You can access the files and directories in the device file system.

The Filesystem API is mandatory for Tizen mobile, wearable, and TV profiles, which means that it is supported on all mobile, wearable, and TV devices. All mandatory APIs are supported on the Tizen Emulators.

The Filesystem API provides access to accessible parts of the file system, which are represented as virtual root locations.

The main features of the Filesystem API include:

• File storage management

  You can manage different storages on the device and retrieve additional information about the storages, including listing available storages and receiving storage change notifications.

• Files and directory management

  You can perform basic file and directory management tasks using the File interface:

  • You can create files and directories in the file system.
  • You can retrieve a list of files in a directory, the URI of a file, or the file content as a DOMString.
  • You can read or write to a file.
  • You can copy and move files and directories within the virtual file system.
  • You can delete files and directories from the virtual file system.

File and Directory Access

You can access the virtual file system using the FileSystemManager interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications):

• To access a file or directory within the virtual file system, you must use the fully qualified path, <root name>/<path>, where <rootname> is the name of the virtual root and <path> is the relative path to the file or directory within the root.
  Note When you use a path to access the device file system, make sure that the file path encoding uses the default encoding of the platform.
• To access a file or directory, you must also retrieve a file handle using the resolve() method of the FileSystemManager interface.

  A file handle is a reference object that points to and represents a file or directory.

The isFile and isDirectory attributes of the File interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) identify the type of the object: for example, for a file, the isFile attribute is set to true and the isDirectory attribute to false.

Prerequisites

To use the Filesystem API (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications), the application has to request permission by adding the following privileges to the config.xml file:

<tizen:privilege name="http://tizen.org/privilege/filesystem.read"/>
<tizen:privilege name="http://tizen.org/privilege/filesystem.write"/>

Managing File Storages

You can manage different storages on the device with the FileSystemManager interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications).

You can retrieve additional information about the storages, including listing available storages and receiving storage change notifications with the listStorages() and addStorageStateChangeListener() methods provided by the FileSystemManager interface.

To manage file storages:

1. To list available storages, use the listStorages() method of the FileSystemManager interface to search for the storages available on the device.

   If the search is successful, a list of found FileSystemStorage objects (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) is passed to the success event handler.

   /* Success event handler */
   function checkCorruptedRemovableDrives(storages) {
       for (var i = 0; i < storages.length; i++) {
           if (storages[i].type != 'EXTERNAL')
               continue;
           if (storages[i].state == 'UNMOUNTABLE')
               console.log('External drive ' + storages[i].label + ' is corrupted.');
       }
   }
   
   /* Search for the storages */
   tizen.filesystem.listStorages(checkCorruptedRemovableDrives);
   

2. To get storage details by storage name (the label attribute), use the getStorage() method.

   The success callback receives the FileSystemStorage object containing the storage details as an input parameter.

   /* Success event handler */
   function onStorage(storage) {
       console.log('Storage found:' + storage.label);
   }
   
   /* Retrieve a storage */
   tizen.filesystem.getStorage('music', onStorage);
   

3. To receive notifications on the storage state changes, for example, additions and removals, register an event handler with the addStorageStateChangeListener() method.

   An event is generated each time the storage state changes.

   var watchID;
   
   /* Define the event handler */
   function onStorageStateChanged(storage) {
       if (storage.state == 'MOUNTED')
           console.log('Storage ' + storage.label + ' was added!');
   }
   
   /* Register the event handler */
   watchID = tizen.filesystem.addStorageStateChangeListener(onStorageStateChanged);
   

4. To stop receiving the notifications, use the removeStorageStateChangeListener() method:

   tizen.filesystem.removeStorageStateChangeListener(watchID);
   

Creating and Deleting Files and Directories

You can create files and directories using the createFile() and createDirectory() methods. The file or directory is created relative to the current directory that the operation is performed on.

To create and delete files and directories:

1. To create a file in the current directory, use the createFile() method of the File interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications):

   var documentsDir, newFile;
   tizen.filesystem.resolve('documents', function(result) {
       documentsDir = result;
       newFile = documentsDir.createFile('newFilePath');
   });
   

2. To create a directory within the file system, use the createDirectory() method.

   The directory (and any sub-directories defined in the method parameter) is created relative to the current directory where the operation is performed on.

   var newDir = documentsDir.createDirectory('newDir');
   var anotherNewDir = documentsDir.createDirectory('newDir1/subNewDir1');
   

3. To delete a file, use the deleteFile() method:

   function onDelete() {
       console.log('deletedFile() is successfully done.');
   }
   
   documentsDir.deleteFile(newFile.fullPath, onDelete);
   

4. To delete a directory, use the deleteDirectory() method.

   The second parameter defines whether the deletion is performed recursively for the sub-directories as well. If the parameter is set to false, the directory is deleted only if it is empty.

   documentsDir.deleteDirectory(newDir.fullPath, false, onDelete);
   anotherNewDir.parent.deleteDirectory(anotherNewDir.fullPath, false, onDelete);
   

Retrieving Files and File Details

You can retrieve a list of files or file URIs using the listFiles() and toURI() methods. The URI can be used to identify the file, for example, by using it as the src attribute on an HTML img element.

You can retrieve file content as a DOMString with the readAsText() method. The encoding input parameter of the method defines the format in which the file content is returned.

To get files and file details from the file system:

1. To access a specific file or directory within the file system, retrieve a file handle using the resolve() method of the FileSystemManager interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications):

   tizen.filesystem.resolve('documents', onResolveSuccess, null, 'r');
   

   The File object (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) is returned in the success event handler.

2. To retrieve a list of all the files and their directories located in a specified directory, use the listFiles() method of the File object:
   

   function onResolveSuccess(dir) {
       dir.listFiles(onsuccess);
   }
   

   The method returns an array of File objects.

3. To retrieve the file URI, use the toURI() method:

   function onsuccess(files) {
       for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
           /* Display the file name and URI */
           console.log('File name is ' + files[i].name + ', URI is ' + files[i].toURI());
   

4. To retrieve the file content as a DOMString, use the readAsText() method.

   The encoding input parameter of the method defines the format in which the file content is returned.

           if (files[i].isDirectory == false) {
               files[i].readAsText(function(str) {
                   console.log('File content: ' + str);
               }, null, 'UTF-8');
           }
       }
   }
   

Managing Files and Directories

You can manage files and directories in many ways:

• You can read and write to a file by first using the openStream() method to open the file. You can specify the file mode and encoding.

  The openStream() method returns a FileStream object (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications), which is a handle to the opened file. All actual operations, such as read, write, or close, on the file are performed through the FileStream object based on a position attribute, which represents the current position in the file.

• You can copy and move files and directories within the virtual file system with the copyTo() and moveTo() methods.

  If a file or directory of the same name already exists in the target location, the overwrite input parameter of the method defines whether the existing file is overwritten.

  Note The file or directory to be copied or moved must be located under the current directory.

To read and write to files, and move and copy files and directories:

1. To open a file, use the openStream() method of the File interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications).

   The method returns a FileStream object, which is a handle to the opened file.

   var documentsDir;
   
   tizen.filesystem.resolve('documents', function(result) {
       documentsDir = result;
   });
   
   var testFile = documentsDir.createFile('test.txt');
   if (testFile != null) {
       testFile.openStream('rw', onOpenSuccess, null, 'UTF-8');
   }
   

2. Perform all actual operations, such as reading, writing, or closing, on the file through the FileStream object based on a position attribute, which represents the current position in the file:
   

   function onOpenSuccess(fs) {
       /* Write HelloWorld to the file */
       fs.write('HelloWorld');
   
       /* Move pointer to the beginning */
       fs.position = 0;
   
       /* Read the file content from the beginning */
       fs.read(testFile.fileSize);
   
       /* Close the file */
       fs.close();
   }
   

3. To copy a file or directory, use the copyTo() method. The following example copies the files to the images/backup/ directory. Since the third parameter is set to true, any existing files with the same name in the target directory are overwritten.

   var files; /* Assume that this is an array of File objects */
   function onSuccess() {
       console.log('success');
   }
   
   for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
       documentsDir.copyTo(files[i].fullPath, 'images/backup/' + files[i].name,
                           true, onSuccess);
   }
   

4. To move a file or directory, use the moveTo() method. The following example moves the files to the images/newFolder/ directory. Since the third parameter is set to false, no existing files with the same name in the target directory are overwritten.

   var files; /* Assume that this is an array of File objects */
   
   for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
       documentsDir.moveTo(files[i].fullPath, 'images/newFolder/' + files[i].name,
                           false, onSuccess);
   }
   

Supported Virtual Roots

The virtual roots form a collection of locations that function as a single virtual device file system. The following table lists the supported virtual roots.

Table: Filesystem virtual roots