Capture a Photo in Windows Store Apps

Introduction

In this article I describe how to create a Windows Store App to capture an image using JavaScript. In this article we capture a photo from a webcam. For this app it is necessary that you have a webcam in your system and all the drivers of the webcam are Correctly installed. If you don't have a webcam or your webcam does not work then this app will still run but it cannot capture images from the webcam.

I assume you can create a simple Windows Store App using JavaScript. For more help visit Simple Windows Store Apps using JavaScript.

To start the creation of the app, add two JavaScript pages by right-clicking on the js folder in the Solution Explorer and select Add > new item > JavaScript Page and then give an appropriate name. In the same way, add one HTML page to your project.

photo-windows-store-apps.jpg


Write the following code in default.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

    <meta charset="utf-8" />

    <title> app</title>

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/css/ui-light.css" />

    <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/js/base.js"></script>

    <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/js/ui.js"></script>

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/default.css" />

    <script src="/js/script1.js"></script>

    <script src="/js/default.js"></script>

</head>

<body role="application" style="background-color: lightblue">

    <center> <div id="rootGrid">       

        <div id="content">

            <h1 id="featureLabel"></h1>

            <div id="contentHost"></div>

        </div>      

    </div></center>

</body>

</html>

Write the following code in default.js:
 

(function () {

    "use strict";

    var appTitle = "Photo capture";

 

    var pages = [

 

        { url: "page.html" }

    ];

 

    function activated(eventObject) {

        if (eventObject.detail.kind === Windows.ApplicationModel.Activation.ActivationKind.launch) {

            eventObject.setPromise(WinJS.UI.processAll().then(function () {

                var url = WinJS.Application.sessionState.lastUrl || pages[0].url;

                return WinJS.Navigation.navigate(url);

            }));

        }

    }

    WinJS.Navigation.addEventListener("navigated", function (eventObject) {

        var url = eventObject.detail.location;

        var host = document.getElementById("contentHost");

        host.winControl && host.winControl.unload && host.winControl.unload();

        WinJS.Utilities.empty(host);

        eventObject.detail.setPromise(WinJS.UI.Pages.render(url, host, eventObject.detail.state).then(function () {

            WinJS.Application.sessionState.lastUrl = url;

        }));

    });

    WinJS.Namespace.define("App", {

        appTitle: appTitle,

        pages: pages

    });

    WinJS.Application.addEventListener("activated", activated, false);

    WinJS.Application.start();

})(); 


Write the following code in page.html:
 

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>

    <title></title>

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/capturephoto.css" />

    <script src="/js/script.js"></script>

</head>

<body>

    <div data-win-control="App.pageInput">

 

        <button id="captureButton">Capture Photo</button>

        <button id="resetButton">Reset</button>

        <br />

        <br />

    </div>

    <div data-win-control="App.pageOutput">

        <img class="imageHolder" id="capturedPhoto" alt="image holder" src="/images/1.jpg" />

    </div>

</body>

</html>


Write the following code in script.js:
 

(function () {

    "use strict";

    var photoKey = "capturedPhoto";

    var localSettings = Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.current.localSettings;

 

    var page = WinJS.UI.Pages.define("page.html", {

        ready: function (element, options) {

            document.getElementById("captureButton").addEventListener("click", capturePhoto, false);

            document.getElementById("resetButton").addEventListener("click", reset, false);

            document.getElementById("resetButton").style.visibility = "hidden";

 

            if (localSettings.values[photoKey]) {

                document.getElementById("captureButton").disabled = true;

                reloadPhoto();

            }

        }

    });

    function capturePhoto() {

        WinJS.log && WinJS.log("", "app", "status");

        var dialog = new Windows.Media.Capture.CameraCaptureUI();

        var aspectRatio = { width: 1, height: 1 };

        dialog.photoSettings.croppedAspectRatio = aspectRatio;

        dialog.captureFileAsync(Windows.Media.Capture.CameraCaptureUIMode.photo).done(function (file) {

            if (file) {

                var photoBlobUrl = URL.createObjectURL(file, { oneTimeOnly: true });

                document.getElementById("capturedPhoto").src = photoBlobUrl;

                document.getElementById("resetButton").style.visibility = "visible";

                localSettings.values[photoKey] = file.path;

            } else {

                WinJS.log && WinJS.log("No photo captured.", "app", "status");

            }

        }, function (err) {

            WinJS.log && WinJS.log(err, "app", "error");

        });

    }

    function reset() {

        WinJS.log && WinJS.log("", "app", "status");

        document.getElementById("capturedPhoto").src = "/images/placeholder-sdk.png";

        document.getElementById("resetButton").style.visibility = "hidden";

        localSettings.values.remove(photoKey);

    }

 

    function reloadPhoto() {       

        Windows.Storage.StorageFile.getFileFromPathAsync(localSettings.values[photoKey]).done(function (file) {

            document.getElementById("capturedPhoto").src = URL.createObjectURL(file, { oneTimeOnly: true });

            document.getElementById("resetButton").style.visibility = "visible";

            document.getElementById("captureButton").disabled = false;

        }, function (err) {

            localSettings.values.remove(photoKey);

            document.getElementById("captureButton").disabled = false;

            WinJS.log && WinJS.log(err, "app", "error");

        });

    }

})(); 


Write the following code in script1.js:
 

(function () {   

       var pageOutput = WinJS.Class.define(

        function (element, options) {

            element.winControl = this;

            this.element = element;

            new WinJS.Utilities.QueryCollection(element)

                        .setAttribute("role", "region")

                        .setAttribute("aria-labelledby", "outputLabel")

                        .setAttribute("aria-live", "assertive");

            element.id = "output";

 

            this._addOutputLabel(element);

            this._addStatusOutput(element);

        }, {

            _addOutputLabel: function (element) {

                var label = document.createElement("h2");

                label.id = "outputLabel";

                label.textContent = "Output";

                element.parentNode.insertBefore(label, element);

            },

            _addStatusOutput: function (element) {

                var statusDiv = document.createElement("div");

                statusDiv.id = "statusMessage";

                element.insertBefore(statusDiv, element.childNodes[0]);

            }

        }

    );

    var currentpageUrl = null;

    WinJS.Navigation.addEventListener("navigating", function (evt) {

        currentpageUrl = evt.detail.location;

    });

    WinJS.log = function (message, tag, type) {        

            var statusDiv = document.getElementById("statusMessage");           

    };   

    function activated(e) {

        WinJS.Utilities.query("#featureLabel")[0].textContent = App.appTitle;

    }

    WinJS.Application.addEventListener("activated", activated, false);

    WinJS.Namespace.define("App", {

      pageOutput: pageOutput

    });   

})(); 


Output:

photos-windows-store-apps.jpg

Summary

In this app I described how to capture a photo in a Windows Store App using JavaScript. I hope this article has helped you to understand this topic. Please share if you know more about this. Your feedback and constructive contributions are welcome.

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