Exif data lost when correctOrientation is true

[ddsky]

The image I retrieve in the success callback has proper exif data if I set the options to:

 let options = {
    sourceType: Camera.PictureSourceType.CAMERA,
    destinationType: Camera.DestinationType.FILE_URI
};

Once I use correctOrientation (or quality, or targetHeight or targetWidth) in the options, the exif data is lost:

 let options = {
    correctOrientation: true,
    sourceType: Camera.PictureSourceType.CAMERA,
    destinationType: Camera.DestinationType.FILE_URI
};

[janpio]

Which platform? What versions (OS, Cordova platform, plugin)?

[ddsky]

Sorry for not posting this information right away!

cordova-android 7.0.0
cordova-plugin-camera: 4.0.3

I'm building this via yarn/npm latest version on Windows and Linux.

[janpio]

Just for completeness, have you tried upgrading to cordova-android 7.1.1, the current version? (I don't really expect any difference, but lets better check)

What Android version and device are you testing on?

[ddsky]

Thanks for the info. I updated to 7.1.1 but it made no difference. I tested this on multiple devices with Android 6.0.

[janpio]

Thanks, if you have any handy you might also test on other Android versions to make sure it does not only affect Android 6.0.

---

My guess: correctOrientation reads the file as a bitmap, transforms it and saves it back - but doesn't add the EXIF data at this time (or loses it along the way). The code for this lives at

cordova-plugin-camera/src/android/CameraLauncher.java

Lines 944 to 1110 in 6899c5e

	private Bitmap getScaledAndRotatedBitmap(String imageUrl) throws IOException {
	// If no new width or height were specified, and orientation is not needed return the original bitmap
	if (this.targetWidth <= 0 && this.targetHeight <= 0 && !(this.correctOrientation)) {
	InputStream fileStream = null;
	Bitmap image = null;
	try {
	fileStream = FileHelper.getInputStreamFromUriString(imageUrl, cordova);
	image = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(fileStream);
	} catch (OutOfMemoryError e) {
	callbackContext.error(e.getLocalizedMessage());
	} catch (Exception e){
	callbackContext.error(e.getLocalizedMessage());
	}
	finally {
	if (fileStream != null) {
	try {
	fileStream.close();
	} catch (IOException e) {
	LOG.d(LOG_TAG, "Exception while closing file input stream.");
	}
	}
	}
	return image;
	}
	/* Copy the inputstream to a temporary file on the device.
	We then use this temporary file to determine the width/height/orientation.
	This is the only way to determine the orientation of the photo coming from 3rd party providers (Google Drive, Dropbox,etc)
	This also ensures we create a scaled bitmap with the correct orientation
	We delete the temporary file once we are done
	*/
	File localFile = null;
	Uri galleryUri = null;
	int rotate = 0;
	try {
	InputStream fileStream = FileHelper.getInputStreamFromUriString(imageUrl, cordova);
	if (fileStream != null) {
	// Generate a temporary file
	String timeStamp = new SimpleDateFormat(TIME_FORMAT).format(new Date());
	String fileName = "IMG_" + timeStamp + (this.encodingType == JPEG ? JPEG_EXTENSION : PNG_EXTENSION);
	localFile = new File(getTempDirectoryPath() + fileName);
	galleryUri = Uri.fromFile(localFile);
	writeUncompressedImage(fileStream, galleryUri);
	try {
	String mimeType = FileHelper.getMimeType(imageUrl.toString(), cordova);
	if (JPEG_MIME_TYPE.equalsIgnoreCase(mimeType)) {
	// ExifInterface doesn't like the file:// prefix
	String filePath = galleryUri.toString().replace("file://", "");
	// read exifData of source
	exifData = new ExifHelper();
	exifData.createInFile(filePath);
	// Use ExifInterface to pull rotation information
	if (this.correctOrientation) {
	ExifInterface exif = new ExifInterface(filePath);
	rotate = exifToDegrees(exif.getAttributeInt(ExifInterface.TAG_ORIENTATION, ExifInterface.ORIENTATION_UNDEFINED));
	}
	}
	} catch (Exception oe) {
	LOG.w(LOG_TAG,"Unable to read Exif data: "+ oe.toString());
	rotate = 0;
	}
	}
	}
	catch (Exception e)
	{
	LOG.e(LOG_TAG,"Exception while getting input stream: "+ e.toString());
	return null;
	}
	try {
	// figure out the original width and height of the image
	BitmapFactory.Options options = new BitmapFactory.Options();
	options.inJustDecodeBounds = true;
	InputStream fileStream = null;
	try {
	fileStream = FileHelper.getInputStreamFromUriString(galleryUri.toString(), cordova);
	BitmapFactory.decodeStream(fileStream, null, options);
	} finally {
	if (fileStream != null) {
	try {
	fileStream.close();
	} catch (IOException e) {
	LOG.d(LOG_TAG, "Exception while closing file input stream.");
	}
	}
	}
	//CB-2292: WTF? Why is the width null?
	if (options.outWidth == 0 || options.outHeight == 0) {
	return null;
	}
	// User didn't specify output dimensions, but they need orientation
	if (this.targetWidth <= 0 && this.targetHeight <= 0) {
	this.targetWidth = options.outWidth;
	this.targetHeight = options.outHeight;
	}
	// Setup target width/height based on orientation
	int rotatedWidth, rotatedHeight;
	boolean rotated= false;
	if (rotate == 90 || rotate == 270) {
	rotatedWidth = options.outHeight;
	rotatedHeight = options.outWidth;
	rotated = true;
	} else {
	rotatedWidth = options.outWidth;
	rotatedHeight = options.outHeight;
	}
	// determine the correct aspect ratio
	int[] widthHeight = calculateAspectRatio(rotatedWidth, rotatedHeight);
	// Load in the smallest bitmap possible that is closest to the size we want
	options.inJustDecodeBounds = false;
	options.inSampleSize = calculateSampleSize(rotatedWidth, rotatedHeight, widthHeight[0], widthHeight[1]);
	Bitmap unscaledBitmap = null;
	try {
	fileStream = FileHelper.getInputStreamFromUriString(galleryUri.toString(), cordova);
	unscaledBitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(fileStream, null, options);
	} finally {
	if (fileStream != null) {
	try {
	fileStream.close();
	} catch (IOException e) {
	LOG.d(LOG_TAG, "Exception while closing file input stream.");
	}
	}
	}
	if (unscaledBitmap == null) {
	return null;
	}
	int scaledWidth = (!rotated) ? widthHeight[0] : widthHeight[1];
	int scaledHeight = (!rotated) ? widthHeight[1] : widthHeight[0];
	Bitmap scaledBitmap = Bitmap.createScaledBitmap(unscaledBitmap, scaledWidth, scaledHeight, true);
	if (scaledBitmap != unscaledBitmap) {
	unscaledBitmap.recycle();
	unscaledBitmap = null;
	}
	if (this.correctOrientation && (rotate != 0)) {
	Matrix matrix = new Matrix();
	matrix.setRotate(rotate);
	try {
	scaledBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(scaledBitmap, 0, 0, scaledBitmap.getWidth(), scaledBitmap.getHeight(), matrix, true);
	this.orientationCorrected = true;
	} catch (OutOfMemoryError oom) {
	this.orientationCorrected = false;
	}
	}
	return scaledBitmap;
	}
	finally {
	// delete the temporary copy
	if (localFile != null) {
	localFile.delete();
	}
	}
	}

as far as I could make out, but it is too much for me (I'm not an Android or Java developer) to understand.

[ddsky]

@janpio that would be my guess too. Who can solve this though?

[AlvaroHerrero]

I think we need to call
exifData.readExifData();
just after
exifData.createInFile(filePath);
This way the original exifData data will be in the helper before re-saving them on the rotated file.

[ddsky]

Thanks @AlvaroHerrero that sounds like the right path. Please note that this does not only happen if correctOrientation is set to true but also if quality, targetWidth, or targetHeight is set. I guess whenever the image is manipulated and re-saved.

[AlvaroHerrero]

Yes, it also happens when the image is selected from the gallery.

[ddsky]

Is there a roadmap on when this might be fixed?

[janpio]

Please create a Pull Request that fixes this on this repository, then this can be reviewed, merged and finally released. @AlvaroHerrero 's branch could probably be the base for that.

[AlvaroHerrero]

The PR is already created. I don´t know if there is something more for me to do.
#331

[janpio]

Linking to the PR here and to this issue in the PR would be a good thing ;) With a few hundred issues and PRs per day, this is the only way to get the connetions :)

Well, then we'll have to wait for more people to review the PR - that actually know about Android and Java etc. Feel free to test the changes @ddsky and leave an "Approve" review on the PR if everything works as expected.

[ddsky]

@janpio, sorry I'm new to this. How do I test the PR? Wouldn't it need to be merged so I can update to the latest version of the plugin in my app to test it?

[janpio]

You can install the PR branch directly as your plugin: https://github.com/AlvaroHerrero/cordova-plugin-camera/tree/GH-329 (cordova plugin add https://github.com/AlvaroHerrero/cordova-plugin-camera/tree/GH-329 should work)

[ddsky]

@janpio installing this plugin like so does not seem to work for me

> cordova plugin add https://github.com/AlvaroHerrero/cordova-plugin-camera/tree/GH-329
(node:27864) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: CordovaError: Failed to fetch plugin https://github.com/AlvaroHerrero/cordova-plugin-camera/tree/GH-329 via registry.
Probably this is either a connection problem, or plugin spec is incorrect.

Anything I'm doing wrong?

[janpio]

No, I gave you the wrong command. Sorry.

cordova plugin add https://github.com/AlvaroHerrero/cordova-plugin-camera.git#GH-329

should work

[ddsky]

Super, thank you @janpio, that worked.

I can hereby confirm that rescaling and keeping the exif data now works properly.

What is the process from here, when will this be in the main branch?

[janpio]

Leave that comment about it working on the PR #331 please.

Someone from Apache Cordova will have to decide if this is a useful change, test and review it, then merge it. Then it will be included in the next release, whenever that will happen.

[ddsky]

Thanks, I have done that.

[HarelM]

I've just tested the code using the instructions #415 and I still see an issue with exif data getting lost when getting images from the photo library on android device.
The code I'm using is the following:
navigator.camera.getPicture(() => ..., { destinationType: Camera.DestinationType.DATA_URL, sourceType: Camera.PictureSourceType.PHOTOLIBRARY, saveToPhotoAlbum: false}).
Code can be seen here:
https://github.com/IsraelHikingMap/Site/blob/d81cfdfd339060aab9b512352741b5af00c8a214/IsraelHiking.Web/sources/application/directives/image-capture.directive.ts#L41
Let me know if there's a way I can help or if I need to open a new issue for this.
Thanks for a great plugin! Keep up the good work.

[janpio]

Best open a new issue - otherwise this mgiht get lost here. (Please include a link back to this here of course for context) Thanks.

[HarelM]

@janpio I opened #452. Thanks for the quick response!