Libgdx How to get a list of files in a directory?

Question

So I am trying to get a list of files in a directory with a file handle.list() method but it returns an empty list even though there are files in the directory. What seems strange to me is that it does work on the device but it does not work on the desktop. I think I know what the problem is but I dont know how to solve it though. In the method description it says "On the desktop, an FileType.Internal handle to a directory on the classpath will return a zero length array.", but there is no other method than this so what do you guys think I can do?

Answer 1

The "internal files" are found via the classpath when run on the desktop, so there is no simple way to "list" a directory in the classpath. If you're just using the desktop for development, and don't mind some hacks you can search "./bin/" for the missing files.

Like this:

FileHandle dirHandle;
if (Gdx.app.getType() == ApplicationType.Android) {
   dirHandle = Gdx.files.internal("some/directory");
} else {
  // ApplicationType.Desktop ..
  dirHandle = Gdx.files.internal("./bin/some/directory");
}
for (FileHandle entry: dirHandle.list()) {
   // yadda ...
}

For a bit more detail, see: http://bitiotic.com/blog/2012/05/15/libgdx-internal-files-hacks/

Update: this is not correct any more. That "./bin/" path prefix don't have to be added - works well without adding it and not working when it's added. So this solution is obsolete.