bug Catastrophic issue when adding folders!

[fr0stsilver]

Catastrophic issue when adding folders in Poweramp when the system language is set to Chinese!

See this screen recording: 

Spoiler

I have tried switching the system language to English and the issue is gone, meaning the bug only occurs when the display language is set to Chinese. 🤔

App: build-981-bundle-play. 
Model: Xiaomi 14. 
ROM: Xiaomi Hyper OS 1.0.38.0.UNBCNXM. 
Android: Android 14. 
Display Language: Chinese

 

Edited June 24 by fr0stsilver

[andrewilley]

Nothing visible.

Andre

[fr0stsilver]

Do you mean you can't see the screen recording? It's in fact inside the "Reveal hidden contents" spoiler, as depicted in this screenshot: 

[andrewilley]

As I said, there is no playable video in there.

Andre

[fr0stsilver]

Ok, I'm uploading again

 

Edited June 24 by fr0stsilver

[fr0stsilver]

It seems like your device doesn't support HEVC encoding. Try using a PC instead? 

In the meantime, I will try encoding an H.264 version of it. 

Edited June 24 by fr0stsilver

[fr0stsilver]

Here's the AVC LQ version of the screen recording. See if you can play it. 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[andrewilley]

That upload worked, looks like you were using an unsupported format before.

However as it's in Chinese, I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea what you are trying to demonstrate. Probably best to explain the problem in English as this is an English-language forum.

Does it look like the Android 'Grant Access' permission system is not working when you have Chinese set as the default language, or is is something in Poweramp that is not working? You could try using File Access Legacy Mode and see if that helps.

Andre

[fr0stsilver]

I worked around by 1. setting display language to English, 2. select the folders, and 3. change back to Chinese. 

File Access Legacy Mode is not supported by the play version of the app. Reinstalling the uni version is not the way to go. 

I don't know how to explain this problem better other than showing a video and urging you to try the folder selection procedure on your end as well. 

[fr0stsilver]

Ok. I found it's possible to keep Poweramp in English while the system display language remains in Chinese.

Here's another screen recording mostly in English: 

Spoiler

And the translation of the Android SAF prompt: 

Spoiler

Allow Poweramp to access files in Music?

Doing so will allow Poweramp to access the current and future content stored in Music. 

Cancel  Allow

 

(Use this folder)

 

Edited June 25 by fr0stsilver
Added translation

[andrewilley]

So the problem seems to be in SAF's permission system, not in the main Poweramp app. 'Music' is a system folder name, but it's one that media player apps should be able to access (unlike, for example, 'Download' which is blocked by Android).

You are correct that Legacy mode is not supported in the Play Store download, another tightening of restrictions on users by Google/Android I'm afraid. It can still be made available in non Play Store apps of course, so the downloadable APK file from the website here supports it.

Can you try setting up just one overall folder, perhaps called simply 'Audio' and put everything else that you want to access into subfolders there? Would that work for you?

Andre

[fr0stsilver]

16 hours ago, andrewilley said:

Can you try setting up just one overall folder, perhaps called simply 'Audio' and put everything else that you want to access into subfolders there? Would that work for you?

I have tried that and the answer is no, it did not work. The behaviour was just the same as the Music folder. (I have to use the "Import Settings" feature to redirect the SAF so it defaults to the new folder whenever called the next time.)

The first video (the one with Chinese UI) has in fact shown a folder called Dj "/sdcard/netease/cloudmusic/Dj", which behaves the same as the Music folder. 

Also in my experience, this problem was only seen in Poweramp, not any other app. Probably because most apps call SAF for picking files and rarely folders. (←Would this be a clue?)

[andrewilley]

7 hours ago, fr0stsilver said:

most apps call SAF for picking files and rarely folders.

On modern Android releases, the ability to grant read/write access to a particular folder now has to be done via Android's SAF system, which is what Poweramp does. In this case, it should not even allow selecting files, only 'Use This Folder'. It's then up to Android to handle that process and then pass control back to Poweramp once the required folder has been selected. I don't know why that Android process is failing for you if Chinese is the system language. At least you have a workaround of selecting the folder in English, and then change the language back afterwards.

So to clarify, when system language is Chinese, if you tap on Settings=>Library=>Music Folders=>'Add Folder or Storage', the SAF selection screen does open but Android immediately displays the final prompt "Allow Poweramp to access files in Music? This will let Poweramp access current and future content stored in Music". That prompt should only appear after you have finished navigating the directories and have tapped on 'Use This Folder'. If you tap on 'Cancel' at that point, it should return to the SAF browsing screen to let you continue navigating, does that happen?

@maxmp This sounds like something you may need to test, and see if there's a work-around for whatever Android is doing in this case.

Andre

[maxmp]

@andrewilley it's sometimes not even possible to test as:

- specific build/beta/firmwarefor Chinese variant of firmare/OS is used. Installable only on the specific device with the specific ROM, for the Chinese only users, guarded by the location, IP, device region, etc, it's basically an "unobtainum" if we don't have this particular device and ROM on hands.
- the bug is in the firmware, so usually it's fixed quite quickly if reported on the MIUI forum for that particular ROM/device/beta branch
- to the date, almost all such issues was fixed by the Xiaomi in more or less quick fashion and my previous efforts to workaround them are not just futile, but also are counter productive as it may break things for the "fixed" ROMs. Usually it makes sense only for the old devices with the "stable" never updated ROMs

From the video I would say that something happens in the Android file selector, probably crash of some sort (as it closes too quickly before user even has a chance to select anything). Probably making full log from the Developer settings and sending to gpmaxmpz@gmail.com may help, but most probably there will be some crash in that Android selector, which we certainly can't fix, though we may point to some setting/tweak which may help:

- we've seen issues like removed file access permission for the File selector dialog, disabled File selector dialogs, or disabled/uninstalled/"optimized" some intermediate file selection critical component, etc. done by package disablers or by just broken beta ROMs

 

[fr0stsilver]

16 hours ago, andrewilley said:

So to clarify ... if you tap on Settings=>Library=>Music Folders=>'Add Folder or Storage', the SAF selection screen does open but Android immediately displays the final prompt...

Yes, that's exactly right. 

16 hours ago, andrewilley said:

If you tap on 'Cancel' at that point, it should return to the SAF browsing screen to let you continue navigating, does that happen?

No, it didn't work.

Tapping the cancel button is hard because the prompt is disappearing very fast. Even if it looked like I successfully tapped the button, the prompt seemed to immediately pop again. 

@maxmp Yes, I can confirm it's very likely Android SAF's issue by trying to access /sdcard/Android/data folders using MiXplorer. Screen recording: 

Spoiler

However, I don't think it's Xiaomi's mistake since the File app seems to be very original from Google. Hence, this issue may possibly be widespread so that you might want to cover it with a temporary fix. (See if devices on your end also behave the same.)

Can you try this on an Android 14 device on your end? Try setting the system language to Chinese and see if there also exists the bug. 

The Files app's version on my end is: 14-10484568