capturing images with MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE intent in android

Question

I am capturing images using MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE intent. it is working fine in most of the devices. but it is not working correctly in some latest android device as expected.

my intention is capture image using camera and send it to the server but not to store that image in default gallery of the device.

**: When i capture image, it is returning some other gallery image in onActivityResult method instead of captured image in some latest android devices. I am using below code to capture and store images.

public void launchCamera(View v) {
    Intent camera = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
    startActivityForResult(camera, CAMERA_PIC_REQUEST );
}

In onActivityResult method,

String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.ImageColumns.SIZE,
                    MediaStore.Images.ImageColumns.DISPLAY_NAME,
                    MediaStore.Images.ImageColumns.DATA, BaseColumns._ID, };
            Cursor c = null;
            Uri u = MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
            try {
                if (u != null) {
                    c = managedQuery(u, projection, null, null, null);
                }
                if ((c != null) && (c.moveToLast())) {
                    Bitmap thumbnail = getBitMapFromLocalPath(c.getString(2), 3);
                    idsImagesgot.add(thumbnail);
                    ContentResolver cr = getContentResolver();
                    cr.delete( MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI,
                            BaseColumns._ID + "=" + c.getString(3), null);
                }
            } finally {
                if (c != null) {
                    c.close();
                }
            }

Can any one help me out in this regards.

Thanks in advance.

Sathish

Answer 1

Photos taken by the ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE are not registered in the MediaStore automatically on all devices.

The official Android guide gives that example: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/camera.html#intent-receive But that does not work either on all devices.

The only reliable method I am aware of consists in saving the path to the picture in a local variable. Beware that your app may get killed while in background (while the camera app is running), so you must save the path during onSaveInstanceState.

Edit after comment:

Create a temporary file name where the photo will be stored when starting the intent.

File tempFile = File.createTempFile("my_app", ".jpg");
fileName = tempFile.getAbsolutePath();
Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(tempFile);
Intent intent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
intent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, uri);
startActivityForResult(intent, PICTURE_REQUEST_CODE);

fileName is a String, a field of your activity. You must save it that way:

@Override
public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle bundle)
{
 super.onSaveInstanceState(bundle);
 bundle.putString("fileName", fileName);
}

and recover it in onCreate():

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
 if (savedInstanceState != null)
  fileName = savedInstanceState.getString("fileName");
 // ...
}

Now, at the time of onActivityResult, you know the name of the file where the photo was stored (fileName). You can do anything you wish with it, and then delete it.

2013-09-19 edit: It seems that some camera apps ignore the putExtra uri, and store the pic in a different place. So, before using the value of fileName you should check whether the intent is null or not. If you get a non-null intent, then you should prefer intent.getData() over fileName. Use fileName as a backup solution only when it is needed.