Android - Newly created (empty) albums don't show up in getAlbums()

[capacitor-community]

Android - Newly created (empty) albums don't show up in getAlbums()

[kyoz]

On iOS, this plugin work great. But on Android, there are plenty problems.

For everyone who got stuck on this and are in rush, you can use capacitor-mediastore as a workaround for Android. I'v tested on almost all version of Android and it work just fine.

Changing native code is also good but it's also have some bugs inside is cause your app to crash on some Android version, sadly atm I don't have enough time to dig in this plugin code.

[amakh]

Just to sum up, there are 2 different issues here:

• On android 10+, the app crashes with the stack trace exposed by @axis7818 (Invalid column DISTINCT)
  I'm not into java but after some research, it looks like "DISTINCT" can't be use anymore so I tried to replace this line
  String[] projection = new String[]{"DISTINCT " + MediaStore.Images.ImageColumns.BUCKET_DISPLAY_NAME};
  with
  String[] projection = new String[] {MediaStore.Images.Media._ID, MediaStore.Images.Media.BUCKET_DISPLAY_NAME, MediaStore.Images.Media.DATE_TAKEN }; (I think it should be optimised by a name grouping or something)
  And it did work on android 10 and still working on android 8.

• The second issue is when the plugin tries to create an album Album already exists.
  I have no clue on this one but the fact that it does work when the user manually creates the album first. However I forgot to mention that even in that case, the plugin is creating a new album under the "More albums" section of the default photo app instead of using the manually created album.

[amakh]

Hi @createdbyconnor
Actually I directly changed the code inside my android project MediaPlugin.java.
Not the best way to do it, but it's a quick fix waiting for a definitive solution.
You just need to change the DISTINCT line as I mentioned here.

[amakh]

@dhwalin Yes, check my older replies here

[stewones]

just to add context, another workaround would be something like this:

just ignore the getAlbums method, try to createAlbum every time with a catch and life goes on. tested on androids 11 and 13.

[nkalupahana]

Solution one out in v5.0, testable with example app.

[axis7818]

I just tried on an emulator (Pixel 3 API 29) to see if a newer android version would work, and the app crashed during the first getAlbums() call. Here is the stack trace:

2020-06-28 12:05:30.588 13491-13491/com.worldspinner.portraits I/Capacitor/Console: File: http://localhost/App.js - Line 161953 - Msg: �[34mdebug�[39m: Getting album
2020-06-28 12:05:30.588 13491-13585/com.worldspinner.portraits V/Capacitor/Plugin: To native (Capacitor plugin): callbackId: 19483038, pluginId: MediaPlugin, methodName: getAlbums
2020-06-28 12:05:30.588 13491-13585/com.worldspinner.portraits V/Capacitor: callback: 19483038, pluginId: MediaPlugin, methodName: getAlbums, methodData: {}
2020-06-28 12:05:30.588 13491-13567/com.worldspinner.portraits D/DEBUG LOG: GET ALBUMS
2020-06-28 12:05:30.589 13491-13567/com.worldspinner.portraits D/DEBUG LOG: HAS PERMISSION
2020-06-28 12:05:30.590 13491-13567/com.worldspinner.portraits D/DEBUG LOG: ___GET ALBUMS
2020-06-28 12:05:30.595 13491-13571/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 1 (1) 17 6
2020-06-28 12:05:30.596 13491-13571/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 3 (3) 32 0
2020-06-28 12:05:30.608 13491-13525/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 1 (1) 7 4
2020-06-28 12:05:30.609 13491-13525/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 0 (0) 7 8
2020-06-28 12:05:30.622 13491-13571/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 1 (1) 17 6
2020-06-28 12:05:30.624 13491-13571/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 3 (3) 32 0
2020-06-28 12:05:30.642 13491-13525/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 1 (1) 7 4
2020-06-28 12:05:30.644 13491-13525/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 0 (0) 7 8
2020-06-28 12:05:30.646 13491-13571/com.worldspinner.portraits D/eglCodecCommon: setVertexArrayObject: set vao to 1 (1) 17 6
2020-06-28 12:05:30.646 13491-13567/com.worldspinner.portraits E/Capacitor: Serious error executing plugin
    java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.getcapacitor.PluginHandle.invoke(PluginHandle.java:99)
        at com.getcapacitor.Bridge$1.run(Bridge.java:515)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:883)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:100)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
        at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:67)
     Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid column DISTINCT bucket_display_name
        at android.database.DatabaseUtils.readExceptionFromParcel(DatabaseUtils.java:170)
        at android.database.DatabaseUtils.readExceptionFromParcel(DatabaseUtils.java:140)
        at android.content.ContentProviderProxy.query(ContentProviderNative.java:423)
        at android.content.ContentResolver.query(ContentResolver.java:944)
        at android.content.ContentResolver.query(ContentResolver.java:880)
        at android.content.ContentResolver.query(ContentResolver.java:836)
        at io.stewan.capacitor.media.MediaPlugin._getAlbums(MediaPlugin.java:62)
        at io.stewan.capacitor.media.MediaPlugin.getAlbums(MediaPlugin.java:46)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
        at com.getcapacitor.PluginHandle.invoke(PluginHandle.java:99) 
        at com.getcapacitor.Bridge$1.run(Bridge.java:515) 
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:883) 
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:100) 
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214) 
        at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:67) 

[stewones]

hey @axis7818
can you check from latest ? 1.0.1
also check out changelog for a breaking change on java import

[axis7818]

Hi @stewwan, thanks for the reply!

I just updated to the new version (and modified MainActivity.java appropriately). Unfortunately, I am still seeing the same behavior described above.

[amakh]

Hello,
I also have the same error using the latest version.
If you manually create the album tho, this error disappears (don't know if that can help you).

Here is the album directory path printed by the plugin when I create the album myself :
D/ENV LOG - ALBUM DIR: /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/Album Name.

But when I don't create the album myself, here is the path printed before the error occurs :
D/ENV STORAGE: /storage/emulated/0/Album Name

[stewones]

are you able to reproduce it using this example?

[axis7818]

@stewwan, That example is working on my physical device, but I am seeing the same stack trace when running on the emulator. I think the difference in behavior might be related to this check.

I should have specified before, but the devices I am using are test devices that did not have any albums. If I create one manually, it is returned just like @amakh said. However, I cannot properly create albums with the plugin.

[axis7818]

@stewwan, is there any update on this? Or is there a suggested workaround?

[masterbd]

I'm also interested on an update regarding this. Thank's!

[amakh]

Workaround for anyone trying to ignore Album already exists :
Replace this line with call.success();

This isn't the real issue, the problem is certainly coming from the fact that the creation path of the folder is different than the reading path's one but the little fix isn't affecting anything.

Just to sum up, there are 2 different issues here:

• On android 10+, the app crashes with the stack trace exposed by @axis7818 (Invalid column DISTINCT)
  I'm not into java but after some research, it looks like "DISTINCT" can't be use anymore so I tried to replace this line
  String[] projection = new String[]{"DISTINCT " + MediaStore.Images.ImageColumns.BUCKET_DISPLAY_NAME};
  with
  String[] projection = new String[] {MediaStore.Images.Media._ID, MediaStore.Images.Media.BUCKET_DISPLAY_NAME, MediaStore.Images.Media.DATE_TAKEN }; (I think it should be optimised by a name grouping or something)
  And it did work on android 10 and still working on android 8.
• The second issue is when the plugin tries to create an album Album already exists.
  I have no clue on this one but the fact that it does work when the user manually creates the album first. However I forgot to mention that even in that case, the plugin is creating a new album under the "More albums" section of the default photo app instead of using the manually created album.

[createdbyconnor]

Hey @amakh - I just raised #10 before I saw your comment above.

I'm not too familiar with Java, but removing DISTINCT stops my app from crashing. I need to get an update out ASAP to fix this for my users... How have you done this, have you forked the project?

Thanks!

[dhwalin]

I removed DISTINCT & it started working. But follow this to create my issue:

Go to Gallery & Delete album created Album. As per this example: "My Album"

Now, try to save the image, it will display the error that "Album is already exist" which is not.

& it will not work.

Now go to Gallery & make "My Album" manually & Save image code will start again but this time, it will also create another blank "My Album". So two "My Album" in gallery you will see.

Is there any workaround for this?

[calls9-mattwyld]

@stewones do you know when this issue might be sorted as this is a great plugin

[stewones]

can someone try with latest plugin v3 and let me know?

[crawft]

I am looking at this now with v3 and see the same issue - it looks like all the albums get returned by getAlbums (and I can see none are the one I'm about to try and create). Then when I call createAlbum I get "Album already exists" error.

[merri-ment]

@stewones - i've encountered the same issue in v3

[stewones]

got a new androidy now I can debug this issue, looking into it right now.

[stewones]

I'm having a hard time fixing this one.

as a workaround you can just use the Capacitor Filesystem API

 Filesystem.writeFile({
          recursive: true,
          data: base64 as string,
          path: `MY_ALBUM_NAME/my_image.png`,
          directory: Directory.Documents,
});

The result expected would be stored on "Documents/MY_ALBUM_NAME/my_image.png".
It's seen inside "Other Albums" on the Camera app, and users have access to those media through document apps also

Tested on API 29+

[nkalupahana]

@stewones or anyone else, is this still an issue? I'm unable to reproduce on my android device. You can try reproducing with the new example app; should be easy to use.

[amakh]

@nkalupahana I upgraded to the latest version (capacitor 4 + this plugin) and Album already exists is still an issue.
However my dirty fix previously mentioned is still working:
Replace this line by call.success(); or call.resolve();

[nkalupahana]

@amakh Okay, I think I have an idea of what the problem is. When the plugin creates an "album", all that's doing is creating a folder in the filesystem. This won't show up in getAlbums, because there are no images in it (thanks, Android, that makes so much sense). However, when an image is put in that folder using the plugin, then the album shows up in all apps, and it'll come up in getAlbums.

Let me know if this logic makes sense, or if there's something you know that might dispute this. (You can look for these folders yourself in your filesystem.) If so, some solutions; let me know what might make the most sense:

1. Modify getAlbums in some way to also scan for empty folders (I think this is the best idea, but I'm not sure how consistent it'll be)
2. Allow createAlbum to not reject if the album folder to create is empty

[amakh]

That is indeed what's happening because I remember trying to manually create an album (directly from the gallery app) and it wasn't in the same folder than the one created by the plugin.

I agree that solution 1 looks better but tbh I don't have a big scope on android development.

[nkalupahana]

Alright, I'm on it. Will try to do solution 1, and we'll see how it goes.