Capture Image from camera and store in Firebase RealTime DataBase

Question

I am creating an inventory app for a friend's crystal specimens in Kotlin. The intended logic is:

• type in input
• add or take a picture (open photo button is imgView below submit button)
• submit
• RockEntry Object is created w/ picture entry and added to Firebase RealTime DataBase

However, I am unsure how to store the image in Firebase RealTime DataBase. I have seen examples of this process in Java and it requires in the onActivityResult, data.data be converted to a bitmap before storing but I do not fully understand enough to convert this. I was hoping someone could explain the hows and whys of storing images from the camera and not from the camera into the firebase.

My code is below and I add some questions.

RockEnry.kt

package com.inven.rock_stock

import android.content.Intent
import android.graphics.Picture
import com.google.firebase.database.FirebaseDatabase
import com.google.firebase.database.core.Context

class RockEntry {
    var name = ""
    var purchDate = ""
    var local = ""
    var mine = ""
    var weight = ""
    var paid = ""
    var asking = ""
    var description = ""
    var dimensions = ""

    constructor(name:String,purchDate:String,local:String,mine:String,
                weight:String,paid:String,asking:String,description:String,dimensions:String,){
        this.name = name
        this.purchDate = purchDate
        this.local = local
        this.mine = mine
        this.weight = weight
        this.paid = paid
        this.asking = asking
        this.description = description
        this.dimensions = dimensions

how do I store picture in constructor?

MainActivity

package com.inven.rock_stock

import android.app.Activity
import android.content.ActivityNotFoundException
import android.content.Intent
import android.os.Bundle
import android.provider.MediaStore
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import com.google.firebase.database.FirebaseDatabase
import kotlinx.android.synthetic.main.activity_main.*

var CAMERA_REQUEST_CODE = 0
var database = FirebaseDatabase.getInstance().reference

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {  
    private val TAG = "MyActivity"
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)


        button.setOnClickListener {
            var name = name.text.toString()
            var local = locality.text.toString()
            var mine = mine.text.toString()
            var weight = weight.text.toString()
            var dimensions = dimensions.text.toString()
            var paid = paid.text.toString()
            var asking = asking.text.toString()
            var description = description.text.toString()

            database.child("Rocks").child(name.toLowerCase()).setValue(
                RockEntry(
                    name,
                    local,
                    mine,
                    weight,
                    dimensions
                    paid,
                    asking,
                    description


                )
            )
        }

        imageBtn.setOnClickListener {
            takePicture()
        }
    }


    private fun takePicture() {
        CAMERA_REQUEST_CODE = 222
        val takePictureIntent = Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE)
        try {
            startActivityForResult(takePictureIntent, CAMERA_REQUEST_CODE)
        } catch (e: ActivityNotFoundException) {
            // display error state to the user
        }
    }


    override fun onActivityResult(requestCode: Int, resultCode: Int, data: Intent?) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data)
        when (requestCode) {
            CAMERA_REQUEST_CODE -> {
                if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK && data != null) {

println("What do I need to do to get picture into firebase?")

                    val singularity = data.data

                    }

                }

            }

        }

    }

I guess I am having some conceptual issues on:

• what needs to be done to store the photo from the camera to the firebase,
• how does the way a photo is returned from the library differ from the way a photo is returned from the live camera?

I found some examples in Java here, (which I probably should have created this project in) but my conversion is pretty ugly at this point.
here's the doc i've been staring at photobasicsDoc, uploadDoc

Answer 1

My misconception was that FireBaseDatabase & FireBaseStorage were one in the same.

• I most importantly configured some storage by using the firebase tools in Android Studio (which also added the appropriate dependancies)
  I declared private var mStorageRef: StorageReference? = null & set it equal to
  mStorageRef = FirebaseStorage.getInstance().getReference("Images") in my onCreate.

  the following is the code I was missing from my onActivityResult:

  val imageBitmap = data.extras?.get("data") as Bitmap
                      val baos = ByteArrayOutputStream()
                      imageBitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, 100, baos)
                      val datar = baos.toByteArray()
  
                      storageRef!!.putBytes(datar)
  

I still welcome input on the post, questions that still stand:

• How should I link FireBaseDataBase & FireBaseStorage.
  UPDATE: You can 'link' FireBaseDataBase & FireBaseStorage files through storing the location the file lives at in the database or getting a http download link to the file and storing it in the database.

   storageRef.downloadUrl?.addOnSuccessListener { 
        downloadUri -> {
        //do something with https download file link
        var link = downloadUri.toString()
        //which is different from 
        var databaseStoragelocation = storageref.toString()
        }
    }
  

• How should you store picture in object.
  UPDATE: You can create a constructor who takes a ByteArray or Uri as a parameter

• how does the way a photo is returned from the library differ from the way a photo is returned from the live camera?
  UPDATE: basically takePicture and pickImageFromGallery() (below) both run under an Intent (code sample below). In the onActivityResult camera pictures will be presented as a bitmap and gallery pictures will be a Uri

       // take picture from camera
       private fun takePicture() {
       CAMERA_REQUEST_CODE = 222
       val takePictureIntent = Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE)
       try {
           startActivityForResult(takePictureIntent, CAMERA_REQUEST_CODE)
       } catch (e: ActivityNotFoundException) {
           // display error state to the user
       }
   }
  
   /* goes to gallery to select image */
   private fun pickImageFromGallery() {
       val intent = Intent()
       intent.type = "image/*"
       intent.action = Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT
  
       startActivityForResult(intent, GALLERY_REQUEST_CODE)
  
  
   }
  
   /* checks to see if app had permission to access gallery, then calls pickImageFromGallery */
   private fun checkPermissionForImage() {
       if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
           if ((checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) == PackageManager.PERMISSION_DENIED)
               && (checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) == PackageManager.PERMISSION_DENIED)
           ) {
               val permission = arrayOf(Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
               val permissionCoarse = arrayOf(Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
  
               val PERMISSION_CODE_READ = 0
               requestPermissions(
                   permission,
                   PERMISSION_CODE_READ
               ) // GIVE AN INTEGER VALUE FOR PERMISSION_CODE_READ LIKE 1001
               val PERMISSION_CODE_WRITE = 0
               requestPermissions(
                   permissionCoarse,
                   PERMISSION_CODE_WRITE
               ) // GIVE AN INTEGER VALUE FOR PERMISSION_CODE_WRITE LIKE 1002
           } else {
               pickImageFromGallery()
           }
       }
   }
  
        /* on completion of pickImageFromGallery or takePicture this 
          function will store the image in the appropriate array to be 
          later uploaded */
   override fun onActivityResult(requestCode: Int, resultCode: Int, 
   data: Intent?) {
       val filePath: Uri?
       /* reference to storagebase for photos */
  
       super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data)
       when (requestCode) {
  
           CAMERA_REQUEST_CODE -> {
               if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK && data != null) {
                   val imageBitmap = data.extras?.get("data") as 
                   Bitmap)
                   val baos = ByteArrayOutputStream()
                   imageBitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, 
                   100, baos)
                   val datar = baos.toByteArray() // <- the picture is 
                                                  ready to upload here
                   // adding photo bytearray to a array
                   campics.add(datar)                                                      
               }
           }
  
           GALLERY_REQUEST_CODE -> {
               if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK && data != null) {
                   filePath = data.data
                   val imageBitmap = 
                   MediaStore.Images.Media.getBitmap(contentResolver, 
                   filePath)
                   // adding gallery pic Uri to array
                   filePath?.let { galpics.add(it) } 
  
               }
           }
       }
   }