I have a Windows Mobile (Compact framework 2) application that defines a user control MPhotoControl. MPhotoControl shows a default image and when the user clicks on this image a CameraCaptureDialog
is opened to allow a photo to be captured. Once captured, the photo is then displayed in the user control. This works fine for capturing a single photo and then going back to the application.
The problem is that when there are lots of these controls on a particular form then the user interface becomes very unfriendly because the user has to show the camera dialog, take a photo, save and close the dialog for every photo control on the form. What the users are asking for is a mechanism to open the CameraCaptureDialog
, take several photos without the dialog closing until all the photo controls have images.
I am trying to implement this, but I don't see a way to get the CameraCaptureDialog
to capture and save several photos at once. As far as I can tell it is not possible, because when the dialog shows on my HTC Touch Diamond, I only have the options to "Accept the photo" (arrow icon), "Capture again" (camera icon) or "cancel and close dialog" (dustbin icon). And when I click the arrow to accept it always closes the dialog box.
So does anyone know of a way of capturing and saving more than one image at a time using CameraCaptureDialog
?
I then thought of trying to open the CameraCaptureDialog
multiple times as a work around. So as soon as the first image is saved the dialog is immediately opened again to capture the second image. Here is my code showing my attempt at a workaround:
public partial class MPhotoControl : UserControl
{
public static IEnumerable<MPhotoControl> PhotoControls;
...
private void CaptureMultiplePhotos()
{
foreach (MPhotoControl photo in PhotoControls)
{
using (CameraCaptureDialog cameraDialog = new CameraCaptureDialog())
{
if (cameraDialog.ShowDialog() != DialogResult.OK)
{
break;
}
photo.CapturePhoto(cameraDialog.FileName);
}
}
}
}
The problem with this is that the CameraCaptureDialog
still only opens once and the subsequent call to the ShowDialog
method simply returns DialogResult.Cancel
. So, does anyone know why this workaround does not work and if it is possible to get the dialog to immediately re-open once the previous captured image has been saved?
Please look here: http://www.hjgode.de/wp/2012/10/17/windows-mobile-cameracapturedialog-alternative/
I am unable to attach any code or binaries here, so I did a new blog post.
The code start the camera app, waits for its close-down and presents you with a list of new photos.
Code is not yet perfect but a starting point.