Start Camera using Xamarin

Question

I am new in Mobile Development. I am trying create a cross platform app using Xamarin Forms. So far I am doing good, but I am having a problem trying to get a way to start a Camera. I understand a Camera is a Native function. Can someone please give me a step by step example on how to do this. Treat me like an idiot. The examples I came across are very vague and some don't even have finished code. if you have a link/s that you believe might help. I'm really struggling with this. Any help appreciated.

Rohit Vipin Mathews Rohit Vipin Mathews · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-22T13:26:46

You can use the Media Plugin.

Media Plugin for Xamarin and Windows is a Simple cross platform plugin to take photos and video or pick them from a gallery from shared code.

You can add it via Nuget to the solution from here.

takePhoto.Clicked += async (sender, args) =>
{
    await CrossMedia.Current.Initialize();

    if (!CrossMedia.Current.IsCameraAvailable || !CrossMedia.Current.IsTakePhotoSupported)
    {
        DisplayAlert("No Camera", ":( No camera available.", "OK");
        return;
    }

    var file = await CrossMedia.Current.TakePhotoAsync(new Plugin.Media.Abstractions.StoreCameraMediaOptions
    {
        Directory = "Sample",
        Name = "test.jpg"
    });

    if (file == null)
        return;

    await DisplayAlert("File Location", file.Path, "OK");

    image.Source = ImageSource.FromStream(() =>
    {
        var stream = file.GetStream();
        file.Dispose();
        return stream;
    }); 
};

You can read more about it's usage here.

Start Camera using Xamarin

2 Answers