A File Opener Plugin for Cordova (The Original Version)

This plugin will open a file on your device file system with its default application.

cordova.plugins.fileOpener2.open(
    filePath,
    fileMIMEType,
    {
        error : function(){ },
        success : function(){ }
    }
);

Installation

$ cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-file-opener2

From release 2.1.0 you can also set the android support version

$ cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-file-opener2  --variable ANDROID_SUPPORT_V4_VERSION={required version}

Requirements

The following platforms and versions are supported by the latest release:

• Android 4.4+ / iOS 9+ / WP8 / Windows
• Cordova CLI 7.0 or higher

Cordova CLI 6.0 is supported by 2.0.19, but there are a number of issues, particularly with Android builds (see 232 203 207). Using the cordova-android-support-gradle-release plugin may help.

fileOpener2.open(filePath, mimeType, options)

Opens a file

Supported Platforms

• Android 4.4+
• iOS 9+
• Windows
• WP8

Quick Examples

Open an APK install dialog:

cordova.plugins.fileOpener2.open(
    '/sdcard/Download/gmail.apk',
    'application/vnd.android.package-archive'
);

Open a PDF document with the default PDF reader and optional callback object:

cordova.plugins.fileOpener2.open(
    '/sdcard/Download/starwars.pdf', // You can also use a Cordova-style file uri: cdvfile://localhost/persistent/Download/starwars.pdf
    'application/pdf',
    {
        error : function(e) {
            console.log('Error status: ' + e.status + ' - Error message: ' + e.message);
        },
        success : function () {
            console.log('file opened successfully');
        }
    }
);

Market place installation

Install From Market: to install an APK from a market place, such as Google Play or the App Store, you can use an <a> tag in combination with the market:// protocol:

<a href="market://details?id=xxxx" target="_system">Install from Google Play</a>
<a href="itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/my-app/idxxxxxxxx?mt=8" target="_system">Install from App Store</a>

or in code:

window.open("[market:// or itms-apps:// link]","_system");

fileOpener2.showOpenWithDialog(filePath, mimeType, options)

Opens with system modal to open file with an already installed app.

Supported Platforms

• Android 4.4+
• iOS 9+

Quick Example

cordova.plugins.fileOpener2.showOpenWithDialog(
    '/sdcard/Download/starwars.pdf', // You can also use a Cordova-style file uri: cdvfile://localhost/persistent/Download/starwars.pdf
    'application/pdf',
    {
        error : function(e) {
            console.log('Error status: ' + e.status + ' - Error message: ' + e.message);
        },
        success : function () {
            console.log('file opened successfully');
        }
    }
);

fileOpener2.uninstall(packageId, callbackContext)

Uninstall a package with its ID

Supported Platforms

• Android 4.4+

Quick Example

cordova.plugins.fileOpener2.uninstall('com.zynga.FarmVille2CountryEscape', {
    error : function(e) {
        console.log('Error status: ' + e.status + ' - Error message: ' + e.message);
    },
    success : function() {
        console.log('Uninstall intent activity started.');
    }
});

fileOpener2.appIsInstalled(packageId, callbackContext)

Check if an app is already installed.

Supported Platforms

• Android 4.4+

Quick Example

cordova.plugins.fileOpener2.appIsInstalled('com.adobe.reader', {
    success : function(res) {
        if (res.status === 0) {
            console.log('Adobe Reader is not installed.');
        } else {
            console.log('Adobe Reader is installed.')
        }
    }
});

Android APK installation limitation

The following limitations apply when opening an APK file for installation:

• On Android 8+, your application must have the ACTION_INSTALL_PACKAGE permission. You can add it by adding this to your app's config.xml file:

<platform name="android">
    <config-file parent="/manifest" target="AndroidManifest.xml" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES" />
    </config-file>
</platform>

• Before Android 7, you can only install APKs from the "external" partition. For example, you can install from cordova.file.externalDataDirectory, but not from cordova.file.dataDirectory. Android 7+ does not have this limitation.

Notes

• For properly opening any file, you must already have a suitable reader for that particular file type installed on your device. Otherwise this will not work.

• It is reported that in iOS, you might need to remove <preference name="iosPersistentFileLocation" value="Library" /> from your config.xml

• If you are wondering what MIME-type should you pass as the second argument to open function, here is a list of all known MIME-types