iOS save photo in an app specific album

Question

I'm creating an iOS 5 app. I want to save a photo to the device.

I want to save the photo to an album specific to my app, so I need to create the album, and then save photos to the album.

I know how to create the album:

ALAssetsLibrary *library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
[library addAssetsGroupAlbumWithName:@"MY APP NAME" resultBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group) {
    //How to get the album URL?
} failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {
    //Handle the error
}];

I want add photos to the new album now, how do I do so? Sample code is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

You may use the following code just change the name of album :

__weak ALAssetsLibrary *lib = self.library;

[self.library addAssetsGroupAlbumWithName:@"My Photo Album" resultBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group) {

    ///checks if group previously created
    if(group == nil){

        //enumerate albums
        [lib enumerateGroupsWithTypes:ALAssetsGroupAlbum
                           usingBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *g, BOOL *stop)
         {
             //if the album is equal to our album
             if ([[g valueForProperty:ALAssetsGroupPropertyName] isEqualToString:@"My Photo Album"]) {

                 //save image
                 [lib writeImageDataToSavedPhotosAlbum:UIImagePNGRepresentation(image) metadata:nil
                                       completionBlock:^(NSURL *assetURL, NSError *error) {

                                           //then get the image asseturl
                                           [lib assetForURL:assetURL
                                                resultBlock:^(ALAsset *asset) {
                                                    //put it into our album
                                                    [g addAsset:asset];
                                                } failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {

                                                }];
                                       }];

             }
         }failureBlock:^(NSError *error){

         }];

    }else{
        // save image directly to library
        [lib writeImageDataToSavedPhotosAlbum:UIImagePNGRepresentation(image) metadata:nil
                              completionBlock:^(NSURL *assetURL, NSError *error) {

                                  [lib assetForURL:assetURL
                                       resultBlock:^(ALAsset *asset) {

                                           [group addAsset:asset];

                                       } failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {

                                       }];
                              }];
    }

} failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {

}];

Answer 2

For anyone looking to do this as of iOS 9, things have gotten a bit more complicated since the ALAssetsLibrary is deprecated in favor of the new Photos library.

Here's some Swift code for adding UIImages to a specific album name (creating the album if it doesn't exist), you may need to do some refactoring/optimization for your needs:

func insertImage(image : UIImage, intoAlbumNamed albumName : String) {

    //Fetch a collection in the photos library that has the title "albumNmame"
    let collection = fetchAssetCollectionWithAlbumName(albumName)

    if collection == nil {
        //If we were unable to find a collection named "albumName" we'll create it before inserting the image
        PHPhotoLibrary.sharedPhotoLibrary().performChanges({
            PHAssetCollectionChangeRequest.creationRequestForAssetCollectionWithTitle(albumName)
            }, completionHandler: {(success : Bool, error : NSError?) in
                if error != nil {
                    print("Error: " + error!.description)
                }

                if success {
                    //Fetch the newly created collection (which we *assume* exists here)
                    let newCollection = self.fetchAssetCollectionWithAlbumName(albumName)
                    self.insertImage(image, intoAssetCollection: newCollection!)
                }
            }
        )
    } else {
        //If we found the existing AssetCollection with the title "albumName", insert into it
        self.insertImage(image, intoAssetCollection: collection!)
    }
}

func fetchAssetCollectionWithAlbumName(albumName : String) -> PHAssetCollection? {

    //Provide the predicate to match the title of the album.
    let fetchOption = PHFetchOptions()
    fetchOption.predicate = NSPredicate(format: "title == '" + albumName + "'")

    //Fetch the album using the fetch option
    let fetchResult = PHAssetCollection.fetchAssetCollectionsWithType(
        PHAssetCollectionType.Album,
        subtype: PHAssetCollectionSubtype.AlbumRegular,
        options: fetchOption)

    //Assuming the album exists and no album shares it's name, it should be the only result fetched
    let collection = fetchResult.firstObject as? PHAssetCollection

    return collection
}

func insertImage(image : UIImage, intoAssetCollection collection : PHAssetCollection) {

    //Changes for the Photos Library must be maded within the performChanges block
    PHPhotoLibrary.sharedPhotoLibrary().performChanges({

            //This will request a PHAsset be created for the UIImage
            let creationRequest = PHAssetCreationRequest.creationRequestForAssetFromImage(image)

            //Create a change request to insert the new PHAsset in the collection
            let request = PHAssetCollectionChangeRequest(forAssetCollection: collection)

            //Add the PHAsset placeholder into the creation request.
            //The placeholder is used because the actual PHAsset hasn't been created yet
            if request != nil && creationRequest.placeholderForCreatedAsset != nil {
                request!.addAssets([creationRequest.placeholderForCreatedAsset!])
            }

        },

        completionHandler: { (success : Bool, error : NSError?) in
            if error != nil {
                print("Error: " + error!.description)
            }
        }
    )
}