Plugin.MultiPictures

Cross platform plugin for taking/picking several pictures.

This package stills under development and it may contains some issues. Feel free to use as it is and if you want make some improvement just do it and create a PR.

Platform Support

Platform	Version
Xamarin.Android	API 25+
Xamarin.iOS	iOS 10+

Setup

• Install into PCL/.NetStandard project and client projects.
• Read additional setup for each platform

Picking pictures feature uses Collection View. Read additional setup for this visual element.

Dependencies

• You must install and setup the followings dependencies into your PCL/.NetStandard project and client projects:
  • Permissions Plugin

Android Setup

This API uses CAMERA, READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions but it will automatically add these for you. You must add the Permission Plugin code into your Main Activity:

public override void OnRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, string[] permissions, Android.Content.PM.Permission[] grantResults)
{
    Plugin.Permissions.PermissionsImplementation.Current.OnRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
    base.OnRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
}

Note: After creating a Xamarin Android project, you may see a default implementation of OnRequestPermissionsResult method into your MainActivity class. Please be sure to override it with the sample code provided above or, if necessary, keep any code you added there and add the two lines mentioned earlier.

Android Dependencies

Follow installation and initialization steps for each dependency.

• Current Activity Plugin.

iOS Setup

This API uses NSCameraUsageDescription and NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription permissions. Make sure to add this entries into your into.plist file. If you want to save photos into gallery by using "UsePublicStorage" property then you must add NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription entry too. The string you provide for each of these entries will be displayed to the user when they are prompted to provide permission to access these device features. Read more about iOS permissions

Sample:

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to the camera to take photos.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to photos.</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to microphone.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to the photo gallery.</string>

If you want the dialogs to be translated you must support the specific languages in your app. Read the iOS Localization Guide

In order to show the camera view on Portrait orientation regardless device current rotation it is necessary to add some code into your AppDelegate file. Make sure to override GetSupportedInterfaceOrientations function with following code:

public override UIInterfaceOrientationMask GetSupportedInterfaceOrientations(UIApplication application, [Transient] UIWindow forWindow)
{
    if (CrossMultiPictures.Current.RequestedRotation == DeviceRotation.Unknown)
    {
        return UIInterfaceOrientationMask.All;
    }

    return UIInterfaceOrientationMask.Portrait;
}

How to use MultiPictures API

Call CrossMultiPictures from any project to gain access to API. It is recommendable to check if current device supports camera by doing the following:

if(CrossMultiPictures.Current.IsCameraAvailable == false)
{
    await DisplayAlert("Not Available", "Camere is not available :((", "OK");
}

Taking Pictures

For taking new pictures you can use CameraView() render instance and subscribe to PicturesTaken event as shown bellow. You may provide an instance of MediaOptions as an optional parameter. If you call CameraView() without checking IsCameraAvailable value first, a NotSupportedException will be thrown.

void TakePictures() 
{
    try 
    {
        var mediaOptions = new MediaOptions
        {
            CompressionQuality = 90,
            PhotoSize = PhotoSize.Medium,
            SaveMetaData = true,
            UsePublicStorage = false,
            Directory = "Sample"
        };

        var cameraView = await CrossMultiPictures.Current.CameraView(mediaOptions);
        cameraView.PicturesTaken += (s, e) =>
        {
            // do whatever you want with taken pictures
        };
    }
    catch(NotSupportedException ex)
    {
        await DisplayAlert("Not Available", "Camera is not available in this device", "OK");
    }
    catch (MediaPermissionException ex)
    {
        await DisplayAlert("Permission Denied", ex.Message, "OK");
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Something went wrong: {0}", ex.StackTrace);
    }
}

The initialization values for this sample instance of MediaOptions are the default values when using CameraView custom view renderer with a null value as parameter. If you need to use a different renderer you can build your own. Just go deep into CameraView implementation provided with this plugin for having a better idea about how to build it.

Picking Pictures

For picking pictures you just need to show an instance of PickPhotosPage and receive selected pictures on PhotosSelected event as shown in next sample code. Just make sure to specify the directory where you want to pick photos from.

var directory = CrossMultiPictures.Current.MediaFolderPath(new MediaOptions { Directory = "Sample" });
var pickPage = new PickPhotosPage(directory);
pickPage.PhotosSelected += (s, e) =>
{
    // do whatever you want with picked pictures.
};