Xamarin: How to Capture Image DATA (not only for display) on portable app - mobile

Question

I need to capture an image from my camera using xamarin.forms portable, and obtain access to the image byte[] data for image processing purposes.
How can this be done?
I have the working code that captures the image and simply shows it, using xlabs
public async Task<MediaFile> TakePicture()
{
Setup ();
ImageSource = null;
return await _Mediapicker.TakePhotoAsync (new CameraMediaStorageOptions {
DefaultCamera = CameraDevice.Front, MaxPixelDimension = 400
}).ContinueWith (t => {
if (t.IsFaulted)
{
Status = t.Exception.InnerException.ToString();
}
else if (t.IsCanceled)
{
Status = "Canceled";
}
else
{
MediaFile mediaFile = t.Result;
ImageSource = ImageSource.FromStream(() => mediaFile.Source);
return mediaFile;
}
return null;
}, _scheduler);
}
and
private async void buttonTakePicture_Clicked() {
await cameraViewModel.TakePicture();
imageView.Source = cameraViewModel.ImageSource;
}
clicking the button launches cameraViewModel.TakePicture() which in turn uses xlabs to actually take the picture on the device.
How can I alter the code to also give me the image raw data (or use a different code altogether)?
Thanks

Answer 1

You can take mediaFile.Path and pass it as a parameter for a DependencyService:
//For Android
public byte[] ByteArrayFromStream(string path)
{
var bitmap = BitmapFactory.DecodeFile(path);
byte[] bitmapData;
using(stream = new MemoryStream())
{
bitmap.Compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.Png, 100, stream);
bitmapData = stream.ToArray();
}
return bitmapData;
}
//For iOS
public byte[] ByteArrayFromStream(string path)
{
UIImage originalImage = UIImage.FromFile(path);
return originalImage.AsPNG().ToArray();
}
To learn more about DependencyService you can access the documentation at:
https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/xamarin-forms/dependency-service/

Answer 2

This will help you to get byte[ ] in PCL :
public async Task<MediaFile> TakePicture()
{
Setup ();
ImageSource = null;
return await _Mediapicker.TakePhotoAsync (new CameraMediaStorageOptions {
DefaultCamera = CameraDevice.Front, MaxPixelDimension = 400
}).ContinueWith (t => {
if (t.IsFaulted)
{
Status = t.Exception.InnerException.ToString();
}
else if (t.IsCanceled)
{
Status = "Canceled";
}
else
{
MediaFile mediaFile = t.Result;
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
mediaFile.Source.CopyTo(ms);
byte[] attchmentbytes = ms.ToArray();
}
ImageSource = ImageSource.FromStream(() => mediaFile.Source);
return mediaFile;
}
return null;
}, _scheduler);
}