Saving files 0 bytes

[an_mo]

I'm having trouble saving strings to a text file. I pick the dircetory/filename using the filepicker. Then upon saving, something happens, but all it does is save a 0-bytes file. Is there anything obvious I am missing?
Attaching screenshot of the relevant code... I don't think the replace part matters actually, I've tried many things.

[Taifun]

Why is there a red error?

Use the companion app and Do it to debug your blocks, see also tip 4 here App Inventor: How to Learn | Pura Vida Apps
see also Live Development, Testing, and Debugging Tools

FAQ Section: Debugging

Introductory Testing techniques, including Do It - MIT Sample Connect -> Companion sequence - @ABG How to Read and Understand a Runtime Error Message - @ABG Common Runtime Errors - @TimAI2 Advanced Do It' to view procedure results, event arguments and local variables How to run Logcat How to use Do It in a loop Screen1.ErrorOccured message numbers SteveJG monster list of things you should not do How to show raw responseContent from your app when debugging - TimAI2 Video of copying Do…

Taifun

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Trying to push the limits! Snippets, Tutorials and Extensions from Pura Vida Apps by Taifun.

[an_mo]

Ignore the error, I duplicated the relevant block and removed irrelevant processing of the actual string I want to save. Thanks for the tips but I tried already the tips you recommend

[Taifun]

So what is your Do it result? Show us a screenshot including Do it result
Also how did you set the file scope property of the file component?
Taifun

[an_mo]

OK forget about Do it. Here is a clean app with no block errors. I tried file scope "app", "shared", "legacy". Shared gives an error, whereas "app" and "legacy" save a 0-bytes file. May be a permission problem but why would it save a 0-bytes file? The other issue is that when I print out the file name to show on the screen, I get some extra characters, e.g. picking aaa.txt results in:

file:///com.android.externalstorage.documents/document/primary%3ADownload%2Faaa.txt

i.e. I don't know if it's those % extra characters creating an issue

[TIMAI2]

What makes you think that changing the content: to file: is going to work? This is not the way to convert a contenturi to a filePath...

[Taifun]

What about storing the text always in a file in ASD without using the filepicker? Then later you could copy the file to shared storage and ask the user to provide a name for the file. .

Taifun

[TIMAI2]

Or do this instead:

[an_mo]

Changing content: to file: seems to be necessary, otherwise the app crashes when trying to save.

One issue is those encodings, replacing %2F with / and %3A with : then I can manage to save the file somewhere and retrieve it. However, I am not sure where it is, it doesn't seem to be saved in the directory I picke - looking through the directory tree with a file manager app does not find it

This code saves and retrieves text properly, but it's not clear where

[TIMAI2]

The file will be lost in a directory structure in your ASD

[an_mo]

Then what is the proper directory name of a shared directory? It is not the one loaded by the file picker

[TIMAI2]

You are not setting the filescope for the file component correctly to access the shared directories

[an_mo]

Trust me, I tried all filescopes. The main issue is finding the correct directory name. It is not the one loaded by the file picker.

[TIMAI2]

Get the file saving to the correct place first, then worry about picking a directory.

[Taifun]

@an_mo

Changing content: to file: seems to be necessary

If you really want to do that, then what about using a file extension to convert the uri into a path correctly?

FileTools : Some tools to work with files - SunnyTheDeveloper

Taifun

[an_mo]

Thank you! Really helpful extension