Android Capture Image From Camera Programmatically [Updated]

Do you want to capture an image from the camera and set it into imageview or upload it to the server? then, this is the right post to learn.

The camera is a very common feature that lots of apps provide. Most of the required image capture feature in own application. eg. profile image, creating a post with an image, every food or social media app required camera feature in own application.

Basically, Image capturing is a very simple task, even if you are using custom. In this article, we are going to see how to capture images from the camera using FileProvider in your Android app.

Google introduces FileProvider in version 22.1.0. FileProvider class is a derived class from ContentProvider. In other words you can say, FileProvider provide facilitates to secure file sharing in android via content://Uri instead of a file:///Uri

checkout my other useful post:

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So, Let’s start with how can we achieve capturing an image from the camera and getting the file path, and load an image in an ImageView.

Table of Contents

Step to capture image from camera programmatically

Defining a FileProvider
Granting Permissions to a URI, Storage & Camera
Image Capture using Camera
Manage Result and show image over the ImageView

1. Defining A FileProvider

Define a list of file paths for FileProvider in XML file and save it in res/xml folder. Since we want to save only in the public picture directory, we’ll just add the path of it to XML.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <paths xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
        <external-path name="my_images" path="Android/data/com.example.captureimage/files/Pictures" />
    </paths>

In AndroidMenifest.xml you have to specify the FileProvider component by adding an element<provider>like below,

<provider
        android:name="androidx.core.content.FileProvider"
        android:authorities="com.example.captureimage.fileprovider"
        android:exported="false"
        android:grantUriPermissions="true">
        <meta-data
            android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
            android:resource="@xml/file_paths"></meta-data>
    </provider>

Note — Replace com.example.captureimage with your package name

2. Granting Permissions To A URI, Storage & Camera

you need to add the permission in the manifest file as,

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

In the permission, the android:required=”true” is to tell Google’s play to filter all the Android devices which have a camera function.

If we use android:required=”false”, we need to check for the camera via programmatically.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" />

Android 6, contains a permission system for certain tasks. Each application can request the required permission on runtime. So let’s open the Activity class add the below code for requesting runtime permission,

if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(
                this,
                Manifest.permission.CAMERA
            ) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
        ) {
            ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(
                this,
                arrayOf(Manifest.permission.CAMERA, Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE),
                0
            )
        } else {
            // Your code 
                    }
                } catch (ex: Exception) {
                    // Error occurred while creating the File
                    displayMessage(baseContext, ex.message.toString())
                }
 
            } else {
                displayMessage(baseContext, "Null")
            }
        }

3. Image Capture Using Camera

Now let’s create a function to generate a random file name with .jpg extension in the external files directory.

We need to create an Image file

@Throws(IOException::class)
    private fun createImageFile(): File {
        // Create an image file name
        val timeStamp = SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss").format(Date())
        val imageFileName = "JPEG_" + timeStamp + "_"
        val storageDir = getExternalFilesDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES)
        val image = File.createTempFile(
            imageFileName, /* prefix */
            ".jpg", /* suffix */
            storageDir      /* directory */
        )
 
        // Save a file: path for use with ACTION_VIEW intents
        mCurrentPhotoPath = image.absolutePath
        return image
    }

Create a new Intent with FileProvider URI

try {
                    photoFile = createImageFile()
                    // Continue only if the File was successfully created
                    if (photoFile != null) {
                        val photoURI = FileProvider.getUriForFile(
                            this,
                            "com.example.captureimage.fileprovider",
                            photoFile!!
                        )
                        takePictureIntent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, photoURI)
                        startActivityForResult(takePictureIntent, CAPTURE_IMAGE_REQUEST)
                    }
                } catch (ex: Exception) {
                    // Error occurred while creating the File
                    displayMessage(baseContext, ex.message.toString())
                }

4. Manage Result And Show Image Over The ImageView

After action performing, we will manage the result on onActivityResult by using ResultCode and RequestCode. In onActivityResult, we have to manage three things.

Get actual file path or file from result intent
Compress a file using the FileCompressor utility
Finally set final output over the ImageView in Android

override fun onActivityResult(requestCode: Int, resultCode: Int, data: Intent?) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data)
 
        if (requestCode == CAPTURE_IMAGE_REQUEST && resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {
            val myBitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(photoFile!!.absolutePath)
            imageView.setImageBitmap(myBitmap)
        } else {
            displayMessage(baseContext, "Request cancelled or something went wrong.")
        }
    }

Final MainActivity.kt

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    var photoFile: File? = null
    val CAPTURE_IMAGE_REQUEST = 1
    var mCurrentPhotoPath: String? = null
 
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
 
        button_capture.setOnClickListener {
            captureImage()
        }
 
    }
 
    private fun captureImage() {
 
        if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(
                this,
                Manifest.permission.CAMERA
            ) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
        ) {
            ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(
                this,
                arrayOf(Manifest.permission.CAMERA, Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE),
                0
            )
        } else {
            val takePictureIntent = Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE)
            if (takePictureIntent.resolveActivity(packageManager) != null) {
                // Create the File where the photo should go
                try {
                    photoFile = createImageFile()
                    // Continue only if the File was successfully created
                    if (photoFile != null) {
                        val photoURI = FileProvider.getUriForFile(
                            this,
                            "com.example.captureimage.fileprovider",
                            photoFile!!
                        )
                        takePictureIntent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, photoURI)
                        startActivityForResult(takePictureIntent, CAPTURE_IMAGE_REQUEST)
                    }
                } catch (ex: Exception) {
                    // Error occurred while creating the File
                    displayMessage(baseContext, ex.message.toString())
                }
 
            } else {
                displayMessage(baseContext, "Null")
            }
        }
 
    }
 
    @Throws(IOException::class)
    private fun createImageFile(): File {
        // Create an image file name
        val timeStamp = SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss").format(Date())
        val imageFileName = "JPEG_" + timeStamp + "_"
        val storageDir = getExternalFilesDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES)
        val image = File.createTempFile(
            imageFileName, /* prefix */
            ".jpg", /* suffix */
            storageDir      /* directory */
        )
 
        // Save a file: path for use with ACTION_VIEW intents
        mCurrentPhotoPath = image.absolutePath
        return image
    }
 
    private fun displayMessage(context: Context, message: String) {
        Toast.makeText(context, message, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
    }
 
    override fun onActivityResult(requestCode: Int, resultCode: Int, data: Intent?) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data)
 
        if (requestCode == CAPTURE_IMAGE_REQUEST && resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {
            val myBitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(photoFile!!.absolutePath)
            imageView.setImageBitmap(myBitmap)
        } else {
            displayMessage(baseContext, "Request cancelled or something went wrong.")
        }
    }
     
}

Download the example in Github

Screenshot