Where to put a file when reading from SD Card (Android Development)

Question

If I am going to be reading files from the SD Card, where do I put them during development? Also, when I install the app, will it include these files and put them to the SD Card?

Answer 1

What I've seen a lot of people do is release add-on apps in the Market. So, you'd release the main app (that would consume the files) and then have a separate app that does nothing but copy files onto the SD card and instruct the user to install and immediately delete the add-on.

I use a language translator app (ColorDict) that works this way. You download ColorDict, and then you download the language dictionaries separately and delete the dictionary app to save space. That way, your initial download isn't terribly bloated and doesn't take up unnecessary space after install.