React-native-android - How to save an image to the Android file system and view in the phone's 'Gallery'

Question

Is it possible to save an image to the android's local file system so it can be viewed from the phone's 'Gallery' and in a folder??

I found this react-native-fs library but after studying the documentation and working through an example I am still unsure if it is possible.

Thanks

Answer 1

For anyone having the same problem, here is the solution.

Solution

I am using the File System API from the react-native-fetch-blob library. This is because I tought it was way better documented and easier to understand than the 'react-native-fs' library.

I request an image from the server, receive a base64 and I then save it to the Pictures directory in the android fs.

I save the image like this:

var RNFetchBlob = require('react-native-fetch-blob').default;

const PictureDir = RNFetchBlob.fs.dirs.PictureDir;

getImageAttachment: function(uri_attachment, filename_attachment, mimetype_attachment) {

   return new Promise((RESOLVE, REJECT) => {

   // Fetch attachment
   RNFetchBlob.fetch('GET', config.apiRoot+'/app/'+uri_attachment)
   .then((response) => {

     let base64Str = response.data;

     let imageLocation = PictureDir+'/'+filename_attachment;

     //Save image
     fs.writeFile(imageLocation, base64Str, 'base64');
     console.log("FILE CREATED!!")

     RNFetchBlob.fs.scanFile([ { path : imageLocation, mime : mimetype_attachment } ])
     .then(() => {
       console.log("scan file success")
     })
     .catch((err) => {
       console.log("scan file error")
     })

    }).catch((error) => {
    // error handling
    console.log("Error:", error)
  });
},

The following code that is in the above method refreshes the Gallery otherwise the images would not display untill the phone is turned off and back on again.

RNFetchBlob.fs.scanFile([ { path : imageLocation, mime : mimetype_attachment } ])
.then(() => {
  console.log("scan file success")
})
.catch((err) => {
  console.log("scan file error")
})

Enjoy!