Archived:Preventing content from being displayed in Media Gallery on Symbian

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Article Metadata

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Tested with

Devices(s): All (S60 3rd Edition)

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Compatibility

Platform(s): S60 3rd Edition

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Article

Created: User:Technical writer 1 (03 Sep 2008)

Last edited: hamishwillee (15 Jun 2012)

Description

For applications that store media files for their own internal purposes (custom graphics or UI elements), it is typically not desirable to have those files visible in the Media Gallery.

Solution

Whether images and other content are visible in the Media Gallery depends on where they are stored in the file system. If only the application itself requires access to the files, the \private\<secureID-of-process>\ folder is a suitable location. Files under \private folders do not appear in the Media Gallery, and other processes need AllFiles capability to access these files.

If multiple processes require access to the same data, files cannot be shared using a private folder without implementing a client-server solution where one process handles requests to open and pass file handles to its clients. If data confidentiality is not an issue, a common practice is to use an unprotected folder for shared data.

Placing UI image data under \data makes it accessible to all and visible in Media Gallery and File Manager with full access to the files.

Media Gallery searches most unprotected folders on all drives for displayable content. There are, however, a few exceptions. The /system folder (legacy folder for system files from previous Symbian OS versions) is not not protected by data caging on S60 3rd Edition, but files placed there will not be visible in Media Gallery.

Any location under /system will do. However, a logical place would be

 /system/data/<application_name>/