Why does it crash while sending Bitmap

I am trying to share an image by sending a Bitmap. The solution i found works on the emulator for Android 10.0 but not on Android 7.0 (neither on my LG V20 running Android 9) where it crashes.

Here is my current code. Any idea how to avoid the crash? Thanks in advance for your help.

            picIV.buildDrawingCache();
            Bitmap bitmap = picIV.getDrawingCache();

            String path = MediaStore.Images.Media.insertImage(getContentResolver(),
            bitmap, "Challengers", null);

            Uri uri = Uri.parse(path);

            Intent share = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
            share.setType("image/*");
            share.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, uri);
            //share.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "I found something cool!");
            startActivity(Intent.createChooser(share, "Share Your Design!"));

The crash seems to be happenning when running this line

            Uri uri = Uri.parse(path);

Maybe your path is null? Did you debug it?

From the source of the method Uri.parse(...) I noticed that it returns an error if it takes null as an argument and MediaStore.Images.Media.insertImage(...) returns null "if the image failed to be stored for any reason".

Found another method that worked on Android 7 but not on Android 10. So found out a way to make them work together.

                Uri uri;
                String path = MediaStore.Images.Media.insertImage(getContentResolver(), bitmap, "Challengers", null);

                if (path!=null) {
                    uri = Uri.parse(path);
                }else{
                    uri = null;
                    String string="" ;
                    try {
                        File file = new File(getExternalFilesDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES), "to-share.png");
                        FileOutputStream stream = new FileOutputStream(file);
                        bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 90, stream);
                        stream.close();
                        uri = Uri.fromFile(file);
                    } catch (IOException e) {
                        Log.d(string, "IOException while trying to write file for sharing: " + e.getMessage());
                    }
                }

                Intent share = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
                share.setType("image/*");
                share.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, uri);
                //share.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "I found something cool!");
                startActivity(Intent.createChooser(share, "Share Your Design!"));

This should work across each API -- Answer is in Koltin

1. Create Bitmap From View

   fun createBitmapFromView(view: View): Bitmap {
           val bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(view.measuredWidth, 
           view.measuredHeight, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888)
           val canvas = Canvas(bitmap)
           view.layout(view.left, view.top, view.right, view.bottom)
           view.draw(canvas)
           return bitmap
       }
   

2. Create a File for saving the Bitmap

   fun getFileFromBitmap(bitmap: Bitmap): File? {
   val parentDirectory = File(externalCacheDir, "reminder_images")  //image file is stored in external cache directory/reminder_images
   if (!parentDirectory.exists()) {
       parentDirectory.mkdirs()
   }
   val externalCacheFile = File(parentDirectory, "name_of_your_file.png")
   return writeBitmapToFile(externalCacheFile, bitmap)
   

   }

3. Write the Bitmap to File using Stream

   fun writeBitmapToFile(externalCacheFile: File, bitmap: Bitmap): File? {
       return try {
           val fOut = FileOutputStream(externalCacheFile)
           bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 85, fOut)
           fOut.flush()
           fOut.close()
           externalCacheFile
       } catch (e: Exception) {
           null
       }
   }
   

4. Create the FileProvider in Manifest

            <provider
               android:name="androidx.core.content.FileProvider"
               android:authorities="com.your_package_name.FileProvider"
               android:exported="false"
               android:grantUriPermissions="true">
               <meta-data
                   android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
                   android:resource="@xml/provider_paths" />
           </provider>
   

5. 5.Create the provider_paths.xml resource file

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
     <paths xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
       <external-path name="external_files" path="."/>
     </paths>
   

6. Get Uri From File using FileProvider

   val uri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(context,"com.your_package_name.FileProvider", externalCacheFile)
   

Once you have the Uri of the image file share the file as you were doing earlier using Intent.

In my solution, the image file is stored in app-specific external directories. This image file would be deleted if your app is uninstalled. If you want some other behaviour please check data-storage.

Finally found the problem. It was the permissions. Even though i had put the permissions in the Manifest.xml also need to add a couple lines in onCreate.

    ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this, new String[]{Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE},requestCode);
    onRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode,new String[]{Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE},grantResults);

Thanks everyone for your answers, really helpful!