Writing a cross-platform and cross-device application that browses for images
Problem
I want my application to allow users to pick an image from their local computer/device.
Solution
There’s a relatively simple technique you can use to make sure your application behaves as expected across various platforms and devices. See below for details.
Detailed explanation
If you're writing a cross-platform, cross-device AIR applications that allows users to pick an image from their local computer/device, there's a relatively simple technique you can use to make sure the app does the right thing in all contexts (desktop, phones, and tablets). Specifically, I define "the right thing" as:
*On phones and Android tablets, bring up the full-screen image picker.
*On iPads, bring up the photo gallery panel and associate it with the button or other UI element that invoked it.
*On Macs, open a file picker that defaults to ~/Pictures.
*On Windows, open a file picker that defaults to c:/Users/<username>/My Pictures.
The function below can be used in any AIR application on any supported device, and it should always do the right thing:
private function onOpenPhotoPicker(e:MouseEvent):void
{
// We're on mobile. Should work well for phones and tablets.
if (CameraRoll.supportsBrowseForImage)
{
var crOpts:CameraRollBrowseOptions = new CameraRollBrowseOptions();
crOpts.height = this.stage.stageHeight / 3;
crOpts.width = this.stage.stageWidth / 3;
crOpts.origin = new Rectangle(e.target.x, e.target.y, e.target.width, e.target.height);
var cr:CameraRoll = new CameraRoll();
cr.browseForImage(crOpts);
}
else // We're on the desktop
{
var picDirectory:File;
if (File.userDirectory.resolvePath("Pictures").exists)
{
picDirectory = File.userDirectory.resolvePath("Pictures");
}
else if (File.userDirectory.resolvePath("My Pictures").exists)
{
picDirectory = File.userDirectory.resolvePath("My Pictures");
}
else
{
picDirectory = File.userDirectory;
}
picDirectory.browseForOpen("Choose a picture");
}
}
For more information on
CameraRoll changes in AIR 3, see
How to Correctly Use the CameraRoll API on iPads.
This contribution was originally created by Christian Cantrell. You can read more of his solutions on his blog.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license, pertaining to the examples of code included within this work are available at Adobe.
