Is it possible to tell Aquamail where to save the majority of its data?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Not sure what the SAF has to do with it... Can you elaborate?

[pyler]

To write outside app dir on external sd card. (ACTION_CREATE_DOCUMENT)

[Dmitry_N]

You can save attachment in any folder on ext sd card using SAF, no? This works on kitkat too

I can.
But this question is not about saving them manually. This is about the automatic "caching" stuff.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

>> ACTION_CREATE_DOCUMENT
>>
>> Activity Action: Allow the user to create a new document. When invoked, the system will display the various DocumentsProvider instances installed on the device, letting the user navigate through them.

I'm lost. It's just an abstraction (for making Google Drive, Gallery, Dropbox, etc look the same).

How does it help with saving attachments specifically on the "real" external memory card?

To be more specific. Existing code:

FileOutputStream ostream = new FileOutputStream(new File("/mnt/ext_sd/AquaMail Downloads", "foo.png"));

^^^ throws IOException (or SecurityException, I forget)

Let's say I replace it with SAF calls, prompting the user to create a new document and then saving there...

How would this document, picked through SAF, end up on the "real" external memory card?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

>> But this question is not about saving them manually. This is about the automatic "caching" stuff.

Димон, здаров! Сразу и не признал.

В общем так: программа хранит на устройстве некоторое "бОльшее" количество сообщений (по ум. 250), а "смотрит" на меньшее (по ум. 25). Так что если на сервере удаляется что-то в "хвосте" (за пределами этих 25), то программа не увидит этих удалений.

А вот по мере прихода новых сообщений, страые будут выходить за пределы "хранить сообщений" (по ум. 250) -- и при этом удаляться с устройства. На следующие сутки после этого, их вложения будут удалены.

Немного как сказка про Кащея, просто получается некоторая задержка.

Что можно еще сделать. Длинное нажатие на учетной записи -- доп. настройки и папки -- доп. настройки -- уменьшить "хранить сообщений" скажем до 100, и после этого в главном окне вызвать Меню / Сжать хранилище сообщений (этот процесс как раз происходит автоматом раз в сутки).

[pyler]

User decides where to save it.

After user "creates" file, you get uri to this file I think and you can write to it.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

>> User decides where to save it.

The user can already decide where Aqua "saves" attachments.

>> After user "creates" file, you get uri to this file I think and you can write to it.

Is there any reason you think that the user will be able to choose / create a file on the "external" SD card and it'll work?

I just tried creating a file on "ext_sd" in Solid Explorer, it failed with "error, limitation of Android 4.4, install an app to fix your system permissions, you need to be rooted...". But we already knew that.

On a rooted device with a custom ROM, creating files on "external" SD works in Solid Explorer, and it also works in AquaMail.

[pyler]

SAF is system component, there are no limitations unlike 3rd party file managers.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

SAF is a framework that provides a unified abstraction of actual storage back-ends.

It does not store data itself.

There is no built-in back-end that provides a view of the raw file system -- maybe because Android has been steadily moving away from "file system" view of the world to "document collections".

Other SAF back-ends are still third party apps, and would not be signed by system keys.

If I'm missing something and you can point me to something specific (e.g. "Kostya, you dumbass, just call this function and everything will magically work") -- it would be great.

[pyler]

On Lollipop user just pick "sd card" in SAF once and AquaMail can access all files on sd card (real one)

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Pick when and where exactly? Access how, read or write?

Also:

5.0 has so far been released for: Nexus 4, 5, 6, 7, 9.

None of those devices has a "real" sd card.

I must be missing something, or just too dumb to understand.

[pyler]

If user chooses X directory via SAF, app grants access to this dir. Read and write.

G3 and S5 are getting Lollipop, so you can test it maybe.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

>> user chooses X directory via SAF

I don't see a directory chooser in SAF if I go to add a new attachment (when composing a message) in Aqua.

And SAF's Unified Document Picker is what comes up then, since 4.4

>> G3 and S5 are getting Lollipop, so you can test it maybe

I have a G3, no 5.0 yet.

[pyler]

There is special intent to pick directory I think.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

>> There is special intent to pick directory I think

Ah!

Ok, thanks, now I know what to try -- once my G3 actually gets 5.0.