How to Build a React Native File Picker

React Native is a powerful platform for creating mobile applications. It is a JavaScript framework that allows developers to create mobile applications without needing to write code for both iOS and Android. One of the most useful features of React Native is the ability to create a file picker.

In this article, we’ll walk through the steps of creating a React Native file picker using the react-native-document-picker library.

Creating the React Native Project

First, we’ll need to create a React Native project. To do this, open up a terminal window and type the following command:

npx react-native init MyProject

This will create a new React Native project called “MyProject”.

Installing react-native-document-picker

Next, we’ll need to install the react-native-document-picker library. To do this, type the following command in the terminal window:

npm install react-native-document-picker

If you’re using CocoaPods, you’ll also need to run the following command:

cd ios && pod install

Implementing the File Picker in React Native

Now that we’ve installed the react-native-document-picker library, we can start implementing the file picker in our React Native project.

First, we’ll need to import the library into the component where we want to use the file picker. We can do this with the following code:

import DocumentPicker from 'react-native-document-picker';

Next, we’ll need to create a function to handle the file picker. This function will be called when the user taps the button to open the file picker. We can do this with the following code:

const handleFilePicker = async () => {
  try {
    const res = await DocumentPicker.pick({
      type: [DocumentPicker.types.allFiles],
    });
    console.log(
      res.uri,
      res.type, // mime type
      res.name,
      res.size
    );
  } catch (err) {
    if (DocumentPicker.isCancel(err)) {
      // User cancelled the picker, exit any dialogs or menus and move on
    } else {
      throw err;
    }
  }
}

Finally, we can call this function when the user taps a button to open the file picker. We can do this with the following code:

<TouchableOpacity onPress={handleFilePicker}>
  <Text>Open File Picker</Text>
</TouchableOpacity>

And that’s it! With these steps, you’ve successfully implemented a file picker in your React Native project.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve walked through the steps of creating a React Native file picker using the react-native-document-picker library. We’ve seen how to create a React Native project, install the library, and implement the file picker in our project. With these steps, you can easily create a file picker for your React Native project.