After manually delete a file, and use FileOutputStream to create same name file, it will fail with "file exists" error?

Question

My app will download file from server, and store it in folder:
/storage/emulated/0/Documents/MyFolder

Every time user download file, I will check if file already exists, if so, delete it, and create new one:

                    file = new Java.IO.File(filePath);  
                    if (file.Exists())  
                        file.Delete();  
  
                    FileOutputStream fileOutputStream = new FileOutputStream(new Java.IO.File(filePath));  
                    fileOutputStream.Write(data);  
                    fileOutputStream.Close();  
  

The code run perfect, BUT! If user goto other file-browser app, and delete this file manually, back to my app, download it again, it will error:
/storage/emulated/0/Documents/MyFolder/filename.docx: open failed: EEXIST (File exists)

I am 100% sure that this file is deleted(and recycle-bin is empty), what's the problem? How to fix it?

Answer 1

Hello,​

it will error:/storage/emulated/0/Documents/MyFolder/filename.docx: open failed: EEXIST (File exists)

Did you run your application on the android 10 or later?

For android 10, please add android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" in <Application> tag of AndroidManifest.xml

For Android 11 or later, this issue is related to Android 11 storage limitation, if you want to delete/create external file path, you need to request following permission and Manage all files on a storage device.

   <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>  

This permission needs request it. After that, you can execute the above code.

Best Regards,

Leon Lu

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