Camera Preview (ArkTS)

Preview is the image you see after you start the camera application but before you take photos or record videos.

How to Develop

Read Camera for the API reference.

Import the camera module, which provides camera-related attributes and methods.

import camera from '@ohos.multimedia.camera';
import { BusinessError } from '@ohos.base';

Create a surface.

The <XComponent>, the capabilities of which are provided by the UI, offers the surface for preview streams. For details, see XComponent.

NOTE: The preview stream and video output stream must have the same aspect ratio of the resolution. For example, the aspect ratio in the code snippet below is 1920:1080 (which is equal to 16:9), then the aspect ratio of the resolution of the preview stream must also be 16:9. This means that the resolution can be 640:360, 960:540, 1920:1080, or the like.

// xxx.ets
// Create an XComponentController object.
@Component
struct XComponentPage {
  // Create an XComponentController object.
  mXComponentController: XComponentController = new XComponentController;
  surfaceId: string = '';

  build() {
    Flex() {
      // Create an XComponent object.
      XComponent({
        id: '',
        type: 'surface',
        libraryname: '',
        controller: this.mXComponentController
      })
        .onLoad(() => {
          // Set the surface width and height (1920 x 1080). For details about how to set the preview size, see the preview resolutions supported by the current device, which are obtained from previewProfilesArray.
          // The preview stream and video output stream must have the same aspect ratio of the resolution.
          this.mXComponentController.setXComponentSurfaceSize({surfaceWidth:1920,surfaceHeight:1080});
          // Obtain the surface ID.
          this.surfaceId = this.mXComponentController.getXComponentSurfaceId();
        })
        .width('1920px')
        .height('1080px')
    }
  }
}

Call previewProfiles() in the CameraOutputCapability class to obtain the preview output capabilities, in the format of an previewProfilesArray array, supported by the current device. Then call createPreviewOutput() to create a PreviewOutput object, with the first parameter set to the first item in the previewProfilesArray array and the second parameter set to the surface ID obtained in step 2.

function getPreviewOutput(cameraManager: camera.CameraManager, cameraOutputCapability: camera.CameraOutputCapability, surfaceId: string): camera.PreviewOutput | undefined {
  let previewProfilesArray: Array<camera.Profile> = cameraOutputCapability.previewProfiles;
  let previewOutput: camera.PreviewOutput | undefined = undefined;
  try {
    previewOutput = cameraManager.createPreviewOutput(previewProfilesArray[0], surfaceId);
  } catch (error) {
    let err = error as BusinessError;
    console.error("Failed to create the PreviewOutput instance. error code: " + err.code);
  }
  return previewOutput;
}

Call start() to start outputting the preview stream. If the call fails, an error code is returned. For details, see Camera Error Codes.

function startPreviewOutput(previewOutput: camera.PreviewOutput): void {
  previewOutput.start().then(() => {
    console.info('Callback returned with previewOutput started.');
  }).catch((err: BusinessError) => {
    console.error('Failed to previewOutput start '+ err.code);
  });
}

Status Listening

During camera application development, you can listen for the preview output stream status, including preview stream start, preview stream end, and preview stream output errors.

Register the 'frameStart' event to listen for preview start events. This event can be registered when a PreviewOutput object is created and is triggered when the bottom layer starts exposure for the first time. The preview stream starts as long as a result is returned.
```
function onPreviewOutputFrameStart(previewOutput: camera.PreviewOutput): void {
  previewOutput.on('frameStart', () => {
    console.info('Preview frame started');
  });
}
```
Register the 'frameEnd' event to listen for preview end events. This event can be registered when a PreviewOutput object is created and is triggered when the last frame of preview ends. The preview stream ends as long as a result is returned.
```
function onPreviewOutputFrameEnd(previewOutput: camera.PreviewOutput): void {
  previewOutput.on('frameEnd', () => {
    console.info('Preview frame ended');
  });
}
```

Register the 'error' event to listen for preview output errors. The callback function returns an error code when an API is incorrectly used. For details about the error code types, see Camera Error Codes.

function onPreviewOutputError(previewOutput: camera.PreviewOutput): void {
  previewOutput.on('error', (previewOutputError: BusinessError) => {
    console.info(`Preview output error code: ${previewOutputError.code}`);
  });
}