Android Studio : How to detect camera, activate and capture example

Let's have some fun with Android by learning how to detect the camera, activate the camera and capture with the camera. This app has one button. When pressed, first it will detect if the device has a camera or not. If the device has a camera, it will activate the camera and launch the default Android camera app to capture from the camera.

NOTE: In our example, the camera view is simulated by the Android Virtual Device. You can transfer the APK file over to a real Android device to see how this application works with a real camera.

Here you go!

Fill the XML layout design in the main_activity_camera.xml:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
 xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
 android:layout_width="match_parent"
 android:layout_height="match_parent"
 tools:context="com.example.sweetlogic.camera.MainCamera"
 tools:layout_editor_absoluteX="0dp"
 tools:layout_editor_absoluteY="81dp">

 <Button
 android:id="@+id/buttonActivateCamera"
 android:layout_width="300dp"
 android:layout_height="50dp"
 android:text="Activate Camera"
 app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
 app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
 tools:layout_editor_absoluteX="42dp"
 tools:layout_editor_absoluteY="230dp" />

 </android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

Next step is to fill in the Java codes at MainCamera.java

 package com.example.sweetlogic.camera;

 import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
 import android.os.Bundle;
 import android.view.View;
 import android.widget.Button;
 import android.content.Context;
 import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
 import android.widget.Toast;
 import android.util.Log;
 import android.provider.MediaStore;
 import android.content.Intent;


 public class MainCamera extends AppCompatActivity {

 // global variable
 boolean cameraAvailable = false;
 static final int REQUEST_IMAGE_CAPTURE = 1;
 Context context = this;


 @Override
 protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
 setContentView(R.layout.activity_main_camera);

 // listen to activate camera button
 addListenerOnActiveCameraButton();

 }


 private boolean checkCameraHardware(Context context) {
 if (context.getPackageManager().hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_CAMERA)) {
 Toast.makeText(MainCamera.this, "this device has a camera", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
 return true;
 } else {
 Toast.makeText(MainCamera.this, "no camera on this device", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
 return false;
 }
 }


 public void addListenerOnActiveCameraButton() {
 Button button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonActivateCamera);

 button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
 @Override
 public void onClick(View view) {
 cameraAvailable = checkCameraHardware(context);
 if (cameraAvailable) {

 // ok, we will use Intent to take photo
 Intent takePictureIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
 if (takePictureIntent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) {
 startActivityForResult(takePictureIntent, REQUEST_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
 }
 Log.i("camera", "yes");
 } else {
 Log.i("camera", "no");
 }

 }

 });
 }


 }

Hit the Run button and press the button on your application to activate the camera.