Using cameraOverlayView with UIImagePickerController

Question

I have an app that uses the UIImagePickerController to take a picture. The problem is that I only want the camera option to be available and I understand that I need to hide the standard controls:

cameraUI.showsCameraControls=NO;

and use a cameraOverlayView to provide my own controls. I have had a look at Apple's PhotoPicker project already and my initial problem is how do I get an Overlay object onto my storyboard? I can't find such an object in the library.

Answer 1

Here is the code :

toolBar=[[UIToolbar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, self.view.frame.size.height-54, self.view.frame.size.width, 55)];

toolBar.barStyle =  UIBarStyleBlackOpaque;
NSArray *items=[NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemCancel  target:self action:@selector(cancelPicture)],
                [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace  target:nil action:nil],
                [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemCamera  target:self action:@selector(shootPicture)],
                [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace  target:nil action:nil],
                [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace  target:nil action:nil],
                nil];
[toolBar setItems:items];

// create the overlay view
overlayView = [[OverlayView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height-44)];

// important - it needs to be transparent so the camera preview shows through!
overlayView.opaque=NO;
overlayView.backgroundColor=[UIColor clearColor];

// parent view for our overlay
UIView *cameraView=[[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:self.view.bounds];
[cameraView addSubview:overlayView];
[cameraView addSubview:toolBar];

imagePickerController = [[UIImagePickerController alloc] init];

if ([UIImagePickerController isSourceTypeAvailable:UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypeCamera] == NO){
    NSLog(@"Camera not available");
    return;
}
imagePickerController.sourceType = UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypeCamera;
imagePickerController.delegate = self;

// hide the camera controls
imagePickerController.showsCameraControls=NO;
imagePickerController.wantsFullScreenLayout = YES;
[imagePickerController setCameraOverlayView:cameraView];

[self presentViewController:imagePickerController animated:YES completion:nil];

Declare this in your header file :

UIImagePickerController * imagePickerController;
UIToolbar *toolBar;
OverlayView *overlayView;

Add this OverlayView.h and .m Class from Apples PhotoPicker.

Actions for capturing photo using custom camera button:

-(void) shootPicture {
    [imagePickerController takePicture];
}

- (IBAction)cancelPicture {
    [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
}

Output will come like this below attached screenshot (I have added a capture button and cancel button in custom overlay view):

Happy Coding :)