How to get an image via an intent in android

Android allows to re-use components from other applications. Lets see how you can use the Photo Gallery to pick a photo for your application.

First create a layout with a Button and an ImageView.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

    android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="fill_parent"

    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <Button android:text="Button" android:id="@+id/button1"

        android:onClick="pickImage" android:layout_width="wrap_content"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"></Button>

    <ImageView android:id="@+id/result" android:src="@drawable/icon"

        android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent"></ImageView>

</LinearLayout>

The following Activity will allow you to pick an image after pressing the button and after selecting a picture this picture will be set as background for your ImageView.

package de.vogella.android.imagepick;

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.io.InputStream;

import android.app.Activity;

import android.content.Intent;

import android.graphics.Bitmap;

import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;

import android.os.Bundle;

import android.view.View;

import android.widget.ImageView;

public class ImagePickActivity extends Activity {

    private static final int REQUEST_CODE = 1;

    private Bitmap bitmap;

    private ImageView imageView;

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */

    @Override

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        imageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.result);

    }

    public void pickImage(View View) {

        Intent intent = new Intent();

        intent.setType("image/*");

        intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);

        intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);

        startActivityForResult(intent, REQUEST_CODE);

    }

    @Override

    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {

        if (requestCode == REQUEST_CODE && resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK)

            try {

                // We need to recyle unused bitmaps

                if (bitmap != null) {

                    bitmap.recycle();

                }

                InputStream stream = getContentResolver().openInputStream(

                        data.getData());

                bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(stream);

                stream.close();

                imageView.setImageBitmap(bitmap);

            } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {

                e.printStackTrace();

            } catch (IOException e) {

                e.printStackTrace();

            }

        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);

    }

}

Updated: recycle() call to bitmap added

I hope this blog entry helps. You find me also on Twitter. My profile can be found Dharma Kshetri Profile

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