Example of File Picker in React Native

File Picker in React Native

Here is an example of File Picker in React Native. For picking a file or a document we will use a library called react-native-document-picker. Which provides DocumentPicker component which is very helpful to pick any type of document from your mobile memory.

How to Use Document Picker

react-native-document-picker library provides a DocumentPicker component in which you can set the file type you want to pick and accordingly it will provide you the option to choose the file.

File picker provides you the option to choose single or multiple files. Here is the code snippet of DocumentPicker we have used in this Example

To Pick a Single document or File

try {
  const res = await DocumentPicker.pick({
    type: [DocumentPicker.types.allFiles],
    //There can me more options as well
    // DocumentPicker.types.allFiles
    // DocumentPicker.types.images
    // DocumentPicker.types.plainText
    // DocumentPicker.types.audio
    // DocumentPicker.types.pdf
  });
  //Printing the log realted to the file
  console.log('res : ' + JSON.stringify(res));
  console.log('URI : ' + res.uri);
  console.log('Type : ' + res.type);
  console.log('File Name : ' + res.name);
  console.log('File Size : ' + res.size);
  //Setting the state to show single file attributes
  this.setState({ singleFile: res });
} catch (err) {
  //Handling any exception (If any)
  if (DocumentPicker.isCancel(err)) {
    //If user canceled the document selection
    alert('Canceled from single doc picker');
  } else {
    //For Unknown Error
    alert('Unknown Error: ' + JSON.stringify(err));
    throw err;
  }
}

To Pick Multiple documents or Files

try {
  const results = await DocumentPicker.pickMultiple({
    type: [DocumentPicker.types.images],
    //There can me more options as well find above
  });
  for (const res of results) {
    //Printing the log realted to the file
    console.log('res : ' + JSON.stringify(res));
    console.log('URI : ' + res.uri);
    console.log('Type : ' + res.type);
    console.log('File Name : ' + res.name);
    console.log('File Size : ' + res.size);
  }
  //Setting the state to show multiple file attributes
  this.setState({ multipleFile: results });
} catch (err) {
  //Handling any exception (If any)
  if (DocumentPicker.isCancel(err)) {
    //If user canceled the document selection
    alert('Canceled from multiple doc picker');
  } else {
    //For Unknown Error
    alert('Unknown Error: ' + JSON.stringify(err));
    throw err;
  }
}

In this example below, we will open a File Picker on a click of a button and will show the selected File URI, File Type, Filename and File Size on the Text component. So Let’s get started with the Example.

To Make a React Native App

Getting started with React Native will help you to know more about the way you can make a React Native project. We are going to use react native command line interface to make our React Native App.

If you have previously installed a global react-native-cli package, please remove it as it may cause unexpected issues:

npm uninstall -g react-native-cli @react-native-community/cli

Run the following commands to create a new React Native project

npx react-native init ProjectName

If you want to start a new project with a specific React Native version, you can use the --version argument:

npx react-native init ProjectName --version X.XX.X

Note If the above command is failing, you may have old version of react-native or react-native-cli installed globally on your pc. Try uninstalling the cli and run the cli using npx.

This will make a project structure with an index file named App.js in your project directory.

Installation of Dependency

To use DocumentPicker we need to install react-native-document-picker package. To install this

Open the terminal and jump into your project

cd ProjectName

Run the following command

npm install react-native-document-picker --save

This command will copy all the dependencies into your node_module directory, You can find the directory in node_module the directory named react-native-document-picker.

CocoaPods Installation

Now we need to install pods

cd ios && pod install && cd ..

Permission to Access External Storage for Android

We are going to access external storage so we need to add some permission to the AndroidManifest.xml file.
So we are going to add the following permissions in the AndroidManifest.xml

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

For more about the permission, you can see this post.

Code for the File Picker in React Native

Open App.js in any code editor and the Replace the code with the following code

App.js

// Example of File Picker in React Native
// https://aboutreact.com/file-picker-in-react-native/

// Import React
import React, {useState} from 'react';
// Import required components
import {
  SafeAreaView,
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  View,
  TouchableOpacity,
  ScrollView,
  Image,
} from 'react-native';

// Import Document Picker
import DocumentPicker from 'react-native-document-picker';

const App = () => {
  const [singleFile, setSingleFile] = useState('');
  const [multipleFile, setMultipleFile] = useState([]);

  const selectOneFile = async () => {
    //Opening Document Picker for selection of one file
    try {
      const res = await DocumentPicker.pick({
        type: [DocumentPicker.types.allFiles],
        //There can me more options as well
        // DocumentPicker.types.allFiles
        // DocumentPicker.types.images
        // DocumentPicker.types.plainText
        // DocumentPicker.types.audio
        // DocumentPicker.types.pdf
      });
      //Printing the log realted to the file
      console.log('res : ' + JSON.stringify(res));
      console.log('URI : ' + res.uri);
      console.log('Type : ' + res.type);
      console.log('File Name : ' + res.name);
      console.log('File Size : ' + res.size);
      //Setting the state to show single file attributes
      setSingleFile(res);
    } catch (err) {
      //Handling any exception (If any)
      if (DocumentPicker.isCancel(err)) {
        //If user canceled the document selection
        alert('Canceled from single doc picker');
      } else {
        //For Unknown Error
        alert('Unknown Error: ' + JSON.stringify(err));
        throw err;
      }
    }
  };

  const selectMultipleFile = async () => {
    //Opening Document Picker for selection of multiple file
    try {
      const results = await DocumentPicker.pickMultiple({
        type: [DocumentPicker.types.images],
        //There can me more options as well find above
      });
      for (const res of results) {
        //Printing the log realted to the file
        console.log('res : ' + JSON.stringify(res));
        console.log('URI : ' + res.uri);
        console.log('Type : ' + res.type);
        console.log('File Name : ' + res.name);
        console.log('File Size : ' + res.size);
      }
      //Setting the state to show multiple file attributes
      setMultipleFile(results);
    } catch (err) {
      //Handling any exception (If any)
      if (DocumentPicker.isCancel(err)) {
        //If user canceled the document selection
        alert('Canceled from multiple doc picker');
      } else {
        //For Unknown Error
        alert('Unknown Error: ' + JSON.stringify(err));
        throw err;
      }
    }
  };

  return (
    <SafeAreaView style={{flex: 1}}>
      <Text style={styles.titleText}>
        Example of File Picker in React Native
      </Text>
      <View style={styles.container}>
        {/*To show single file attribute*/}
        <TouchableOpacity
          activeOpacity={0.5}
          style={styles.buttonStyle}
          onPress={selectOneFile}>
          {/*Single file selection button*/}
          <Text style={{marginRight: 10, fontSize: 19}}>
            Click here to pick one file
          </Text>
          <Image
            source={{
              uri: 'https://img.icons8.com/offices/40/000000/attach.png',
            }}
            style={styles.imageIconStyle}
          />
        </TouchableOpacity>
        {/*Showing the data of selected Single file*/}
        <Text style={styles.textStyle}>
          File Name: {singleFile.name ? singleFile.name : ''}
          {'\n'}
          Type: {singleFile.type ? singleFile.type : ''}
          {'\n'}
          File Size: {singleFile.size ? singleFile.size : ''}
          {'\n'}
          URI: {singleFile.uri ? singleFile.uri : ''}
          {'\n'}
        </Text>
        <View
          style={{
            backgroundColor: 'grey',
            height: 2,
            margin: 10
          }} />
        {/*To multiple single file attribute*/}
        <TouchableOpacity
          activeOpacity={0.5}
          style={styles.buttonStyle}
          onPress={selectMultipleFile}>
          {/*Multiple files selection button*/}
          <Text style={{marginRight: 10, fontSize: 19}}>
            Click here to pick multiple files
          </Text>
          <Image
            source={{
              uri: 'https://img.icons8.com/offices/40/000000/attach.png',
            }}
            style={styles.imageIconStyle}
          />
        </TouchableOpacity>
        <ScrollView>
          {/*Showing the data of selected Multiple files*/}
          {multipleFile.map((item, key) => (
            <View key={key}>
              <Text style={styles.textStyle}>
                File Name: {item.name ? item.name : ''}
                {'\n'}
                Type: {item.type ? item.type : ''}
                {'\n'}
                File Size: {item.size ? item.size : ''}
                {'\n'}
                URI: {item.uri ? item.uri : ''}
                {'\n'}
              </Text>
            </View>
          ))}
        </ScrollView>
      </View>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};

export default App;

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    padding: 16,
  },
  titleText: {
    fontSize: 22,
    fontWeight: 'bold',
    textAlign: 'center',
    paddingVertical: 20,
  },
  textStyle: {
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    fontSize: 15,
    marginTop: 16,
    color: 'black',
  },
  buttonStyle: {
    alignItems: 'center',
    flexDirection: 'row',
    backgroundColor: '#DDDDDD',
    padding: 5,
  },
  imageIconStyle: {
    height: 20,
    width: 20,
    resizeMode: 'stretch',
  },
});

To Run the React Native App

Open the terminal again and jump into your project using.

cd ProjectName

1. Start Metro Bundler

First, you will need to start Metro, the JavaScript bundler that ships with React Native. To start Metro bundler run following command:

npx react-native start

Once you start Metro Bundler it will run forever on your terminal until you close it. Let Metro Bundler run in its own terminal. Open a new terminal and run the application.

2. Start React Native Application

To run the project on an Android Virtual Device or on real debugging device:

npx react-native run-android

or on the iOS Simulator by running (macOS only)

npx react-native run-ios

Output Screenshots

Android

IOS

As this file picker provides the iCloud pick also so before running the application for IOS. Open the project in Xcode and click on the project in the left sidebar and you will see many options in the workspace.

1.  In the general tab, you have to choose your signing profile from XCode.

2. In the Capabilities tab, You can see the iCloud option which you have to turn on.

3. It will ask you to choose the development team. Select your development team.

4. Now we are ready go with iOS also

This is how you can pick a file from the React Native Application. If you have any doubts or you want to share something about the topic you can comment below or contact us here. There will be more posts coming soon. Stay tuned!

Hope you liked it. 🙂