Android: Take Photo Without User Interface

Question

I am interested in writing an app for android where after a certain event in the app a photo is automatically taken using the camera on the android.

Things I need:<

Answer 1

This is service to capture photo in background, hope it helps.:

public class CapPhoto extends Service
{
    private SurfaceHolder sHolder;    
    private Camera mCamera;
    private Parameters parameters;


  @Override
    public void onCreate()
    {
      super.onCreate();
      Log.d("CAM", "start");

      if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 9) {
          StrictMode.ThreadPolicy policy = 
               new StrictMode.ThreadPolicy.Builder().permitAll().build();
          StrictMode.setThreadPolicy(policy);}
          Thread myThread = null;


  }
  @Override
  public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {

    super.onStart(intent, startId);

 if (Camera.getNumberOfCameras() >= 2) { 

    mCamera = Camera.open(CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT); }

 if (Camera.getNumberOfCameras() < 2) { 

    mCamera = Camera.open(); }
    SurfaceView sv = new SurfaceView(getApplicationContext());


     try {
               mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(sv.getHolder());
               parameters = mCamera.getParameters();
               mCamera.setParameters(parameters);
               mCamera.startPreview();

               mCamera.takePicture(null, null, mCall);
         } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }

        sHolder = sv.getHolder();
        sHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
  }

  Camera.PictureCallback mCall = new Camera.PictureCallback()
  {

     public void onPictureTaken(final byte[] data, Camera camera)
     {

        FileOutputStream outStream = null;
                try{

                    File sd = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(), "A");
                    if(!sd.exists()) {                                 
                      sd.mkdirs();
                      Log.i("FO", "folder" + Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory());
                    } 

                        Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
                        SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss");
                        String tar = (sdf.format(cal.getTime()));

                        outStream = new FileOutputStream(sd+tar+".jpg");
                        outStream.write(data);  outStream.close();

                        Log.i("CAM", data.length + " byte written to:"+sd+tar+".jpg");
                        camkapa(sHolder);               


                 } catch (FileNotFoundException e){
                    Log.d("CAM", e.getMessage());
                } catch (IOException e){
                    Log.d("CAM", e.getMessage());
                }}
  };


    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
          return null;
    }

    public void camkapa(SurfaceHolder sHolder) {

        if (null == mCamera)
            return;
        mCamera.stopPreview();
        mCamera.release();
        mCamera = null;
        Log.i("CAM", " closed");
        }

    }

AndroidManifest.xml

Call this in your MainActivity to call service :

    Intent service;

    ....

    Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();

    service = new Intent(getBaseContext(), CapPhoto.class);
    cal.add(Calendar.SECOND, 15);
    //TAKE PHOTO EVERY 15 SECONDS
    PendingIntent pintent = PendingIntent.getService(this, 0, service, 0);
    AlarmManager alarm = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);

    alarm.setRepeating(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, cal.getTimeInMillis(),
                 60*60*1000, pintent);
    startService(service);