How to Share Image From URL with Intent in Android?

In this article, we will see how can we share images and text with Android Intent. In this activity URL of an image to be shared will be given with extra text and we will open the Dialog where the user chooses using which he wants to share this image as shown on the screen. A sample video is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article. Note that we are going to implement this project using the Java language.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. Note that select Java as the programming language.

Step 2: Working with the activity_main.xml file

Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file. 

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="32dp"
        android:text="Image Sharing Intent"
        android:textSize="24sp"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/img_url"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="28dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="20dp"
        android:ems="10"
        android:minHeight="48dp"
        android:hint="Image Url"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.497"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/textView" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/text"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="28dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="20dp"
        android:ems="10"
        android:minHeight="48dp"
        android:hint="Extra Text"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/img_url" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="44dp"
        android:text="Share"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.498"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/text" />

    <ProgressBar
        android:id="@+id/progressBar"
        style="?android:attr/progressBarStyle"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="44dp"
        android:visibility="gone"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.498"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/text" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Now you will get the Layout. Let’s write the logic now.

Step 3: Working with the MainActivity.java file

Go to the MainActivity.java file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.java file. 

Java

package com.example.imageshare;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.provider.MediaStore;
import android.text.TextUtils;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.ProgressBar;
import android.widget.Toast;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.Random;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    // lateinit declaration of views

    EditText imgUrl, text;
    Button btn;
    ProgressBar progressBar;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        // reference of views
        imgUrl = findViewById(R.id.img_url);
        text = findViewById(R.id.text);
        btn = findViewById(R.id.button);
        progressBar = findViewById(R.id.progressBar);

        // On Click listener will trigger code as soon as
        // some clicks on the button
        btn.setOnClickListener(view -> {
            // validation condition to check if the any text
            // is entered in the edit text fields or not
            if (TextUtils.isEmpty(
                    imgUrl.getText().toString())
                || TextUtils.isEmpty(
                    text.getText().toString())) {
                Toast
                    .makeText(MainActivity.this,
                              "Please fill All Details",
                              Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
                    .show();
            }
            else {
                progressBar.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
                btn.setVisibility(View.GONE);
                // Creating New thread
                Thread thread = new Thread(() ->
                    URL url = null;
                    try {
                    url = new URL(
                        imgUrl.getText().toString());
                    } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                    }
                    HttpURLConnection connection = null;
                    try {
                    assert url != null;
                    connection = (HttpURLConnection)
                                     url.openConnection();
                    } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                    }
                    assert connection != null;
                    connection.setDoInput(true);
                    try {
                    connection.connect();
                    } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                    }
                    InputStream input = null;
                    try {
                    input = connection.getInputStream();
                    } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                    }
                    Bitmap imgBitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(input);
                    Random rand = new Random();
                    int randNo = rand.nextInt(100000);
                    String imgBitmapPath = MediaStore.Images.Media.insertImage(getContentResolver(), imgBitmap, "IMG:" + randNo, null);
                    Uri imgBitmapUri = Uri.parse(imgBitmapPath);

                    Intent shareIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
                    shareIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
                    shareIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, imgBitmapUri);
                    shareIntent.setType("image/png");
                    shareIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
                    shareIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, text.getText().toString());
                    startActivity(Intent.createChooser(shareIntent, "Share with"));
                    progressBar.setVisibility(View.GONE);
                    btn.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            });
            thread.start();
            }
    });
}
}

Below is the Kotlin Implementation of above code. Refer the below code for MainActivity.kt file.  Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Please keep in mind that in Kotlin, however the approach outlined below works perfectly for the simple task at hand. Moreover, according to Google Developers documentation, Coroutines are preferred over Threads.

Kotlin

import android.content.Intent
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory
import android.net.Uri
import android.os.Bundle
import android.provider.MediaStore
import android.text.TextUtils
import android.view.View
import android.widget.Button
import android.widget.EditText
import android.widget.ProgressBar
import android.widget.Toast
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import java.io.IOException
import java.io.InputStream
import java.net.HttpURLConnection
import java.net.MalformedURLException
import java.net.URL
import java.util.*
import kotlin.concurrent.thread


class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    // lateinit declaration of views
    lateinit var imgUrl: EditText
    lateinit var text: EditText
    lateinit var btn: Button
    lateinit var progressBar: ProgressBar

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        // reference of views
        imgUrl = findViewById(R.id.img_url)
        text = findViewById(R.id.text)
        btn = findViewById(R.id.button)
        progressBar = findViewById(R.id.progressBar)

        // On Click listener will trigger code as soon as some clicks on the button
        btn.setOnClickListener {
            // validation condition to check if the any text is entered in the edit text fields or not
            if(TextUtils.isEmpty(imgUrl.getText().toString()) || TextUtils.isEmpty(text.getText().toString())){
                Toast.makeText(this, "Please fill All Details", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
            } else {
                // make progress bar visible
                progressBar.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE)
                btn.setVisibility(View.GONE)

                // Creating New thread
                thread {
                    var url: URL? = null
                    try {
                        // get url from EditText view and converting
                        // it to the URL
                        url = URL(imgUrl.text.toString())
                    } catch (e: MalformedURLException) {
                        // will invoke if invalid url is entered
                        e.printStackTrace()
                    }
                    var connection: HttpURLConnection? = null
                    try {
                        assert(url != null)
                        connection = url!!.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection
                    } catch (e: IOException) {
                        e.printStackTrace()
                    }
                    assert(connection != null)
                    connection!!.doInput = true
                    try {
                        connection.connect()
                    } catch (e: IOException) {
                        e.printStackTrace()
                    }
                    var input: InputStream? = null
                    try {
                        input = connection.inputStream
                    } catch (e: IOException) {
                        e.printStackTrace()
                    }
                    // generation of image form url Input
                    val imgBitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(input)
                    val rand = Random()
                    val randNo = rand.nextInt(100000)
                    val imgBitmapPath = MediaStore.Images.Media.insertImage(
                        contentResolver, imgBitmap,
                        "IMG:$randNo", null
                    )
                    val imgBitmapUri = Uri.parse(imgBitmapPath)


                    // share Intent
                    val shareIntent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND)
                    shareIntent.flags = Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK
                    shareIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, imgBitmapUri)
                    shareIntent.type = "image/png"
                    shareIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION)
                    shareIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, text.text.toString())
                    // Open the chooser dialog box
                    startActivity(Intent.createChooser(shareIntent, "Share with"))

                    // disappear the progress bar view
                    progressBar.visibility = View.GONE
                    btn.visibility = View.VISIBLE
                }.start()
            }
        }
    }
}

Now run the app in an emulator or Device you should get output like in the video.

Output: