docs/html/training/camera/videobasics.jd

page.title=Recording Videos Simply
parent.title=Capturing Photos
parent.link=index.html

trainingnavtop=true
previous.title=Recording Photos Simply
previous.link=photobasics.html
next.title=Controlling the Camera
next.link=cameradirect.html

@jd:body


<div id="tb-wrapper">
  <div id="tb">

    <h2>This lesson teaches you to</h2>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#TaskManifest">Request Camera Permission</a></li>
      <li><a href="#TaskCaptureIntent">Record a Video with a Camera App</a>
      <li><a href="#TaskVideoView">View the Video</a></li>
    </ol>

    <h2>You should also read</h2>
      <ul>
        <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/media/camera.html">Camera</a></li>
        <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/intents/intents-filters.html">Intents and Intent 
      Filters</a></li>
      </ul>

    <h2>Try it out</h2>

    <div class="download-box">
      <a href="http://developer.android.com/shareables/training/PhotoIntentActivity.zip"
class="button">Download the sample</a>
      <p class="filename">PhotoIntentActivity.zip</p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>


<p>This lesson explains how to capture video using existing camera
applications.</p>

<p>Your application has a job to do, and integrating videos is only a small
part of it.  You want to take videos with minimal fuss, and not reinvent the
camcorder. Happily, most Android-powered devices already have a camera application that
records video. In this lesson, you make it do this for you.</p>



<h2 id="TaskManifest">Request Camera Permission</h2>

<p>To advertise that your application depends on having a camera, put a
{@code &lt;uses-feature&gt;} tag in the manifest file:</p>

<pre>
&lt;manifest ... >
    &lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" /&gt;
    ...
&lt;/manifest ... >
</pre>

<p>If your application uses, but does not require a camera in order to function, add {@code
android:required="false"} to the tag. In doing so, Android Market will allow devices without a
camera to download your application. It's then your responsibility to check for the availability
of the camera at runtime by calling {@link
android.content.pm.PackageManager#hasSystemFeature hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_CAMERA)}.
If a camera is not available, you should then disable your camera features.</p>


<h2 id="TaskCaptureIntent">Record a Video with a Camera App</h2> 

<p>The Android way of delegating actions to other applications is to invoke
an {@link android.content.Intent} that describes what you want done.  This
involves three pieces: the {@link android.content.Intent} itself, a call to start the external
{@link android.app.Activity}, and some code to handle the video when focus returns
to your activity.</p>

<p>Here's a function that invokes an intent to capture video.</p>

<pre>
private void dispatchTakeVideoIntent() {
    Intent takeVideoIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_VIDEO_CAPTURE);
    startActivityForResult(takeVideoIntent, ACTION_TAKE_VIDEO);
}
</pre>


<p>It's a good idea to make sure an app exists to handle your intent
before invoking it. Here's a function that checks for apps that can handle your intent:</p>

<pre>
public static boolean isIntentAvailable(Context context, String action) {
    final PackageManager packageManager = context.getPackageManager();
    final Intent intent = new Intent(action);
    List&lt;ResolveInfo> list =
        packageManager.queryIntentActivities(intent,
            PackageManager.MATCH_DEFAULT_ONLY);
    return list.size() > 0;
}
</pre>


<h2 id="TaskVideoView">View the Video</h2>

<p>The Android Camera application returns the video in the {@link android.content.Intent} delivered
to {@link android.app.Activity#onActivityResult onActivityResult()} as a {@link
android.net.Uri} pointing to the video location in storage. The following code
retrieves this image and displays it in a {@link android.widget.VideoView}.</p>

<pre>
private void handleCameraVideo(Intent intent) {
    mVideoUri = intent.getData();
    mVideoView.setVideoURI(mVideoUri);
}
</pre>