Using the Camera in your app

Question

Guys

is it possible to open the camera app from within your own app

I have loked at the camera UI smple which does exactly what I want but is incredibly complicated to incorporate into my app for such a newbie as me

at the moment I hit the windows key and then run the camera app and take a picture then go back to my app and load the picture just taken.

would like to do all at the press of a button

Mark

Answer 1

Hi ,

I suppose you have looked at the below

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/CameraCaptureUI-Sample-845a53ac/view/SourceCode#content

I remember in Windows 8 they had a sample where you have to select first the device , initialize it and the start using it.

You can start by adding a button like in the below example in your XAML page

private async void CapturePhoto_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) 
        { 
            try 
            { 
                rootPage.NotifyUser("", NotifyType.StatusMessage); 
 
                // Using Windows.Media.Capture.CameraCaptureUI API to capture a photo 
                CameraCaptureUI dialog = new CameraCaptureUI(); 
                Size aspectRatio = new Size(16, 9); 
                dialog.PhotoSettings.CroppedAspectRatio = aspectRatio; 
 
                StorageFile file = await dialog.CaptureFileAsync(CameraCaptureUIMode.Photo); 
                if (file != null) 
                { 
                    BitmapImage bitmapImage = new BitmapImage(); 
                    using (IRandomAccessStream fileStream = await file.OpenAsync(FileAccessMode.Read)) 
                    { 
                        bitmapImage.SetSource(fileStream); 
                    } 
                    CapturedPhoto.Source = bitmapImage; 
                    ResetButton.Visibility = Visibility.Visible; 
 
                    // Store the file path in Application Data 
                    appSettings[photoKey] = file.Path; 
                } 
                else 
                { 
                    rootPage.NotifyUser("No photo captured.", NotifyType.StatusMessage); 
                } 
            } 
            catch (Exception ex) 
            { 
                rootPage.NotifyUser(ex.Message, NotifyType.ErrorMessage); 
            } 
        } 

imagine that you have a button in your XAML page.

You don't need  the below

 rootPage.NotifyUser

You can create your own display warnings mechanism. 

It is kind of difficult to write you all the code because what you are asking is a complete project.

I suggest you should place the code from the example in a button of yours in a XAML page ,press it and see how it behaves each time.

thank you

Answer 2

Hello wambaugh1,

try this sample for how to use camera capture task: 

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/99bb20/capture-element-in-windows-store-apps-using-C-Sharp/

Answer 3

Hi Guys

thanks for that I have the sample and it sort of does what I want only problem is its written in c#

My App is in Visual Basic and I cant find an example

Any ideas?

Mark

Answer 4

Hi wambaugh1,

I'm sorry that currently VB samples for win8.1 are not available in the code center.

VB and C# are quite same, as I know you could use some third party stuff to convert the code, try to search on the Internet. If one part of the code is not working you could always ask question here, we are warmly to help you.

Furthermore the VB version of the Zakker's code could be:

Private Sub CapturePhoto_Click(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
	Try
		rootPage.NotifyUser("", NotifyType.StatusMessage)

		' Using Windows.Media.Capture.CameraCaptureUI API to capture a photo 
		Dim dialog As New CameraCaptureUI()
		Dim aspectRatio As New Size(16, 9)
		dialog.PhotoSettings.CroppedAspectRatio = aspectRatio

		Dim file As StorageFile = Await dialog.CaptureFileAsync(CameraCaptureUIMode.Photo)
		If file IsNot Nothing Then
			Dim bitmapImage As New BitmapImage()
			Using fileStream As IRandomAccessStream = Await file.OpenAsync(FileAccessMode.Read)
				bitmapImage.SetSource(fileStream)
			End Using
			CapturedPhoto.Source = bitmapImage
			ResetButton.Visibility = Visibility.Visible

			' Store the file path in Application Data 
			appSettings(photoKey) = file.Path
		Else
			rootPage.NotifyUser("No photo captured.", NotifyType.StatusMessage)
		End If
	Catch ex As Exception
		rootPage.NotifyUser(ex.Message, NotifyType.ErrorMessage)
	End Try
End Sub

Best Regards,

--James

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