Android: Overlay on Android Camera Preview

Question

I'm using Camera API and invoking the camera.

I want to display a header (for branding) on the top of the camera preview. The header is a jpeg image.

Is it possible? Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

My code goes as below.

public class CameraActivity extends Activity {     @Override     protected void onPause() {          super.onPause();     }      private static final int CAMERA_PIC_REQUEST = 2500;     private Bitmap image2;     private Bitmap bm;     public static String imagepath;     public static int x=1;     private RdmsDbAdapter dbHelper;     @Override        protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);         setContentView(R.layout.header);         setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);         //caling new incident         if(IncidentFormActivity.incident_id == null || IncidentFormActivity.isDisable==true){             //DBAdapter instance created and connection opened.              dbHelper = new RdmsDbAdapter(CameraActivity.this);             dbHelper.open();              //setting up flags             NewIncidentHelper nih = new NewIncidentHelper();             nih.setUpNewIncident();              //setting up incident_id             String Date= IncidentIdGenerator.getDate();             String Time = IncidentIdGenerator.getTime();              IncidentFormActivity.incident_id = IncidentIdGenerator.now("ddMMyyyyHHmmss");             dbHelper.executeSQL("insert into incident values ('" + IncidentFormActivity.incident_id                     + "', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', '"+Date+"', '0','0','0','0','0','0','0','0','0','"+Time+"')");             dbHelper.close();         }          //calling camera         Intent cameraIntent = new Intent(                 android.provider.MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);         startActivityForResult(cameraIntent, CAMERA_PIC_REQUEST);       }     public String getPath(Uri uri) {         String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };         Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);         int column_index = cursor                 .getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);         cursor.moveToFirst();         return cursor.getString(column_index);     }      //back key on phone pressed     @Override     public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {         switch (keyCode) {         case KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK:             Intent i= new Intent(CameraActivity.this, IncidentFormActivity.class);             startActivity(i);             this.finish();              break;          default:             break;         }         return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);     }      //handle response came from camera when the picture is taken.     protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {         if (requestCode == CAMERA_PIC_REQUEST && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {                 final ImageView img = new ImageView(this);                 img.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(100, 100));                 image2 = (Bitmap) data.getExtras().get("data");                 img.setImageBitmap(image2);                 String incident_ID = IncidentFormActivity.incident_id;                 //l2.addView(img);                     imagepath="/sdcard/RDMS/"+incident_ID+ x + ".png";                 File file = new File(imagepath);                 try {                      bm = Bitmap.createScaledBitmap( image2,400, 300, true);                     file.createNewFile();                     FileOutputStream ostream = new FileOutputStream(file);                     bm.compress(CompressFormat.PNG, 90, ostream);                     ostream.close();                      //Initialising db class and inserting values                     dbHelper = new RdmsDbAdapter(CameraActivity.this);                     dbHelper.open();                     dbHelper.executeSQL("insert into files values ('"+imagepath+"', '"+IncidentFormActivity.incident_id+"')");                     dbHelper.close();                  } catch (Exception e) {                     e.printStackTrace();                     Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),"yourfirst  error message is "                                             + e.toString(), 1000).show();                 }                 x++;                 final AlertDialog.Builder alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(                         CameraActivity.this);                  alert.setTitle(getString(R.string.anotherimage));                 alert.setCancelable(false);                 //alert.setMessage("Play or Delete the Video selected");                 //alert.setIcon(R.drawable.vid_red);                 alert.setPositiveButton(getString(R.string.yes), new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {                     public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {                         Intent sendingpage = new Intent(CameraActivity.this, CameraActivity.class);                           startActivity(sendingpage);                      }                 });                 alert.setNegativeButton(getString(R.string.no),                         new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {                             public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {                                 Intent callback = new Intent (CameraActivity.this, IncidentFormActivity.class);                                 startActivity(callback);                             }                         });                  alert.show();               }             if(resultCode==RESULT_CANCELED)             {                  AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(CameraActivity.this);                  builder.setMessage(getString(R.string.areuexit)).setCancelable(                         false).setPositiveButton(getString(R.string.yes),                         new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {                             public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {                                 Intent i= new Intent(CameraActivity.this, IncidentFormActivity.class);                                 startActivity(i);                                 CameraActivity.this.finish();                             }                         }).setNegativeButton(getString(R.string.no),                         new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {                             public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {                                 dialog.cancel();                                 Intent i= new Intent(CameraActivity.this, CameraActivity.class);                            startActivity(i);                                 CameraActivity.this.finish();                             }                         });                  builder.show();                }         }     } 

Answer 1

You can use SurfaceView and create a CustomView that will open the camera and you can adjust its size in the xml accordingly. Below is a pseudo code.

Create a class that extends SurfaceView and open camera inside that

CapturePreview.java

public class CapturePreview extends SurfaceView implements SurfaceHolder.Callback{      public static Bitmap mBitmap;     SurfaceHolder holder;     static Camera mCamera;      public CapturePreview(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {         super(context, attrs);          holder = getHolder();         holder.addCallback(this);         holder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);     }      @Override     public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width,int height) {          Camera.Parameters parameters = mCamera.getParameters();         parameters.getSupportedPreviewSizes();         mCamera.setParameters(parameters);         mCamera.startPreview();     }     @Override     public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {          try {             mCamera = Camera.open();             mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);          } catch (Exception e) {             e.printStackTrace();         }     }     @Override     public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {         mCamera.stopPreview();         mCamera.release();     }     /***      *       *  Take a picture and and convert it from bytes[] to Bitmap.      *        */     public static void takeAPicture(){            Camera.PictureCallback mPictureCallback = new PictureCallback() {             @Override             public void onPictureTaken(byte[] data, Camera camera) {                  BitmapFactory.Options options = new BitmapFactory.Options();                 mBitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeByteArray(data, 0, data.length, options);             }         };         mCamera.takePicture(null, null, mPictureCallback);     } } 

Now you have to include the view that you created using SurfaceView in your xml like this

main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <RelativeLayout   xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"   android:orientation="vertical"   android:layout_width="fill_parent"   android:layout_height="fill_parent">    <FrameLayout    android:id="@+id/mySurfaceView"   android:layout_width="wrap_content"   android:layout_height="wrap_content">    <com.cam.CapturePreview    android:layout_width="fill_parent"   android:layout_height="wrap_content">   </com.cam.CapturePreview>    </FrameLayout>    <LinearLayout    android:layout_below="@id/mySurfaceView"    android:layout_width="fill_parent"   android:layout_height="wrap_content"   android:layout_centerInParent="true"   android:gravity="center">    <ImageView android:id="@+id/myImageView"    android:layout_width="wrap_content"   android:layout_height="wrap_content"   android:src="@drawable/icon"/>   </LinearLayout>    </RelativeLayout> 

Now you can use this main.xml in any Acitivty that will open a camera with a ImageView. Thanks....