Camera Issue on iOS 10 with xam.Plugin.Media

Introduction

In this article, we will explore the camera issue experienced by an Xam.Plugin.Media user on iOS 10. The user was able to access the camera without any issues on iOS 9, but encountered problems when running their application on an iPad with iOS 10. We will delve into the technical details of how the camera functionality works in Xam.Plugin.Media and identify the solution to this issue.

Background

Xam.Plugin.Media is a popular plugin for Xamarin Forms that provides access to various multimedia features such as the camera, photo library, and video recording. The plugin uses native code to interact with the device’s hardware components. In iOS 10, Apple introduced changes to how certain permissions are handled, which affected the functionality of third-party apps.

Camera Permission

To use the camera in an Xam.Plugin.Media application on iOS 10, your app needs to request permission from the user through a UIActivityViewController. This is a new requirement introduced by Apple. The plugin takes care of requesting this permission for you, but it’s essential to understand how it works.

NSCameraUsageDescription

To access the camera, your app requires an additional key in the Info.plist file: NSCameraUsageDescription. This key specifies a string that will be displayed to the user when they are prompted to provide permission to access the device’s camera. The plugin uses this key to request permission from the user.

NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription

Similarly, if your app needs to access the photo library, it requires another key in the Info.plist file: NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription. This key specifies a string that will be displayed to the user when they are prompted to provide permission to access the device’s photo library.

Requesting Permission

When you call CrossMedia.Current.TakePhotoAsync, the plugin requests permission from the user through a UIActivityViewController. If the app has not already requested this permission, it will prompt the user to grant or deny access to the camera. The plugin handles the UI activity view controller creation and management for you.

Issue with iOS 10

The issue experienced by the original poster is likely due to a change in how permissions are handled in iOS 10. Specifically, the UIActivityViewController is not displayed when requesting camera permission, which means that the user will never see the permission request dialog box. This can be confusing for users and may lead to issues with your app’s functionality.

Solution

To resolve this issue, you need to add two keys to your Info.plist file: NSCameraUsageDescription and NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription. You also need to handle the camera permission request explicitly in your code. Here’s an example of how to do it:

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>Your app description here</string>

<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>Your app description here</string>

In your Xam.Plugin.Media code, you can add a check to see if the camera permission has been granted before attempting to use it:

// Check if camera permission has been granted
if (!CrossMedia.Current.IsCameraAvailable)
{
    DisplayAlert("No Camera", ":( No camera available.", "OK");
    return;
}

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

if (file == null)
return;

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

image1.Source = ImageSource.FromStream(() =>
{
    var stream = file.GetStream();
    file.Dispose();
    return stream;
});

By following these steps and adding the necessary keys to your Info.plist file, you should be able to resolve the camera issue on iOS 10 with xam.Plugin.Media. Remember that it’s essential to handle permissions explicitly in your code to ensure a smooth user experience.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored the camera issue experienced by an Xam.Plugin.Media user on iOS 10 and identified the solution to this problem. We delved into the technical details of how the camera functionality works in Xam.Plugin.Media and discussed the changes introduced by Apple in iOS 10 that affected the plugin’s behavior. By adding two keys to your Info.plist file and handling the camera permission request explicitly, you can resolve this issue and ensure a smooth user experience for your app.

Example Use Cases

• Accessing the camera using Xam.Plugin.Media:

// Create an instance of CrossMedia.Current CrossMedia.Current.Initialize();

// Check if camera permission has been granted if (!CrossMedia.Current.IsCameraAvailable) { DisplayAlert(“No Camera”, “:( No camera available.”, “OK”); return; }

// Use the camera as usual var file = await CrossMedia.Current.TakePhotoAsync(new Plugin.Media.Abstractions.StoreCameraMediaOptions { Directory = “Sample”, Name = “test.jpg” });

if (file == null) return;

DisplayAlert(“File Location”, file.Path, “OK”);

image1.Source = ImageSource.FromStream(() => { var stream = file.GetStream(); file.Dispose(); return stream; });

*   Accessing the photo library using Xam.Plugin.Media:
    ```markdown
// Create an instance of CrossMedia.Current
CrossMedia.Current.Initialize();

// Check if photo library permission has been granted
if (!CrossMedia.Current.IsPhotoLibraryAvailable)
{
    DisplayAlert("No Photo Library", ":( No photo library available.", "OK");
    return;
}

// Use the photo library as usual
var file = await CrossMedia.Current.GetPhotosAsync(new Plugin.Media.Abstractions.StoreCameraMediaOptions
{
    Directory = "Sample",
    Name = "test.jpg"
});

if (file == null)
return;

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

image1.Source = ImageSource.FromStream(() =>
{
    var stream = file.GetStream();
    file.Dispose();
    return stream;
});

By following these example use cases and handling permissions explicitly in your code, you can access the camera and photo library using Xam.Plugin.Media on iOS 10.

Last modified on 2023-10-03