Save image in UIImageView to iPad Photos Library

Question

I am creating an iPad app that has several pictures (UIImageViews) in a horizontal scrollview. I want to allow the user to be able to save the images to their Photo Library when they tap on one of the UIImageViews. I like the way Safari handles this matter: you just tap and hold until a pop up menu appears and then click save image. I know there is the "UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum". But I am a newbie to iOS development and I'm not too sure where to go with it and where to put it (i.e. how to detect which image was tapped).

From what I have found, I have seen people use UIImage instead of UIImageView. Do I need to convert my view to UIImage? If so, how? How do I detect when the user taps the images, and which UIImageView was tapped? If you could point me in the right direction, and maybe some examples I would greatly appreciate it.

Answer 1

You can use the image property of a UIImageView to get the current image:

UIImage* imageToSave = [imageView image]; // alternatively, imageView.image

// Save it to the camera roll / saved photo album
UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum(imageToSave, nil, nil, nil);

Answer 2

- (IBAction)TakePicture:(id)sender {


    // Create image picker controller
    UIImagePickerController *imagePicker = [[UIImagePickerController alloc] init];

    // Set source to the camera
    imagePicker.sourceType =  UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypeCamera;


    // Delegate is self
    imagePicker.delegate = self;


    OverlayView *overlay = [[OverlayView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGTH)];

   // imagePicker.cameraViewTransform = CGAffineTransformScale(imagePicker.cameraViewTransform, CAMERA_TRANSFORM_X, CAMERA_TRANSFORM_Y);

    // Insert the overlay:
    imagePicker.cameraOverlayView = overlay;

   // Allow editing of image ?
    imagePicker.allowsImageEditing = YES;
    [imagePicker setCameraDevice:
     UIImagePickerControllerCameraDeviceFront];
    [imagePicker setAllowsEditing:YES];
    imagePicker.showsCameraControls=YES;
    imagePicker.navigationBarHidden=YES;
    imagePicker.toolbarHidden=YES;
    imagePicker.wantsFullScreenLayout=YES;


    self.library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];


    // Show image picker
    [self presentModalViewController:imagePicker animated:YES];
}





- (void) imagePickerController:(UIImagePickerController *)picker didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo:(NSDictionary *)info
{
    // Access the uncropped image from info dictionary
    UIImage *image = [info objectForKey:@"UIImagePickerControllerOriginalImage"];




    // Save image to album
    UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum(image, self, @selector(image:didFinishSavingWithError:contextInfo:), nil);


    // save image to custom album
    [self.library saveImage:image toAlbum:@"custom name" withCompletionBlock:^(NSError *error) {
        if (error!=nil) {
            NSLog(@"Big error: %@", [error description]);
        }
    }];

    [picker dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:NO];


}



- (void)image:(UIImage *)image didFinishSavingWithError:(NSError *)error contextInfo:(void *)contextInfo
{
    UIAlertView *alert;

    // Unable to save the image  
    if (error)
        alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error" 
                                           message:@"Unable to save image to Photo Album." 
                                          delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok" 
                                 otherButtonTitles:nil];
    else // All is well
        alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Success" 
                                           message:@"Image saved to Photo Album." 
                                          delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok" 
                                 otherButtonTitles:nil];


    [alert show];
}



- (void) alertView:(UIAlertView *)alert clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex
{
    // After saving iamge, dismiss camera
    [self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}