NOTE: This is an early prototype. Do not use in production.

CameraX Activity

This library implements an Activity that can be used to capture photos without the need to implement any code to control the device's camera. Instead, you can launch an intent that will open the Activity from this library and receive back the resulting photo captured by the user.

Usage

1. Import the module in build.gradle

dependencies {
    implementation "androidx.camera:camera-activity:1.0.0"
}

NOTE: This library is not on Maven yet. Instead, download the code, compile an AAR file and add it to your project using these instructions.

Alternatively, use the library directly from this repo compiled by jitpack.io:

// Top-level build.gradle:
allprojects {
    repositories {
        ...
        maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
    }
}

// Project build.gradle:
dependencies {
    implementation 'com.github.owahltinez:androidx-camera-activity:master-SNAPSHOT'
}

2. Add the activity to the app's manifest

<activity android:name="androidx.camera.activity.PhotoActivity">
    <!-- Optional: configuration via meta-data tags can be added here -->
</activity>

3. Invoke the activity via Intent

val photoIntent = Intent(this, PhotoActivity::class.java)
startActivityForResult(photoIntent, PHOTO_REQUEST_CODE)

4. Receive the result

override fun onActivityResult(
    requestCode: Int,
    resultCode: Int,
    data: Intent
) {
    if (requestCode == PHOTO_REQUEST_CODE && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
        val imageUri = data.extras.get(CameraConfiguration.IMAGE_URI) as Uri
        // Do something with the image URI
    }
}

Features

The Activity implemented by this library is very simple and has the single goal of capturing a photo so the result can be sent back to the launching activity. It is very similar to the intent-based mechanism described in [the Android documentation] (https://developer.android.com/training/camera/photobasics), but there are a few differences:

1. As of Android P, users can select any app to be the default camera app, which may not properly implement this feature. Even worse, it's possible that on some devices there is no camera app at all! Using this Activity provides a working implementation regardless of which camera app is the default in the user's device.
2. There is no consistent behaviour across camera apps, even when they implement this feature correctly. Using this activity lets you have a consistent experience, including adding an overlay with your own instructions or branding as part of the photo-capture user flow.
3. By default, the documented intent-based mechanism sends a Bitmap back to the launching activity. Instead, this activity saves the photo in the app's internal storage, and sends back its URI.

Customizing the Activity

By design, the activity is very simple so there are few potential settings to customize. Customizations are set in one of two ways:

1. Using Intent extras

   startActivityForResult(Intent(this, PhotoActivity::class.java).apply {
       putExtra(CameraConfiguration.CAMERA_SWITCH_DISABLED, true)
   }, PHOTO_REQUEST_CODE)
   

2. Using Manifest metadata

   <activity name="androidx.camera.activity.PhotoActivity">
       <meta-data
           android:name="androidx.camera.activity.FULL_SCREEN_ENABLED"
           android:value="true" />
   </activity>
   

Examples

See the sample subfolder for a project implementing this activity.