Android Camera API - Tutorial

Lars Vogel
Version 1.3 Copyright 2011, 2012 Lars Vogel 02.01.2013 Using the Android Camera via Intent and via the API This tutorial describes how to use the camera API in Android. The tutorial is based on Eclipse 4.2, Java 1.6 and Android 4.2. Table of Contents 1. Android Camera 2. Tutorial: Using an Intent to make a photo 3. Tutorial: Using the camera API 4. Thank you 5. Questions and Discussion 6. Links and Literature 6.1. Source Code 6.2. Android Resources 6.3. vogella Resources 1. Android Camera Most Android devices have a camera. Some devices have a front and a back camera. Using the camera on the Android device can be done via integration of the existing Camera application. In this case you would start the existing Camera application via an Intent and to get the data after the user returns to our application. You can also directly integrate the camera into your application via the Camera API. 2. Tutorial: Using an Intent to make a photo Create a new Android project de.vogella.android.imagepick with an Activity called ImagePickActivity. Change the ImagePickActivity class to the following.
package de.vogella.android.imagepick; import java.io.FileNotFoundException; import java.io.IOException; import java.io.InputStream; import import import import import import import android.app.Activity; android.content.Intent; android.graphics.Bitmap; android.graphics.BitmapFactory; android.os.Bundle; android.view.View; android.widget.ImageView;

public class ImagePickActivity extends Activity { private static final int REQUEST_CODE = 1; private Bitmap bitmap; private ImageView imageView; /** Called when the activity is first created. */ @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.main); imageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.result); } public void pickImage(View View) { Intent intent = new Intent(); intent.setType("image/*"); intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT); intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE); startActivityForResult(intent, REQUEST_CODE); } @Override protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) { if (requestCode == REQUEST_CODE && resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) try { // We need to recyle unused bitmaps if (bitmap != null) { bitmap.recycle(); } InputStream stream = getContentResolver().openInputStream(data.getData()); bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(stream); stream.close(); imageView.setImageBitmap(bitmap); } catch (FileNotFoundException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data); } }

3. Tutorial: Using the camera API In this example we will an application which allow to make a photo via the front camera and to save it on the SD card. If you using the Android emulator make sure you added space for the SD card during the creation of the your Android virtual device. Create a new Android project de.vogella.camera.api with an Activity called MakePhotoActivity . Add the android.permission.CAMERA permission to access your camera and the android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE to be able to write to the SD card to your AndroidManifest.xml file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="de.vogella.cameara.api" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0" > <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="15" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/> <application android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name" > <activity android:name="de.vogella.camera.api.MakePhotoActivity" android:label="@string/app_name" > <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" /> <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" /> </intent-filter> </activity> </application> </manifest>

Change the main.xml file in the res/layout folder to the following

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" > <Button android:id="@+id/captureFront" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_centerInParent="true" android:onClick="onClick" android:text="Make Photo" /> </RelativeLayout>

Create the following PhotoHandler class which will be responsible for saving the photo the SD card.
package de.vogella.camera.api; import import import import import import import import import import java.io.File; java.io.FileOutputStream; java.text.SimpleDateFormat; java.util.Date; android.content.Context; android.hardware.Camera; android.hardware.Camera.PictureCallback; android.os.Environment; android.util.Log; android.widget.Toast;

public class PhotoHandler implements PictureCallback {

private final Context context; public PhotoHandler(Context context) { this.context = context; } @Override public void onPictureTaken(byte[] data, Camera camera) { File pictureFileDir = getDir(); if (!pictureFileDir.exists() && !pictureFileDir.mkdirs()) { Log.d(MakePhotoActivity.DEBUG_TAG, "Can't create directory to save image."); Toast.makeText(context, "Can't create directory to save image.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); return; } SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyymmddhhmmss"); String date = dateFormat.format(new Date()); String photoFile = "Picture_" + date + ".jpg"; String filename = pictureFileDir.getPath() + File.separator + photoFile; File pictureFile = new File(filename); try { FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(pictureFile); fos.write(data); fos.close(); Toast.makeText(context, "New Image saved:" + photoFile, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); } catch (Exception error) { Log.d(MakePhotoActivity.DEBUG_TAG, "File" + filename + "not saved: " + error.getMessage()); Toast.makeText(context, "Image could not be saved.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); } } private File getDir() { File sdDir = Environment .getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES); return new File(sdDir, "CameraAPIDemo"); }

Change the MakePhotoActivity class to the following.

package de.vogella.camera.api; import import import import import import import android.app.Activity; android.content.pm.PackageManager; android.hardware.Camera; android.hardware.Camera.CameraInfo; android.os.Bundle; android.util.Log; android.view.View;

import android.widget.Toast; import de.vogella.cameara.api.R; public class MakePhotoActivity extends Activity { private final static String DEBUG_TAG = "MakePhotoActivity"; private Camera camera; private int cameraId = 0; @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.main); // do we have a camera? if (!getPackageManager() .hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_CAMERA)) { Toast.makeText(this, "No camera on this device", Toast.LENGTH_LONG) .show(); } else { cameraId = findFrontFacingCamera(); if (cameraId < 0) { Toast.makeText(this, "No front facing camera found.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); } else { camera = Camera.open(cameraId); } }

public void onClick(View view) { camera.takePicture(null, null, new PhotoHandler(getApplicationContext())); } private int findFrontFacingCamera() { int cameraId = -1; // Search for the front facing camera int numberOfCameras = Camera.getNumberOfCameras(); for (int i = 0; i < numberOfCameras; i++) { CameraInfo info = new CameraInfo(); Camera.getCameraInfo(i, info); if (info.facing == CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT) { Log.d(DEBUG_TAG, "Camera found"); cameraId = i; break; } } return cameraId; } @Override protected void onPause() { if (camera != null) { camera.release(); camera = null; } super.onPause(); } }

Thank you