Android intent filter: associate app with file extension

Question

I have a custom file type/extension that I want to associate my app with.

As far as I know, the data element is made for this purpose, but I can't get it working. http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/data-element.html According to the docs, and a lot of forum posts, it should work like this:

<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
    <data android:mimeType="application/pdf" />
</intent-filter>

Well, it does not work. What did I do wrong? I simply want to declare my own file type.

Answer 1

You need multiple intent filters to address different situation you want to handle.

Example 1, handle http requests without mimetypes:

  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <data android:scheme="http" />
    <data android:host="*" />
    <data android:pathPattern=".*\.pdf" />
  </intent-filter>

Handle with mimetypes, where the suffix is irrelevant:

  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <data android:scheme="http" />
    <data android:host="*" />
    <data android:mimeType="application/pdf" />
  </intent-filter>

Handle intent from a file browser app:

  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <data android:scheme="file" />
    <data android:host="*" />
    <data android:pathPattern=".*\.pdf" />
  </intent-filter>