Android Camera Tutorial

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To capture the pictures and videos, the camera is used. To control a camera in Android, the methods of the camera API are used. To work on camera in Android, we can choose either of the ways mentioned below:

  • By Camera Intent
  • By Camera API

Understanding basic classes of Camera Intent and API:

The Camera Intent and API have many classes. We are going to discuss some important classes of the Camera Intent and API.

Intent:

To capture pictures and videos without using the instance of Camera class, the below constants of MediaStore class can be used.

  1. ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE
  2. ACTION_VIDEO_CAPTURE

Camera:

The pictures and videos are taken using the main class of camera API, i.e., Camera.

SurfaceView:

The surface view or a preview of the live camera is represented by the SurfaceView class.

MediaRecorder:

To record videos using a camera or to record audio files, the MediaRecorder class is used in Android.

Example: Android camera app by camera intent:

In the below example, we are using the Camera Intent to capture an image using the camera. The image is then displayed using the ImageView.

activity_main.xml:

In the activity_main.xml file, we will drag an ImageView and a button from the palette.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" >
 
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:text="Open Camera" >
    </Button>
 
    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/imageView1"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:layout_above="@+id/button1"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:src="@mipmap/ic_launcher" >
    </ImageView>
</RelativeLayout>

Activity class:(File: MainActivity.java)

In the MainActivity.java file, we will write the code to capture images using the camera. We will also add the code to display the image on the image view.

package com.example.radioapp;
 
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageView;
 
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
    private static final int CAMERA_REQUEST = 1888;
    ImageView imageView;
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
 
        imageView = (ImageView) this.findViewById(R.id.imageView1);
        Button photoButton = (Button) this.findViewById(R.id.button1);
 
        photoButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
 
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                Intent cameraIntent = new Intent(android.provider.MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
                startActivityForResult(cameraIntent, CAMERA_REQUEST);
            }
        });
    }
 
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if (requestCode == CAMERA_REQUEST) {
            Bitmap photo = (Bitmap) data.getExtras().get("data");
            imageView.setImageBitmap(photo);
        }
    }
 
 
}

AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.radioapp">
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
 
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            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>

Output 1:

Output 2:

Output 3: