NativeScript Camera Plus

A NativeScript camera with all the bells and whistles which can be embedded inside a view. This plugin was sponsored by LiveShopper

Do you need assistance on your project or plugin? Contact the nStudio team anytime at [email protected] to get up to speed with the best practices in mobile and web app development.

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Installation

tns plugin add @nstudio/nativescript-camera-plus

Sample

Yes the camera is rotated because it's a webcam to an emulator and it's just the way life works

Demo

The demo apps work best when run on a real device. You can launch them from the simulator/emulator however the camera does not work on iOS simulators. Android emulators will work with cameras if you enable your webcam.

Android Emulator Note

The camera in your webcam being used on emulators will likely be rotated sideways (incorrectly). The actual camera output will be correctly oriented, it's only the preview on emulators that present the preview incorrectly. This issue shouldn't be present on real devices due to the camera being oriented correctly on the device vs. a webcam in a computer.

NOTE: You may want to run: npm run nuke first to clear and reset directories.

Run Vanilla Demo

Plug device in, then:

npm run demo.ios.device
// or...
npm run demo.android.device

Run Angular Demo

Plug device in, then:

npm run demo.ng.ios.device
// or...
npm run demo.ng.android.device

Properties

Name	Type	Description
debug	boolean	If true logs will be output in the console to help debug the Camera Plus events.
confirmPhotos	boolean	If true the default take picture event will present a confirmation dialog before saving. Default is true.
confirmRetakeText	string	When confirming capture this text will be presented to the user to retake the photo. Default is 'Retake'
confirmSaveText	string	When confirming capture this text will be presented to the user to save the photo. Default is 'Save'
saveToGallery	boolean	If true the default take picture event will save to device gallery. Default is true.
galleryPickerMode	string	The gallery/library selection mode. 'single' allows one image to be selected. 'multiple' allows multiple images. Default is 'multiple'
showFlashIcon	boolean	If true the default flash toggle icon/button will show on the Camera Plus layout. Default is true.
showToggleIcon	boolean	If true the default camera toggle (front/back) icon button will show on the Camera Plus layout. Default is true.
showCaptureIcon	boolean	If true the default capture (take picture) icon/button will show on the Camera Plus layout. Default is true.
showGalleryIcon	boolean	If true the choose from gallery/library icon/button will show on the Camera Plus layout. Default is true.
enableVideo	boolean	If true the CameraPlus instance can record video and videos are shown in the gallery.

Static Properties

Note: These properties need set before the initialization of the camera. Users should set these in a component constructor before their view creates the component if the wish to change the default values. In case of enableVideo, this will be true if either the static property or the component property is true.

Name	Type	Description
enableVideo	boolean	Video Support (off by default). Can reset it before using in different views if they want to go back/forth between photo/camera and video/camera
defaultCamera	CameraTypes	Defaults the camera correctly on launch. Default 'rear'. 'front' or 'rear'

Android Only Properties

Name	Type	Description
flashOnIcon	string	Name of app_resource drawable for the native image button when flash is on (enabled).
flashOffIcon	string	Name of app_resource drawable for the native image button when flash is off (disabled).
toggleCameraIcon	string	Name of app_resource drawable for the toggle camera button.
takePicIcon	string	Name of app_resource drawable for the take picture (capture) button.
galleryIcon	string	Name of app_resource drawable for the open gallery (image library) button.
autoFocus	boolean	If true the camera will use continuous focus when the camera detects changes of the target.

iOS Only Properties

Name	Type	Description
doubleTapCameraSwitch	boolean	Enable/disable double tap gesture to switch camera. (enabled)

Cross Platform Public Methods

Method	Description
isCameraAvailable()	Returns true if the device has at least one camera.
toggleFlash()	Toggles the flash mode on the active camera.
toggleCamera()	Toggles the active camera on the device.
chooseFromLibrary(opts?: IChooseOptions)	Opens the device gallery (image library) for selecting images.
takePicture(opts?: ICaptureOptions)	Takes a picture of the current preview in the CameraPlus.
getFlashMode(): string	Android: various strings possible: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Camera.Parameters.html#getFlashMode() iOS: either 'on' or 'off'
record(opts?: IVideoOptions)	Starts recording a video.
stop()	Stops the video recording, when stopped the videoRecordingReadyEvent event will be emitted.

Android Only Public Methods

Method	Description
requestCameraPermissions(explanationText?: string)	Prompts the user to grant runtime permission to use the device camera. Returns a Promise.
hasCameraPermission()	Returns true if the application has been granted access to the device camera.
requestStoragePermissions(explanationText?: string)	Prompts the user to grant runtime permission to use external storage for saving and opening images from device gallery. Returns a Promise.
hasStoragePermissions()	Returns true if the application has been granted access to the device storage.
getNumberOfCameras()	Returns the number of cameras on the device.
hasFlash()	Returns true if the active camera has a flash mode.

Events

Name	Description
errorEvent	Executes when an error is emitted from CameraPlus
photoCapturedEvent	Executes when a photo is taken.
toggleCameraEvent	Executes when the device camera is toggled.
imagesSelectedEvent	Executes when images are selected from the device library/gallery.
videoRecordingStartedEvent	Executes when video starts recording.
videoRecordingFinishedEvent	Executes when video stops recording but has not process yet.
videoRecordingReadyEvent	Executes when video has completed processing and is ready to be used.
confirmScreenShownEvent	Executes when the picture confirm dialog is shown..
confirmScreenDismissedEvent	Executes when the picture confirm dialog is dismissed either by Retake or Save button.

Option Interfaces

export interface ICameraOptions {
  confirm?: boolean;
  saveToGallery?: boolean;
  keepAspectRatio?: boolean;
  height?: number;
  width?: number;
  autoSquareCrop?: boolean;
  confirmRetakeText?: string;
  confirmSaveText?: string;
}

export interface IChooseOptions {
  width?: number;
  height?: number;
  keepAspectRatio?: boolean;
  showImages?:  boolean;
  showVideos?: boolean;
}

export interface IVideoOptions {
  quality?: CameraVideoQuality;
  confirm?: boolean;
  saveToGallery?: boolean;
  height?: number;
  width?: number;
  disableHEVC?: boolean;
  androidMaxVideoBitRate?: number;
  androidMaxFrameRate?: number;
  androidMaxAudioBitRate?: number;
}