Cannot read files from a directory - android

Question

I have a directory /sdcard/audio in the project. This directory contains some audio (wav) files.
Here is what I am trying to do:
1. Read from the directory.
2. Play the wav files.

The code I have written for accessing the directory is as follows:

String path_to_media = "/sdcard/audio/";
File dirEffectFiles = new File(path_to_media);   //gets a handle to the directory of effect files.
Log.v(this.toString(), "Getting into path = " + path_to_media);
Log.v(this.toString(), "Some details about the directory: path = " + dirEffectFiles.getPath()
                + " Can read: " + dirEffectFiles.canRead() + " list:" + dirEffectFiles.list()
                + " absolute path:" + dirEffectFiles.getAbsolutePath() + " is absolute:" + dirEffectFiles.isAbsolute()); 

The output I get for the above is:

01-13 16:23:34.941: Some details about the directory: path = /sdcard/audio Can read: false list:null absolute path:/sdcard/audio is absolute:true

I have the following questions:
1. How can I make the above folder readable? By setting dirEffectFiles.setReadable(true)?
2. Also, please note that path_to_media above is /sdcard/audio/. When it is printed, the last "/" disappears. Is that a normal effect of some internal parsing or should I be worried about that??

Any help is most welcome,
Thanks,
Sriram.

Answer 1

/sdcard/audio referred to above was a directory made in the project directory. This approach is wrong. The directory for emulating the sdcard must be created using adb (in command prompt (windows))like so:

1. adb shell mkdir /sdcard/audio - this will create the audio/ sub-directory in sdcard/
2. adb push "complete path of file name to be pushed" /sdcard/audio/file-name
3. This procedure is repeated for the other wavefiles.

That's it. You should be able to read files from the mounted /sdcard directory.
@thoredge: thanks for your help.

Answer 2

Have you added the right permission to AndroidManifest.xml?

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

Also, it is wise to use a the environment method to get the correct SD-card path:

Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()

Also, what do you get from:

dirEffectFiles.exists()