Controlling a Camera with WIA
First of all, this is my first post in stackoverflow. I use this side very often and I found nearly everything I needed.
And now to my Question. I searched for this Question but I didn't really found anything. I wanted to write an application where I can click on a button and make a picture of a person and link that photo with the user in the database. Is it possible to control a camera with WIA? Do I need a special camera for that?
I would appreciate, if somebody could post a good Tutorial for the general use of WIA.
Answer
WIA Camera test example in C#. Took me a whole night!
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using WIA;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.button1.Text = "Select Camera";
this.label1.Text = "[ no camera selected ]";
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { }
private String _label = null;
private void button1_Click_1(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
// create a new WIA common dialog box for the user to select a device from
WIA.CommonDialog dlg = new WIA.CommonDialog();
// show user the WIA device dialog
Device d = dlg.ShowSelectDevice(WiaDeviceType.CameraDeviceType, true, false);
// check if a device was selected
if (d != null)
{
// Print camera properties
richTextBox1.AppendText("\n\n Print properties:\n");
foreach (Property p in d.Properties)
{
richTextBox1.AppendText(p.Name + ": " + p.get_Value() + " ("+ p.PropertyID + ":" + p.IsReadOnly + ") \n");
// Update UI
if (p.PropertyID == 3) _label = (String) p.get_Value();
if (p.PropertyID == 4) _label = _label + " - " + p.get_Value();
this.label1.Text = _label;
}
// Print commands
richTextBox1.AppendText("\n\n Print commands:\n");
foreach (DeviceCommand dvc in d.Commands)
{
richTextBox1.AppendText(dvc.Name + ": " + dvc.Description + " ("+ dvc.CommandID +") \n");
}
// Print events
richTextBox1.AppendText("\n\n Print events:\n");
foreach (DeviceEvent dve in d.Events)
{
richTextBox1.AppendText(dve.Name + ": " + dve.Description + " (" + dve.Type + ") \n");
}
// Print item properties
richTextBox1.AppendText("\n\n Print item properties:\n");
foreach (Property item in d.Items[1].Properties)
{
richTextBox1.AppendText(item.IsReadOnly + ": " + item.Name + " (" + item.PropertyID + ") \n");
}
foreach (WIA.Property p in d.Properties)
{
Object tempNewProperty;
// change Exposure Compensation: value 0 to 2 (ID 2053, isReadonly False)
if (p.PropertyID == 2053)
{
tempNewProperty = (int) -2000; // can not be set to minus values, why???
((IProperty)p).set_Value(ref tempNewProperty);
richTextBox1.AppendText(">>>>" + p.get_Value());
}
}
// Now let's take a picture !
d.ExecuteCommand(CommandID.wiaCommandTakePicture);
richTextBox1.AppendText(".");
}
else
{
d = null;
richTextBox1.AppendText("Result: no device selected or device could not be read. ");
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "WIA Error!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}
}
}
}
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
partial class Form1
{
/// <summary>
/// Required designer variable.
/// </summary>
private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;
/// <summary>
/// Clean up any resources being used.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="disposing">true if managed resources should be disposed; otherwise, false.</param>
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing && (components != null))
{
components.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
#region Windows Form Designer generated code
/// <summary>
/// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
/// the contents of this method with the code editor.
/// </summary>
private void InitializeComponent()
{
this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
this.label1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
this.richTextBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox();
this.button2 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
this.SuspendLayout();
//
// button1
//
this.button1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 12);
this.button1.Name = "button1";
this.button1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(137, 23);
this.button1.TabIndex = 0;
this.button1.Text = "button1";
this.button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true;
this.button1.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.button1_Click_1);
//
// label1
//
this.label1.AutoSize = true;
this.label1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(9, 44);
this.label1.Name = "label1";
this.label1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(35, 13);
this.label1.TabIndex = 1;
this.label1.Text = "label1";
//
// richTextBox1
//
this.richTextBox1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 60);
this.richTextBox1.Name = "richTextBox1";
this.richTextBox1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(946, 445);
this.richTextBox1.TabIndex = 2;
this.richTextBox1.Text = "";
//
// button2
//
this.button2.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(156, 11);
this.button2.Name = "button2";
this.button2.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(173, 23);
this.button2.TabIndex = 3;
this.button2.Text = "button2";
this.button2.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true;
this.button2.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.button2_Click_1);
//
// Form1
//
this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(970, 517);
this.Controls.Add(this.button2);
this.Controls.Add(this.richTextBox1);
this.Controls.Add(this.label1);
this.Controls.Add(this.button1);
this.Name = "Form1";
this.Text = "Form1";
this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.Form1_Load);
this.ResumeLayout(false);
this.PerformLayout();
}
#endregion
private System.Windows.Forms.Button button1;
private System.Windows.Forms.Label label1;
private System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox richTextBox1;
private System.Windows.Forms.Button button2;
}
}