Get last image from Photos.app?

Question

I have seen other apps do it where you can import the last photo from the Photos app for quick use but as far as I know, I only know how to get A image and not the last (mos

Answer 1

This is a very cool approach but one of the issues is that you have to be able to instantiate PHPhotoLibrary and the other PHPhoto classes at runtime because otherwise there will be link errors on iOS 7.X.X Just wanted to point that out because I am running into these issues now.

Also I believe you have to weak link in the Photos framework in order for the app to run on both devices with iOS 8.X.X and iOS 7.X.X installed (although I have not tested this out yet.)

ONe of the issues I am running into is how to instantiate the PHPhotoLibrary at runtime. Does anyone have code snippets for that?

Actually for the app that I was working on, I did have to finally write runtime code for instantiating PHPhotoLibrary class and calling PHotos framework methods so the app would run on both iOS 7.x.x and iOS 8.x.x. Someone else may run into the same issues so I provided the code below ->

// PHPhotoLibrary_class will only be non-nil on iOS 8.x.x
Class PHPhotoLibrary_class = NSClassFromString(@"PHPhotoLibrary");

if (PHPhotoLibrary_class) {

   /**
    *
    iOS 8..x. . code that has to be called dynamically at runtime and will not link on iOS 7.x.x ...

    [[PHPhotoLibrary sharedPhotoLibrary] performChanges:^{
        [PHAssetCollectionChangeRequest creationRequestForAssetCollectionWithTitle:title];
    } completionHandler:^(BOOL success, NSError *error) {
        if (!success) {
            NSLog(@"Error creating album: %@", error);
        }
    }];
    */

    // dynamic runtime code for code chunk listed above            
    id sharedPhotoLibrary = [PHPhotoLibrary_class performSelector:NSSelectorFromString(@"sharedPhotoLibrary")];

    SEL performChanges = NSSelectorFromString(@"performChanges:completionHandler:");

    NSMethodSignature *methodSig = [sharedPhotoLibrary methodSignatureForSelector:performChanges];

    NSInvocation* inv = [NSInvocation invocationWithMethodSignature:methodSig];
    [inv setTarget:sharedPhotoLibrary];
    [inv setSelector:performChanges];

    void(^firstBlock)() = ^void() {
        Class PHAssetCollectionChangeRequest_class = NSClassFromString(@"PHAssetCollectionChangeRequest");
        SEL creationRequestForAssetCollectionWithTitle = NSSelectorFromString(@"creationRequestForAssetCollectionWithTitle:");
        [PHAssetCollectionChangeRequest_class performSelector:creationRequestForAssetCollectionWithTitle withObject:albumName];

    };

    void (^secondBlock)(BOOL success, NSError *error) = ^void(BOOL success, NSError *error) {
       if (success) {
           [assetsLib enumerateGroupsWithTypes:ALAssetsGroupAlbum usingBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group, BOOL *stop) {
               if (group) {
                   NSString *name = [group valueForProperty:ALAssetsGroupPropertyName];
                   if ([albumName isEqualToString:name]) {
                       groupFound = true;
                       handler(group, nil);
                   }
               }
           } failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {
               handler(nil, error);
           }];
       }

       if (error) {
           NSLog(@"Error creating album: %@", error);
           handler(nil, error);
       }
   };

   // Set the first and second blocks.
   [inv setArgument:&firstBlock atIndex:2];
   [inv setArgument:&secondBlock atIndex:3];

   [inv invoke];

}
else {   
   // code that always creates an album on iOS 7.x.x but fails
   // in certain situations such as if album has been deleted
   // previously on iOS 8...x. .              
   [assetsLib addAssetsGroupAlbumWithName:albumName
       resultBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group) {
       handler(group, nil);
   } failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {
       NSLog( @"Failed to create album: %@", albumName);
       handler(nil, error);
   }];
}

Answer 2

iBrad's example includes an iOS8 snippet that apparently works, but I found myself confused by the return type he described. Here is a snippet that grabs the last image, including options for version and size requirements.

Of note are the ability to request a specific version (original, current) and size. In my case, as I wish to apply the returned image to a button, I request it sized and scaled to fit the button I'm applying it to:

PHFetchOptions *fetchOptions = [[PHFetchOptions alloc] init];
fetchOptions.sortDescriptors = @[[NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"creationDate" ascending:YES]];
PHFetchResult *fetchResult = [PHAsset fetchAssetsWithMediaType:PHAssetMediaTypeImage options:fetchOptions];
PHAsset *lastAsset = [fetchResult lastObject];
[[PHImageManager defaultManager] requestImageForAsset:lastAsset
                                          targetSize:self.photoLibraryButton.bounds.size
                                         contentMode:PHImageContentModeAspectFill
                                             options:PHImageRequestOptionsVersionCurrent
                                       resultHandler:^(UIImage *result, NSDictionary *info) {

                                           dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{

                                               [[self photoLibraryButton] setImage:result forState:UIControlStateNormal];

                                           });
                                       }];

Answer 3

Heres a combination of iBrad's & Javier's answers (which worked great), but I am getting the thumbnail asset instead of the full resolution image. Some others may find this handy.

- (void)setCameraRollImage {
    ALAssetsLibrary *library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
    [library enumerateGroupsWithTypes:ALAssetsGroupSavedPhotos usingBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group, BOOL *stop) {
        [group setAssetsFilter:[ALAssetsFilter allPhotos]];
        if ([group numberOfAssets] > 0) {
            // Chooses the photo at the last index
            [group enumerateAssetsAtIndexes:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:([group numberOfAssets] - 1)] options:0 usingBlock:^(ALAsset *alAsset, NSUInteger index, BOOL *innerStop) {
                // The end of the enumeration is signaled by asset == nil.
                if (alAsset) {
                    UIImage *latestPhoto = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:[alAsset thumbnail]];
                    [self.cameraRollButton setImage:latestPhoto forState:UIControlStateNormal];
                }
            }];
        }
    } failureBlock: ^(NSError *error) {
    }];
}

Answer 4

Refer to answer by Liam. fullScreenImage will return a scaled image fitting your device's screen size. For getting the actual image size:

  ALAssetRepresentation *representation = [alAsset defaultRepresentation];
  ALAssetOrientation orientation = [representation orientation];
  UIImage *latestPhoto = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:[representation fullResolutionImage] scale:[representation scale] orientation:(UIImageOrientation)orientation];                    

Quoting Apple's ALAssetRepresentation Class Reference on fullResolutionImage:

To create a correctly-rotated UIImage object from the CGImage, you use imageWithCGImage:scale:orientation: or initWithCGImage:scale:orientation:, passing the values of orientation and scale.

Answer 5

The following code works with iOS7 and iOS8. It also checks if there is an image in the filter. Before you execute the code you should check the album permission:

// get the latest image from the album
-(void)getLatestPhoto
{
    NSLog(@"MMM TGCameraViewController - getLatestPhoto");
    ALAssetsLibrary *library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];

    // Enumerate just the photos and videos group by using ALAssetsGroupSavedPhotos.
    [library enumerateGroupsWithTypes:ALAssetsGroupSavedPhotos usingBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group, BOOL *stop) {

        // Within the group enumeration block, filter to enumerate just photos.
        [group setAssetsFilter:[ALAssetsFilter allPhotos]];

        // For this example, we're only interested in the last item [group numberOfAssets]-1 = last.
        if ([group numberOfAssets] > 0) {

            [group enumerateAssetsAtIndexes:[NSIndexSet indexSetWithIndex:[group numberOfAssets]-1]
                                    options:0
                                 usingBlock:^(ALAsset *alAsset, NSUInteger index, BOOL *innerStop) {

                                     // The end of the enumeration is signaled by asset == nil.
                                     if (alAsset) {
                                         ALAssetRepresentation *representation = [alAsset defaultRepresentation];
                                         // Do something interesting with the AV asset.
                                         UIImage *img = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:[representation fullScreenImage]];

                                         // use the photo here ...


                                         // we only need the first (most recent) photo -- stop the enumeration
                                         *innerStop = YES;
                                     }
                                 }];
        }
    }
    failureBlock: ^(NSError *error) {
       // Typically you should handle an error more gracefully than this.
       NSLog(@"No groups");
    }];
}  

(This code is a modified version from here.)

Answer 6

Building upon iBrad's answer, here's a quick & dirty Swift version that works for me in iOS 8.1:

let imgManager = PHImageManager.defaultManager()
var fetchOptions = PHFetchOptions()
fetchOptions.sortDescriptors = [NSSortDescriptor(key:"creationDate", ascending: true)]
if let fetchResult = PHAsset.fetchAssetsWithMediaType(PHAssetMediaType.Image, options: fetchOptions) {
    imgManager.requestImageForAsset(fetchResult.lastObject as PHAsset, targetSize: self.destinationImageView.frame.size, contentMode: PHImageContentMode.AspectFill, options: nil, resultHandler: { (image, _) in
        self.destinationImageView.image = image
    })
}

Note: this requires iOS 8.0+. Be sure to link the Photos framework and add "import Photos" in your file.