How to Make Your PDF Viewer Handle PDF Files with Intent Filters in Android

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

Step 8

Get the intent and know whether it is a send or a view intent before accessing the URI. And set the URI to our pdfviewer object in the MainActivity.java class's onCreate() method.

Intent intent = getIntent();
Uri uri;

pdfView = findViewById(R.id.pdfViewer);

if (Intent.ACTION_VIEW.equals(intent.getAction())) {
    uri = intent.getData();
    pdfView.fromUri(uri).load();
}

if (Intent.ACTION_SEND.equals(intent.getAction())) {
   uri = intent.getParcelableExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM);
   pdfView.fromUri(uri).load();
}

Final MainActivity.Java File

package com.example.pdfviewer;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.core.app.ActivityCompat;
import androidx.core.content.ContextCompat;

import android.annotation.SuppressLint;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;

import com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.PDFView;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private final int EXT_STORAGE_PERMISSION_CODE = 1;
    private PDFView pdfView;

    @SuppressLint("MissingInflatedId")
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(
                MainActivity.this,
                android.Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
                == PackageManager.PERMISSION_DENIED) {
            ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(
                    MainActivity.this,
                    new String[]{android.Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE},
                    EXT_STORAGE_PERMISSION_CODE);
            Log.d("PERMISSION", "After getting permission: "+ android.Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE + " " + ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(
                    MainActivity.this,
                    android.Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE));

        } else {
            // We were granted permission already before
            Log.d("PERMISSION", "Already has permission to write to external storage");
        }


        Intent intent = getIntent();
        Uri uri;

        pdfView = findViewById(R.id.pdfViewer);

        if (Intent.ACTION_VIEW.equals(intent.getAction())) {
            uri = intent.getData();
            pdfView.fromUri(uri).load();
        }

        if (Intent.ACTION_SEND.equals(intent.getAction())) {
            uri = intent.getParcelableExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM);
            pdfView.fromUri(uri).load();
        }

    }
}

Step 9

In the manifest file in your activity, define the intent view and send as follows.

 <activity
       android:name=".MainActivity"
       android:exported="true">
       <intent-filter>
           <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
           <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
       </intent-filter>
       <intent-filter>
           <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
           <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
           <category android:name="android.intent.category.OPENABLE" />
           <data android:scheme="file" />
           <data android:scheme="content" />
           <data android:mimeType="application/pdf" />
           <data android:pathPattern=".*\\.pdf" />
           <data android:host="*" />
       </intent-filter>
       <intent-filter>
           <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND" />
           <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
           <data android:mimeType="application/pdf" />
       </intent-filter>
</activity>

The first intent in the list above is for Launcher activity, the second is for View Or Open, and the third is for Send Or Share.

Step 10

Run your app now, and when it asks for permission, provide it. After that, exit the app and try to open any PDF file from the file manager. You will see a list of different apps that can open PDF files; your file should now appear on that list and in share options as well.

Summary

So you see, creating a PDF Viewer In Android with little coding is very easy.

In this article, we will learn How to Make Your PDF Viewer Handle PDF Files with Intent Filters in Android.

If you like my article, please like this article and comment your views on it.

Thank you. Enjoy Coding.