file.createNewFile() gives java.io.IOException: Not a directory

Question

I have been getting a java.io.IOException: Not a directory exception for the following code:

fun saveImage(IdNumber: Int, photoFile: File, plantType: Int) {

    val newImage = PlantPhoto(IdNumber, "ZZ Plant", photoFile, plantType)

    val dir = File(
        context.getExternalFilesDir("planio/dataclasses/${plantType}").toString()
    )
    if (!dir.exists()) {
        dir.mkdirs()
    }

    val dataClassLocation = File(dir, "$IdNumber")

    if (dataClassLocation.exists()) {
        dataClassLocation.delete()
        dataClassLocation.createNewFile()
    } else{
        //exception occurs here 
        dataClassLocation.createNewFile()
    }

    val plantFile = FileOutputStream(dataClassLocation, true)
    val outStream = ObjectOutputStream(plantFile)

    outStream.writeObject(newImage)
    outStream.close()
    plantFile.close()
    Log.i(SaveTag, "Image saved successfully")
}

I have already checked that parent directories exist and since I am using an emulator that runs on API 29, getExternalFilesDir should not require permission to read and write to. But I am unsure as to why I am getting this exception since I should be able to create a new File inside another File as per this link.

Here is the stack trace:

 Caused by: java.io.IOException: Not a directory
    at java.io.UnixFileSystem.createFileExclusively0(Native Method)
    at java.io.UnixFileSystem.createFileExclusively(UnixFileSystem.java:317)
    at java.io.File.createNewFile(File.java:1008)
    at com.example.camera.presentation.CameraViewModel.saveImage(CameraViewModel.kt:68)
    at com.example.camera.presentation.CameraFragment$takePhoto$1.onImageSaved(CameraFragment.kt:167)
    at androidx.camera.core.ImageCapture$3.onImageSaved(ImageCapture.java:661)
    at androidx.camera.core.ImageSaver.lambda$postSuccess$0$ImageSaver(ImageSaver.java:253)
    at androidx.camera.core.-$$Lambda$ImageSaver$-JRZLUaKK7DQ1iBdZ_1qTGbYQrk.run(Unknown Source:4)
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:883)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:100)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7356)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
    at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:492) 
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:930) 

Using @ALUFTW 's answer, I have modified my code to this:

    fun saveImage(IdNumber: Int, photoFile: File, plantType: Int) {

    val newImage = PlantPhoto(IdNumber, "ZZ Plant", photoFile, plantType)
    
    val dataClassLocation = File(context.getExternalFilesDir("planio/dataclasses/${plantType}/$IdNumber").toString())
    if (!dataClassLocation.exists()) {
        try {
            dataClassLocation.parentFile.mkdirs()
            dataClassLocation.createNewFile()
        } catch (e: IOException) {
            e.printStackTrace()
        }
    }

    val plantFile = FileOutputStream(dataClassLocation, true)
    val outStream = ObjectOutputStream(plantFile)

    // Method for serialization of object
    outStream.writeObject(newImage)
    outStream.close()
    plantFile.close()
    Log.i(SaveTag, "Image saved successfully")
}

And now I am getting a new java.io.FileNotFoundException: planio/dataclasses/1/filename: open failed: ENOENT (No such file or directory)

Answer 1

The line dir.mkdirs() isn't creating a directory for you.

If it won't work- It will not throw exception but it will return false.

Try the following code:

File dataClassLocation_folder = new File(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS) + "/planio/dataclasses/${plantType}/");
dataClassLocation_folder.mkdirs();
File dataClassLocation_file = new File(dataClassLocation_folder,filename);
dataClassLocation_file.createNewFile();