Taking pictures with camera on Android programmatically

I have created an app with a button and wrote onClickListener for that button. I have tried several sample code examples and none of them worked. They all bring up the Android camera app and don't take photographs. I want some code which I can put in my onClickListener so when I press the button on the screen, a picture will be taken.

How can I make the camera take a picture when I press a button in an Android activity?

Look at following demo code.

Here is your XML file for UI,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnCapture"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Camera" />

</LinearLayout>

And here is your Java class file,

public class CameraDemoActivity extends Activity {
    int TAKE_PHOTO_CODE = 0;
    public static int count = 0;

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        // Here, we are making a folder named picFolder to store
        // pics taken by the camera using this application.
        final String dir = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES) + "/picFolder/";
        File newdir = new File(dir);
        newdir.mkdirs();

        Button capture = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btnCapture);
        capture.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View v) {

                // Here, the counter will be incremented each time, and the
                // picture taken by camera will be stored as 1.jpg,2.jpg
                // and likewise.
                count++;
                String file = dir+count+".jpg";
                File newfile = new File(file);
                try {
                    newfile.createNewFile();
                }
                catch (IOException e)
                {
                }

                Uri outputFileUri = Uri.fromFile(newfile);

                Intent cameraIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
                cameraIntent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, outputFileUri);

                startActivityForResult(cameraIntent, TAKE_PHOTO_CODE);
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);

        if (requestCode == TAKE_PHOTO_CODE && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            Log.d("CameraDemo", "Pic saved");
        }
    }
}

Note:

Specify the following permissions in your manifest file,

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

There are two ways to take a photo:

1 - Using an Intent to make a photo

2 - Using the camera API

I think you should use the second way and there is a sample code here for two of them.

You can use Magical Take Photo library.

1. try with compile in gradle

compile 'com.frosquivel:magicaltakephoto:1.0'

2. You need this permission in your manifest.xml

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>

3. instance the class like this

// "this" is the current activity param

MagicalTakePhoto magicalTakePhoto =  new MagicalTakePhoto(this,ANY_INTEGER_0_TO_4000_FOR_QUALITY);

4. if you need to take picture use the method

magicalTakePhoto.takePhoto("my_photo_name");

5. if you need to select picture in device, try with the method:

magicalTakePhoto.selectedPicture("my_header_name");

6. You need to override the method onActivityResult of the activity or fragment like this:

@Override
public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
     super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
     magicalTakePhoto.resultPhoto(requestCode, resultCode, data);

     // example to get photo
     // imageView.setImageBitmap(magicalTakePhoto.getMyPhoto());
}

Note: Only with this Library you can take and select picture in the device, this use a min API 15.

Take and store image in desired folder

 //Global Variables
   private static final int CAMERA_IMAGE_REQUEST = 101;
    private String imageName;

Take picture function

 public void captureImage() {
    
            // Creating folders for Image
            String imageFolderPath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().toString()
                    + "/AutoFare";
            File imagesFolder = new File(imageFolderPath);
            imagesFolder.mkdirs();
    
            // Generating file name
            imageName = new Date().toString() + ".png";
    
            // Creating image here
            Intent takePictureIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
            takePictureIntent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, Uri.fromFile(new File(imageFolderPath, imageName)));
            startActivityForResult(takePictureIntent,
                    CAMERA_IMAGE_REQUEST);
    
        }

Broadcast new image added otherwise pic will not be visible in image gallery

    public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
        
                if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK && requestCode == CAMERA_IMAGE_REQUEST) {
        
                    Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Success",
                            Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        
 //Scan new image added
                    MediaScannerConnection.scanFile(getActivity(), new String[]{new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()
                            + "/AutoFare/" + imageName).getPath()}, new String[]{"image/png"}, null);
        

 // Work in few phones
                    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) {
        
                        getActivity().sendBroadcast(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE, Uri.parse(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()
                                + "/AutoFare/" + imageName)));
        
                    } else {
                        getActivity().sendBroadcast(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_MOUNTED, Uri.parse(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()
                                + "/AutoFare/" + imageName)));
                    }
                } else {
                    Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Take Picture Failed or canceled",
                            Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                }
            }

Permissions

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

For those who came here looking for a way to take pictures/photos programmatically using both Android's Camera and Camera2 API, take a look at the open source sample provided by Google itself here.

The following is a simple way to open the camera:

private void startCamera() {

    Intent intent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
    intent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT,
                    MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI.getPath());
    startActivityForResult(intent, 1);
}

Intent takePhoto = new Intent("android.media.action.IMAGE_CAPTURE");
startActivityForResult(takePhoto, CAMERA_PIC_REQUEST)

and set CAMERA_PIC_REQUEST= 1 or 0