android-Capturing Photos

》Using the on-board cameras, your application can enable users to augment what they see around them, make unique avatars, look for zombies around the corner, or simply share their experiences.

Taking Photos Simply

Leverage other applications and capture photos with just a few lines of code.

Recording Videos Simply

Leverage other applications and record videos with just a few lines of code.

Controlling the Camera

Control the camera hardware directly and implement your own camera application.》 If your application uses, but does not require a camera in order to function, instead set  android:required  to false . 

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera"
                  android:required="true" />

static final int REQUEST_IMAGE_CAPTURE = 1;

private void dispatchTakePictureIntent() {
    Intent takePictureIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
    if (takePictureIntent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) {
        startActivityForResult(takePictureIntent, REQUEST_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
    }
}

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    if (requestCode == REQUEST_IMAGE_CAPTURE && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
        Bundle extras = data.getExtras();
        Bitmap imageBitmap = (Bitmap) extras.get("data");
        mImageView.setImageBitmap(imageBitmap);
    }
}

> Generally, any photos that the user captures with the device camera should be saved on the device in the public external storage so they are accessible by all apps. The proper directory for shared photos is provided bygetExternalStoragePublicDirectory(), with the DIRECTORY_PICTURES argument. Because the directory provided by this method is shared among all apps, reading and writing to it requires theREAD_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions, respectively. The write permission implicitly allows reading, so if you need to write to the external storage then you need to request only one permission:

<manifest ...>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
    ...
</manifest>

However, if you'd like the photos to remain private to your app only, you can instead use the directory provided bygetExternalFilesDir(). On Android 4.3 and lower, writing to this directory also requires theWRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission. Beginning with Android 4.4, the permission is no longer required because the directory is not accessible by other apps, so you can declare the permission should be requested only on the lower versions of Android by adding the maxSdkVersion attribute:

<manifest ...>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
                     android:maxSdkVersion="18" />

String mCurrentPhotoPath;

private File createImageFile() throws IOException {
    // Create an image file name
    String timeStamp = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss").format(new Date());
    String imageFileName = "JPEG_" + timeStamp + "_";
    File storageDir = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(
            Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES);
    File image = File.createTempFile(
        imageFileName,  /* prefix */
        ".jpg",         /* suffix */
        storageDir      /* directory */
    );

    // Save a file: path for use with ACTION_VIEW intents
    mCurrentPhotoPath = "file:" + image.getAbsolutePath();
    return image;
}

Note:  If you saved your photo to the directory provided by  getExternalFilesDir() , the media scanner cannot access the files because they are private to your app.

> The following example method demonstrates how to invoke the system's media scanner to add your photo to the Media Provider's database, making it available in the Android Gallery application and to other apps.

private void galleryAddPic() {
    Intent mediaScanIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE);
    File f = new File(mCurrentPhotoPath);
    Uri contentUri = Uri.fromFile(f);
    mediaScanIntent.setData(contentUri);
    this.sendBroadcast(mediaScanIntent);
}

>  Managing multiple full-sized images can be tricky with limited memory. If you find your application running out of memory after displaying just a few images, you can dramatically reduce the amount of dynamic heap used by expanding the JPEG into a memory array that's already scaled to match the size of the destination view. The following example method demonstrates this technique.

private void setPic() {
    // Get the dimensions of the View
    int targetW = mImageView.getWidth();
    int targetH = mImageView.getHeight();

    // Get the dimensions of the bitmap
    BitmapFactory.Options bmOptions = new BitmapFactory.Options();
    bmOptions.inJustDecodeBounds = true;
    BitmapFactory.decodeFile(mCurrentPhotoPath, bmOptions);
    int photoW = bmOptions.outWidth;
    int photoH = bmOptions.outHeight;

    // Determine how much to scale down the image
    int scaleFactor = Math.min(photoW/targetW, photoH/targetH);

    // Decode the image file into a Bitmap sized to fill the View
    bmOptions.inJustDecodeBounds = false;
    bmOptions.inSampleSize = scaleFactor;
    bmOptions.inPurgeable = true;

    Bitmap bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(mCurrentPhotoPath, bmOptions);
    mImageView.setImageBitmap(bitmap);
}

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera"
                  android:required="true" />

> Here's a function that invokes an intent to capture video.

static final int REQUEST_VIDEO_CAPTURE = 1;

private void dispatchTakeVideoIntent() {
    Intent takeVideoIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_VIDEO_CAPTURE);
    if (takeVideoIntent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) {
        startActivityForResult(takeVideoIntent, REQUEST_VIDEO_CAPTURE);
    }
}

> how to control the camera hardware directly using the framework APIs.

Directly controlling a device camera requires a lot more code than requesting pictures or videos from existing camera applications. 

As Android's own Camera application does, the recommended way to access the camera is to open Camera on a separate thread that's launched from onCreate(). 

private boolean safeCameraOpen(int id) {
    boolean qOpened = false;
  
    try {
        releaseCameraAndPreview();
        mCamera = Camera.open(id);
        qOpened = (mCamera != null);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        Log.e(getString(R.string.app_name), "failed to open Camera");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    return qOpened;    
}

private void releaseCameraAndPreview() {
    mPreview.setCamera(null);
    if (mCamera != null) {
        mCamera.release();
        mCamera = null;
    }
}

Since API level 9, the camera framework supports multiple cameras. If you use the legacy API and call open()without an argument, you get the first rear-facing camera.

> To get started with displaying a preview, you need preview class.

class Preview extends ViewGroup implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {

    SurfaceView mSurfaceView;
    SurfaceHolder mHolder;

    Preview(Context context) {
        super(context);

        mSurfaceView = new SurfaceView(context);
        addView(mSurfaceView);

        // Install a SurfaceHolder.Callback so we get notified when the
        // underlying surface is created and destroyed.
        mHolder = mSurfaceView.getHolder();
        mHolder.addCallback(this);
        mHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
    }
...
}

public void setCamera(Camera camera) {
    if (mCamera == camera) { return; }
    
    stopPreviewAndFreeCamera();
    
    mCamera = camera;
    
    if (mCamera != null) {
        List<Size> localSizes = mCamera.getParameters().getSupportedPreviewSizes();
        mSupportedPreviewSizes = localSizes;
        requestLayout();
      
        try {
            mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(mHolder);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
      
        // Important: Call startPreview() to start updating the preview
        // surface. Preview must be started before you can take a picture.
        mCamera.startPreview();
    }
}

>  Modify Camera Settings

public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int w, int h) {
    // Now that the size is known, set up the camera parameters and begin
    // the preview.
    Camera.Parameters parameters = mCamera.getParameters();
    parameters.setPreviewSize(mPreviewSize.width, mPreviewSize.height);
    requestLayout();
    mCamera.setParameters(parameters);

    // Important: Call startPreview() to start updating the preview surface.
    // Preview must be started before you can take a picture.
    mCamera.startPreview();
}

 The  setCameraDisplayOrientation()  method lets you change how the preview is displayed without affecting how the image is recorded. However, in Android prior to API level 14, you must stop your preview before changing the orientation and then restart it.

> When should you stop the preview and release the camera? 

public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
    // Surface will be destroyed when we return, so stop the preview.
    if (mCamera != null) {
        // Call stopPreview() to stop updating the preview surface.
        mCamera.stopPreview();
    }
}

/**
 * When this function returns, mCamera will be null.
 */
private void stopPreviewAndFreeCamera() {

    if (mCamera != null) {
        // Call stopPreview() to stop updating the preview surface.
        mCamera.stopPreview();
    
        // Important: Call release() to release the camera for use by other
        // applications. Applications should release the camera immediately
        // during onPause() and re-open() it during onResume()).
        mCamera.release();
    
        mCamera = null;
    }
}