I got many messages asking how to store and fetch PDF files in Firebase Storage. So here is the detailed post explaining about Uploading PDF files in Firebase Storage and Fetching those uploaded files from Firbase Storage. I already posted a tutorial about the same thing but with image files. You can check that post from the below link.
Firebase Storage – Uploading and Retrieving Images
Important: If you have no idea about Firebase Database and Firebase Storage, then it is highly recommended that go through the previous post from the link given above first. As I will not be explaining here about setting ab Firebase Storage and Database in the project. These things are well explained in the post given above. So please go through that first.
Table of Contents
Creating a New Project
- So again we will start by creating a new project. I just created a project named FirebaseStorage.
- After creating the project add Firebase Storage and Firebase Database to your project (Go to tools->firebase).
Creating UI
- We have only two screens for this application. The first is the activity_main.xml which is created by default. And create one more Activity named ViewUploadsActivity.java.
- In the first activity we will upload files to firebase storage and in the second activity we will display a list of all the uploaded files.
MainActivity
- Open your activity_main.xml and write the following xml code.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:padding="16dp" tools:context="net.simplifiedlearning.firebasestorage.MainActivity"> <EditText android:id="@+id/editTextFileName" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_centerVertical="true" android:hint="Enter a name for your file" android:textAppearance="@style/Base.TextAppearance.AppCompat.Large" /> <Button android:id="@+id/buttonUploadFile" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_below="@id/editTextFileName" android:text="Upload PDF" /> <LinearLayout android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" android:orientation="vertical"> <ProgressBar android:id="@+id/progressbar" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal" android:visibility="gone" /> <TextView android:id="@+id/textViewStatus" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="No file selected" android:textAlignment="center" android:textAppearance="@style/Base.TextAppearance.AppCompat.Large" /> <TextView android:id="@+id/textViewUploads" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:padding="10dp" android:text="View Uploads" android:textAlignment="center" android:textAppearance="@style/Base.TextAppearance.AppCompat.Large" android:textColor="@color/colorPrimaryDark" /> </LinearLayout> </RelativeLayout> |
- The above code will generate the following screen.
- You can see the layout is pretty simple, we have an EditText to get the file name, A button to upload the file and a TextView to go to the View Upload screen.
View Uploads Screen
- As I told you that we have two screens in this app so create one more empty activity and name it ViewUploadsActivity.
- Now come inside the layout file for this activity and write the following xml code.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" tools:context="net.simplifiedlearning.firebasestorage.ViewUploadsActivity"> <ListView android:id="@+id/listView" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" /> </RelativeLayout> |
Creating Helper Classes
- For this we need some helper classes for modeling the data and storing the constants. So first create a class named Constants.java and write the following code.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | package net.simplifiedlearning.firebasestorage; /** * Created by Belal on 8/25/2017. */ public class Constants { public static final String STORAGE_PATH_UPLOADS = "uploads/"; public static final String DATABASE_PATH_UPLOADS = "uploads"; } |
- Now to save the uploads data in Firebase database we need a model class. So create a new class named Upload.java and write the following code.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | package net.simplifiedlearning.firebasestorage; /** * Created by Belal on 8/25/2017. */ public class Upload { public String name; public String url; // Default constructor required for calls to // DataSnapshot.getValue(User.class) public Upload() { } public Upload(String name, String url) { this.name = name; this.url = url; } public String getName() { return name; } public String getUrl() { return url; } } |
- Now lets upload the files.
Uploading PDF in Firebase Storage
- Now here comes the main task of this post which is uploading PDF files to the storage. The uploading is done on the MainActivity so come inside MainActivity.java and write the following code.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 | package net.simplifiedlearning.firebasestorage; import android.Manifest; import android.content.Intent; import android.content.pm.PackageManager; import android.net.Uri; import android.os.Build; import android.os.Bundle; import android.provider.Settings; import android.support.annotation.NonNull; import android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat; import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity; import android.view.View; import android.widget.EditText; import android.widget.ProgressBar; import android.widget.TextView; import android.widget.Toast; import com.google.android.gms.tasks.OnFailureListener; import com.google.android.gms.tasks.OnSuccessListener; import com.google.firebase.database.DatabaseReference; import com.google.firebase.database.FirebaseDatabase; import com.google.firebase.storage.FirebaseStorage; import com.google.firebase.storage.OnProgressListener; import com.google.firebase.storage.StorageReference; import com.google.firebase.storage.UploadTask; public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements View.OnClickListener { //this is the pic pdf code used in file chooser final static int PICK_PDF_CODE = 2342; //these are the views TextView textViewStatus; EditText editTextFilename; ProgressBar progressBar; //the firebase objects for storage and database StorageReference mStorageReference; DatabaseReference mDatabaseReference; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); //getting firebase objects mStorageReference = FirebaseStorage.getInstance().getReference(); mDatabaseReference = FirebaseDatabase.getInstance().getReference(Constants.DATABASE_PATH_UPLOADS); //getting the views textViewStatus = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textViewStatus); editTextFilename = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editTextFileName); progressBar = (ProgressBar) findViewById(R.id.progressbar); //attaching listeners to views findViewById(R.id.buttonUploadFile).setOnClickListener(this); findViewById(R.id.textViewUploads).setOnClickListener(this); } //this function will get the pdf from the storage private void getPDF() { //for greater than lolipop versions we need the permissions asked on runtime //so if the permission is not available user will go to the screen to allow storage permission if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M && ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) { Intent intent = new Intent(Settings.ACTION_APPLICATION_DETAILS_SETTINGS, Uri.parse("package:" + getPackageName())); startActivity(intent); return; } //creating an intent for file chooser Intent intent = new Intent(); intent.setType("application/pdf"); intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT); startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent, "Select Picture"), PICK_PDF_CODE); } @Override protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) { super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data); //when the user choses the file if (requestCode == PICK_PDF_CODE && resultCode == RESULT_OK && data != null && data.getData() != null) { //if a file is selected if (data.getData() != null) { //uploading the file uploadFile(data.getData()); }else{ Toast.makeText(this, "No file chosen", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } } } //this method is uploading the file //the code is same as the previous tutorial //so we are not explaining it private void uploadFile(Uri data) { progressBar.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE); StorageReference sRef = mStorageReference.child(Constants.STORAGE_PATH_UPLOADS + System.currentTimeMillis() + ".pdf"); sRef.putFile(data) .addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener<UploadTask.TaskSnapshot>() { @SuppressWarnings("VisibleForTests") @Override public void onSuccess(UploadTask.TaskSnapshot taskSnapshot) { progressBar.setVisibility(View.GONE); textViewStatus.setText("File Uploaded Successfully"); Upload upload = new Upload(editTextFilename.getText().toString(), taskSnapshot.getDownloadUrl().toString()); mDatabaseReference.child(mDatabaseReference.push().getKey()).setValue(upload); } }) .addOnFailureListener(new OnFailureListener() { @Override public void onFailure(@NonNull Exception exception) { Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), exception.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); } }) .addOnProgressListener(new OnProgressListener<UploadTask.TaskSnapshot>() { @SuppressWarnings("VisibleForTests") @Override public void onProgress(UploadTask.TaskSnapshot taskSnapshot) { double progress = (100.0 * taskSnapshot.getBytesTransferred()) / taskSnapshot.getTotalByteCount(); textViewStatus.setText((int) progress + "% Uploading..."); } }); } @Override public void onClick(View view) { switch (view.getId()) { case R.id.buttonUploadFile: getPDF(); break; case R.id.textViewUploads: startActivity(new Intent(this, ViewUploadsActivity.class)); break; } } } |
- Now you can test uploading a File. But before we need to change the Storage Rules and Database Rules on Firebase Console. As the default rules allows only authenticated users to upload the file and write to the database. So either you need to make an authentication on the app or change the rules to public. So for this example we will make the rules as public.
Changing Firebase Storage and Database Rules
Firebase Storage Rules
- Go to Firebase Storage and in Firebase Console and change the rules as below.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | service firebase.storage { match /b/{bucket}/o { match /{allPaths=**} { allow read, write; } } } |
Firebase Database Rules
- Now for the Database Rules use the following.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | { "rules": { ".read": true, ".write": true } } |
Testing the Upload
- Now lets test the application by uploading a file.
Retrieving Files from Firebase Storage
- Now come to the ViewUploadsActivity.java and write the following code.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 | package net.simplifiedlearning.firebasestorage; import android.content.Intent; import android.net.Uri; import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity; import android.os.Bundle; import android.view.View; import android.widget.AdapterView; import android.widget.ArrayAdapter; import android.widget.ListView; import com.google.firebase.database.DataSnapshot; import com.google.firebase.database.DatabaseError; import com.google.firebase.database.DatabaseReference; import com.google.firebase.database.FirebaseDatabase; import com.google.firebase.database.ValueEventListener; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.List; public class ViewUploadsActivity extends AppCompatActivity { //the listview ListView listView; //database reference to get uploads data DatabaseReference mDatabaseReference; //list to store uploads data List<Upload> uploadList; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_view_uploads); uploadList = new ArrayList<>(); listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.listView); //adding a clicklistener on listview listView.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() { @Override public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int i, long l) { //getting the upload Upload upload = uploadList.get(i); //Opening the upload file in browser using the upload url Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW); intent.setData(Uri.parse(upload.getUrl())); startActivity(intent); } }); //getting the database reference mDatabaseReference = FirebaseDatabase.getInstance().getReference(Constants.DATABASE_PATH_UPLOADS); //retrieving upload data from firebase database mDatabaseReference.addValueEventListener(new ValueEventListener() { @Override public void onDataChange(DataSnapshot dataSnapshot) { for (DataSnapshot postSnapshot : dataSnapshot.getChildren()) { Upload upload = postSnapshot.getValue(Upload.class); uploadList.add(upload); } String[] uploads = new String[uploadList.size()]; for (int i = 0; i < uploads.length; i++) { uploads[i] = uploadList.get(i).getName(); } //displaying it to list ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(getApplicationContext(), android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, uploads); listView.setAdapter(adapter); } @Override public void onCancelled(DatabaseError databaseError) { } }); } } |
- Now test this screen as well.
- Bingo! it is working as well. When you will click on an Item it will download the uploaded file from the storage.
Download Source Code
- If you are facing any troubles you can get my source code from here.
So thats all for this tutorial friends. If you are having any queries regarding Firebase Storage or Android Development don’t hesitate to comment. And if you want some help if you are stuck in your app then also comment here and I will try to post a tutorial to help you.
If you liked this Firebase Storage tutorial, I request you to please SHARE this post among your friends. If you don’t like it please comment the reason so that I can improve the website. So thats all for now. Thank You 🙂
Hi, my name is Belal Khan and I am a Google Developers Expert (GDE) for Android. The passion of teaching made me create this blog. If you are an Android Developer, or you are learning about Android Development, then I can help you a lot with Simplified Coding.
Good tutorial. Can you make tutorials about App Architecture, i mean MVP pattern, Dagger2 etc.
Yes sure, we are actually working on it. And you will get it soon for sure 🙂
Outstanding Work Guys lot of Thank, Can you Please help to shave database between to app like merchant and customer if merchant upload customer can access that data, And how to make fire base Authentication using Email/Phone .. Once again Thanks
Your code is only viewing the files, how to download it on sdcard. Please guide me. Thanks
It is not downloading pdf file.How to download pdf file on Sdcard and How to read it from sdcard.Please help me as soon as possible
Can this work with docx files too?
Im getting an error as compile import com.google.firebase.database.DatabaseReference; , import com.google.firebase.database.FirebaseDatabase; cannot resolve what to do for ths
Make sure you have added firebase in your project
how to get uploaded pdf thumbnail image
Nice tutorial belal bhai. belal bhai how to display/open downloaded pdf file in same app
Bhai My App Crashes when i open this section for Pdf Files. plz help me out with this problem and tell me which Exception is unhandled here.
Hi thanks for this tutorial, but if I want to let specific registered users to only see what they have uploaded, how should I implement it ? I tried changing the rules of storage and database, but then after that it says that I dont have permission to upload even though I am already logged in. Any advice ?
hai
i hav watched your many tuts,
i want to retrive only for the users. Is apk file size will increase or not.
All your tutorial helped me …
Can you help me
What to do uf i want to uplaod a document file…..
Please help
Hi,
your Tutorial is owesome
plz help me how can do it
listView.setOnItemClickListener to PDf Viewer
list view display the files names in blurry way…
why i’am facing this problem>???
Error:(61, 36) error: cannot find symbol variable READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
hallo upload pdf button take me to app setting
You need to allow storage permission from the settings.. then you can select pdf files to upload
i have the same problem ..how can i allow storage permission !!
Hello sir,i am able to upload my file on my app and its get download but if i want to load on same app then how i can do that?
Sir, Mangesh here,Can uh suggest me how to view file which i uploaded in firebase database in my app?
how to truncate the upload list?
Please help me For uploading an Excel sheet to firebase using android programmatically
And a common code for getting file for image , pdf , zip , excel and uploading to firebase in android
I am unable to view the uploaded files its showing blank page
Same Thing I am suffering from,could you help me?
I have the same problem
Did you get the Problem
Please help
you can put android.Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE instead of Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
hi sir. your code is work perfectly with my project, but instead of we download back the uploaded file at the list, can we view it without downloading it?
UploadTask.TaskSnapshot getDownloadUrl() not working anymore! It used to and now it seems it is deprecated. Is there any alternative way to use your method though?
Hi there, do you find the answer for the problem that you have mentioned? Can you help me out with it?
Please, use this: Objects.requireNonNull(Objects.requireNonNull(taskSnapshot.getMetadata()).getReference()).getDownloadUrl().toString()
Hello sir, can I ask why the taskSnapshot.getDownloadUrl().toString() is not working? Do you have any other way?
That particular method is deprecated
this might help
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50467814/tasksnapshot-getdownloadurl-is-deprecated
But i would request to find a workaround for this
yes just add .getStorage() so that it looks like thistaskSnapshot.getStorage().getDownloadUrl().toString()
the i need to view pdf using pdfviewer i am just viewing list of files if i click nothing happens haa
I cant see anything in view upload full code copied than too. The activity remains empty.
HOPING FOR EARLY RESPONSE
Getting an error when merging this uploading task with my project,the error is that after uploading file there is no file shown in list view ,can you help me
My app is opening the app-settings page when i open the upload files button…what do i do..how do i upload the files
Give the permissions from the settings page then open the app again.
add this to androidManifest.xml
and in settings page give permission to storage
Hello. pleas does this process apply to uploading .ppt, .doc and excel files ?
Yes.
I am unable to select a file from the storage . I have also given the permissions
I m not able to download PDF file that is already uploaded in Firebase. Please help me.
I am able to upload the PDF file to Firebase but i am not able to view and download the PDF file that is already stored in Firebase. please help me.
While uploading file it is showing Error : user does not have permission to access this object
Working Now Thanks Simplified Coding . You save my day 🙂
I am not able to download the pdf file..It only read the pdf but cannot download the file..Pls help…I want the code urgently
Thank you for the tutorial sir..
Very helpful article for me .
thank you sir
hi Mr Belal,I have this problem Can’t convert object of type java.lang.String to type com.android.memosim Upload
Hello Sir
listview when clicked i need to view the pdf file within the app using pdfviewer library.
Kindly help or when a click on listview it just download automatically
Hey bilal, liked your tutorial. My question is if I upload 5 pdfs in firebase storage and I want to show only 3 of them not all the 5 so how I would do that?