Swift: Custom camera save modified metadata with image

Question

I am trying to save SOME of the metadata from an image sample buffer along with the image.

I need to:

• Rotate the image to the orientation from the metadata
• Remove orientation from the metadata
• Save the date taken to the metadata
• Save that image with the metadata to the documents directory

I have tried creating a UIImage from the data, but that strips out the metadata. I have tried using a CIImage from the data, which keeps the metadata, but I can't rotate it then save it to a file.

private func snapPhoto(success: (UIImage, CFMutableDictionary) -> Void, errorMessage: String -> Void) {
    guard !self.stillImageOutput.capturingStillImage,
        let videoConnection = stillImageOutput.connectionWithMediaType(AVMediaTypeVideo) else { return }

    videoConnection.fixVideoOrientation()

    stillImageOutput.captureStillImageAsynchronouslyFromConnection(videoConnection) {
        (imageDataSampleBuffer, error) -> Void in
        guard imageDataSampleBuffer != nil && error == nil else {
            errorMessage("Couldn't snap photo")
            return
        }

        let data = AVCaptureStillImageOutput.jpegStillImageNSDataRepresentation(imageDataSampleBuffer)

        let metadata = CMCopyDictionaryOfAttachments(nil, imageDataSampleBuffer, CMAttachmentMode(kCMAttachmentMode_ShouldPropagate))
        let metadataMutable = CFDictionaryCreateMutableCopy(nil, 0, metadata)

        let utcDate = "\(NSDate())"
        let cfUTCDate = CFStringCreateCopy(nil, utcDate)
        CFDictionarySetValue(metadataMutable!, unsafeAddressOf(kCGImagePropertyGPSDateStamp), unsafeAddressOf(cfUTCDate))

        guard let image = UIImage(data: data)?.fixOrientation() else { return }
        CFDictionarySetValue(metadataMutable, unsafeAddressOf(kCGImagePropertyOrientation), unsafeAddressOf(1))

        success(image, metadataMutable)
    }
}

Here is my code for saving the image.

func saveImageAsJpg(image: UIImage, metadata: CFMutableDictionary) {
    // Add metadata to image
    guard let jpgData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1) else { return }
    jpgData.writeToFile("\(self.documentsDirectory)/image1.jpg", atomically: true)
}

Answer 1

I ended up figuring out how to get everything to work the way I needed it to. The thing that helped me the most was finding out that a CFDictionary can be cast as a NSMutableDictionary.

Here is my final code:

As you can see I add a property to the EXIF dictionary for the date digitized, and changed the orientation value.

private func snapPhoto(success: (UIImage, NSMutableDictionary) -> Void, errorMessage: String -> Void) {
    guard !self.stillImageOutput.capturingStillImage,
        let videoConnection = stillImageOutput.connectionWithMediaType(AVMediaTypeVideo) else { return }

    videoConnection.fixVideoOrientation()

    stillImageOutput.captureStillImageAsynchronouslyFromConnection(videoConnection) {
        (imageDataSampleBuffer, error) -> Void in
        guard imageDataSampleBuffer != nil && error == nil else {
            errorMessage("Couldn't snap photo")
            return
        }

        let data = AVCaptureStillImageOutput.jpegStillImageNSDataRepresentation(imageDataSampleBuffer)

        let rawMetadata = CMCopyDictionaryOfAttachments(nil, imageDataSampleBuffer, CMAttachmentMode(kCMAttachmentMode_ShouldPropagate))
        let metadata = CFDictionaryCreateMutableCopy(nil, 0, rawMetadata) as NSMutableDictionary

        let exifData = metadata.valueForKey(kCGImagePropertyExifDictionary as String) as? NSMutableDictionary
        exifData?.setValue(NSDate().toString("yyyy:MM:dd HH:mm:ss"), forKey: kCGImagePropertyExifDateTimeDigitized as String)

        metadata.setValue(exifData, forKey: kCGImagePropertyExifDictionary as String)
        metadata.setValue(1, forKey: kCGImagePropertyOrientation as String)

        guard let image = UIImage(data: data)?.fixOrientation() else {
            errorMessage("Couldn't create image")
            return
        }

        success(image, metadata)
    }
}

And my final code for saving the image with the metadata:

Lots of guard statements, which I hate, but it is better than force unwrapping.

func saveImage(withMetadata image: UIImage, metadata: NSMutableDictionary) {
    let filePath = "\(self.documentsPath)/image1.jpg"

    guard let jpgData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1) else { return }

    // Add metadata to jpgData
    guard let source = CGImageSourceCreateWithData(jpgData, nil),
        let uniformTypeIdentifier = CGImageSourceGetType(source) else { return }
    let finalData = NSMutableData(data: jpgData)
    guard let destination = CGImageDestinationCreateWithData(finalData, uniformTypeIdentifier, 1, nil) else { return }
    CGImageDestinationAddImageFromSource(destination, source, 0, metadata)
    guard CGImageDestinationFinalize(destination) else { return }

    // Save image that now has metadata
    self.fileService.save(filePath, data: finalData)
}

Here is my updated save method (Not the exact same that I was using when I wrote this question, since I have updated to Swift 2.3, but the concept is the same):

public func save(fileAt path: NSURL, with data: NSData) throws -> Bool {
    guard let pathString = path.absoluteString else { return false }
    let directory = (pathString as NSString).stringByDeletingLastPathComponent

    if !self.fileManager.fileExistsAtPath(directory) {
        try self.makeDirectory(at: NSURL(string: directory)!)
    }

    if self.fileManager.fileExistsAtPath(pathString) {
        try self.delete(fileAt: path)
    }

    return self.fileManager.createFileAtPath(pathString, contents: data, attributes: [NSFileProtectionKey: NSFileProtectionComplete])
}