method called after release() exception unable to resume with android camera

Question

While developing a camera app I've encountered an exception that only happened when I switch to other app (onPause() for my app).

01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336): java.lang.RuntimeException: Method called after release()
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.hardware.Camera.setPreviewDisplay(Native Method)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.hardware.Camera.setPreviewDisplay(Camera.java:357)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at com.sora.cbir.yuki.image.leaf.CameraPreview.surfaceCreated(CameraPreview.java:32)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.SurfaceView.updateWindow(SurfaceView.java:551)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.SurfaceView.onWindowVisibilityChanged(SurfaceView.java:213)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.View.dispatchWindowVisibilityChanged(View.java:4075)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchWindowVisibilityChanged(ViewGroup.java:742)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchWindowVisibilityChanged(ViewGroup.java:742)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchWindowVisibilityChanged(ViewGroup.java:742)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchWindowVisibilityChanged(ViewGroup.java:742)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:858)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1995)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4389)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:849)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:607)
01-15 17:22:15.017: E/AndroidRuntime(14336):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

I did some research and found out that I need to add

mCamera.setPreviewCallback(null);

as a workaround for Android's camera stack

my onPause() now looks like this:

@Override
protected void onPause() {
    super.onPause();
    try
    {    
        // release the camera immediately on pause event   
        //releaseCamera();
         mCamera.stopPreview(); 
         mCamera.setPreviewCallback(null);
         mCamera.release();
         mCamera = null;

    }
    catch(Exception e)
    {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

and my onResume():

@Override
protected void onResume()
{
    super.onResume();
    try
    {
        mCamera.setPreviewCallback(null);
        mCamera = getCameraInstance();
        //mCamera.setPreviewCallback(null);
        mPreview = new CameraPreview(Imageupload.this, mCamera);//set preview
        preview.addView(mPreview);
    } catch (Exception e){
        Log.d(TAG, "Error starting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
    }
}   
}

and finally my getCameraInstance() method:

public Camera getCameraInstance(){
    Camera camera = null;
    try {
        camera = Camera.open(); // attempt to get a Camera instance
    }
    catch (Exception e){
        // Camera is not available (in use or does not exist)
    }
    Camera.Parameters parameters = camera.getParameters();
    //mPreviewSize = getBestPreviewSize(parameters, wt, ht);
    //mPictureSize = getBestPictureSize(parameters, wt, ht);
    //Shift W & H => if camera rotates 90 deg

    mPreviewSize = getOptimalPreviewSize(parameters, wt, ht); //original => wt,ht
    mPictureSize = getOptimalPictureSize(parameters, wt, ht); //original => wt,ht

    Log.d("CAMERA", "SCREEN RESOLUTION H: "+ht);
    Log.d("CAMERA", "SCREEN RESOLUTION W: "+wt);

    Log.d("CAMERA", "PREVIEW RESOLUTION H: "+mPreviewSize.height);
    Log.d("CAMERA", "PREVIEW RESOLUTION W: "+mPreviewSize.width);

    Log.d("CAMERA", "PICTURE RESOLUTION H: "+mPictureSize.height);
    Log.d("CAMERA", "PICTURE RESOLUTION W: "+mPictureSize.width);
    //set preview size based on device screen
    parameters.setPreviewSize(mPreviewSize.width, mPreviewSize.height);
    //set picture size based on device screen
    parameters.setPictureSize(mPictureSize.width, mPictureSize.height);
    //set output camera mode
    parameters.setPictureFormat(PixelFormat.JPEG);
    //set focous mode
    parameters.setFocusMode(FOCUS_MODE_AUTO);
    //set flash mode
    parameters.setFlashMode("auto");
    List<int[]> fps = parameters.getSupportedPreviewFpsRange();
    //System.out.println("FPS size: " +fps.size());
    //System.out.println("MAX FPS:"+(fps.get(fps.size()-1)[1])/1000);
    //log min and max camera supported fps
    Log.d("CAMERA", "CAMERA MAX FPS: "+(fps.get(fps.size()-1)[1])/1000);
    Log.d("CAMERA", "CAMERA MIN FPS: "+(fps.get(fps.size()-1)[0])/1000);
    if(camera_fps)
    {
        parameters.setPreviewFpsRange(fps.get(fps.size()-1)[1], fps.get(fps.size()-1)[1]);
    }
    //set camera parameters
    camera.setParameters(parameters);

    Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Your device are capable of previewing @" + fps.get(fps.size()-1)[1]/1000+"fps!",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    return camera; // returns null if camera is unavailable
}

any ideas on how to fix this?

Answer 1

I've got the same problem. mCamera.setPreviewCallback(null); didn't help. In my activity I've added this to releaseCamera:

mPreview.getHolder().removeCallback(mPreview);

and it works now.

Answer 2

@ookami.kb solution worked for me too, as well as @srunni commented.

public void onPause() {
    super.onPause();

    if (mCamera != null) {
        mCamera.setPreviewCallback(null);
        mPreview.getHolder().removeCallback(mPreview);
        mCamera.release();
    }
}

I removed onDestroy method too.

Answer 3

The docs clearly say that camera.release() releases all camera resources. After this call camera reference can not be used any more.

If you want to use camera again you have to acquire it via a open(int) method.

It's all described in the camera docs.