedVideoUri);
            }
        }
     }

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

Solution 5 - Android

Do this to launch the gallery and allow the user to pick an image:

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
intent.setType("image/*");
startActivityForResult(intent, IMAGE_PICK);

Then in your onActivityResult() use the URI of the image that is returned to set the image on your ImageView.

Solution 6 - Android

public class EMView extends Activity {
ImageView img,img1;
int column_index;
  Intent intent=null;
// Declare our Views, so we can access them later
String logo,imagePath,Logo;
Cursor cursor;
//YOU CAN EDIT THIS TO WHATEVER YOU WANT
private static final int SELECT_PICTURE = 1;

 String selectedImagePath;
//ADDED
 String filemanagerstring;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);
    img= (ImageView)findViewById(R.id.gimg1);
    
   
    
    ((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);
            
           
        }
    });
}

//UPDATED
@Override
public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {
        if (requestCode == SELECT_PICTURE) {
            Uri selectedImageUri = data.getData();
           
            //OI FILE Manager
            filemanagerstring = selectedImageUri.getPath();
            
            //MEDIA GALLERY
            selectedImagePath = getPath(selectedImageUri);
            
            
            img.setImageURI(selectedImageUri);
           
           imagePath.getBytes();
           TextView txt = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.title);
           txt.setText(imagePath.toString());
           
         
           Bitmap bm = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(imagePath);
           
          // img1.setImageBitmap(bm);
           
           

        }
        
    }
    
}

//UPDATED!
public String getPath(Uri uri) {
String[] projection = { MediaColumns.DATA };
Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
column_index = cursor
        .getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaColumns.DATA);
cursor.moveToFirst();
 imagePath = cursor.getString(column_index);
 
return cursor.getString(column_index);
}

}

Solution 7 - Android

public class BrowsePictureActivity 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) {

                    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) {
      
        if( uri == null ) {
            return null;
        }
       
        // this will only work for images selected from gallery
        String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };
        Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
        if( cursor != null ){
            int column_index = cursor
            .getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
            cursor.moveToFirst();
            return cursor.getString(column_index);
        }
        
        return uri.getPath();
}

}

Solution 8 - Android

For some reasons, all of the answers in this thread, in onActivityResult() try to post-process the received Uri, like getting the real path of the image and then use BitmapFactory.decodeFile(path) to get the Bitmap.

This step is unnecessary. The ImageView class has a method called setImageURI(uri). Pass your uri to it and you should be done.

Uri imageUri = data.getData();
imageView.setImageURI(imageUri);

For a complete working example you could take a look here: http://androidbitmaps.blogspot.com/2015/04/loading-images-in-android-part-iii-pick.html

PS:
Getting the Bitmap in a separate variable would make sense in cases where the image to be loaded is too large to fit in memory, and a scale down operation is necessary to prevent OurOfMemoryError, like shown in the @siamii answer.

Solution 9 - Android

call chooseImage method like-

public void chooseImage(ImageView v)
{
	Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK);
	intent.setType("image/*");
	startActivityForResult(intent, SELECT_PHOTO);
}

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent imageReturnedIntent) {
	// TODO Auto-generated method stub
	super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, imageReturnedIntent);
	
	if(imageReturnedIntent != null)
    {
    	Uri selectedImage = imageReturnedIntent.getData();
    switch(requestCode) { 
    case SELECT_PHOTO:
        if(resultCode == RESULT_OK)
        {
            Bitmap datifoto = null;
            temp.setImageBitmap(null);
            Uri picUri = null;
            picUri = imageReturnedIntent.getData();//<- get Uri here from data intent
             if(picUri !=null){
               try {
                   datifoto = android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.getBitmap(this.getContentResolver(), 								picUri);
                   temp.setImageBitmap(datifoto);
               } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
                  throw new RuntimeException(e);
               } catch (IOException e) {
                  throw new RuntimeException(e);
               } catch (OutOfMemoryError e) {
				Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Image is too large. choose other", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
			}
               
        }
        }
        break;
        
}
    }
    else
    {
    	//Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "data null", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
}

Solution 10 - Android

#initialize in main activity 
   	path = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()
			+ "/images/make_machine_example.jpg"; #
     ImageView image=(ImageView)findViewById(R.id.image);
 //--------------------------------------------------||

 public void FromCamera(View) {

	Log.i("camera", "startCameraActivity()");
	File file = new File(path);
	Uri outputFileUri = Uri.fromFile(file);
	Intent intent = new Intent(
			android.provider.MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
	intent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, outputFileUri);
	startActivityForResult(intent, 1);

}

public void FromCard() {
	Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK,
			android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI);
	startActivityForResult(i, 2);
}

 protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {

	super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);

	if (requestCode == 2 && resultCode == RESULT_OK
			&& null != data) {

		Uri selectedImage = data.getData();
		String[] filePathColumn = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };

		Cursor cursor = getContentResolver().query(selectedImage,
				filePathColumn, null, null, null);
		cursor.moveToFirst();

		int columnIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(filePathColumn[0]);
		String picturePath = cursor.getString(columnIndex);
		cursor.close();

		bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(picturePath);
		image.setImageBitmap(bitmap);

		if (bitmap != null) {
			ImageView rotate = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.rotate);
			
		}

	} else {

		Log.i("SonaSys", "resultCode: " + resultCode);
		switch (resultCode) {
		case 0:
			Log.i("SonaSys", "User cancelled");
			break;
		case -1:
			onPhotoTaken();
			break;

		}

	}

}

protected void onPhotoTaken() {
	// Log message
	Log.i("SonaSys", "onPhotoTaken");
	taken = true;
	imgCapFlag = true;
	BitmapFactory.Options options = new BitmapFactory.Options();
	options.inSampleSize = 4;
	bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(path, options);
	image.setImageBitmap(bitmap);


}

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Praveen	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Android	Steve Haley	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Android	siamii	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Android	Robby Pond	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Android	Muhammad Umair Shafique	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Android	Mark B	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Android	Sheetal More	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Android	Muhammad Usman Ghani	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Android	Andy Res	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Android	Akshay Paliwal	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Android	ASHISH KUMAR Tiwary	View Answer on Stackoverflow