Beginning iOS Programming: Building and Deploying iOS Applications

Chapter 6Integrating the Camera and Photo Library in iOS Apps

WHAT YOU LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER:

• Taking pictures with the camera
• Importing pictures from the Photo Library
• Using gesture recognizers for advanced user interactions

WROX.COM CODE DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

You can find the wrox.com code downloads for this chapter at www.wrox.com/go/begiosprogramming on the Download Code tab. The code is in the chapter 06 download and individually named according to the names throughout the chapter.

Even before the iPhone came onto the market in 2007, camera phones were already gaining in popularity. Digital cameras had been around for a while and were far superior to any camera phone on the market, so many people owned both. This continued even after the release of the first iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS. It began to change with improvements to the built-in camera in the iPhone 4. Photo-sharing services started releasing data showing that the most popular camera used to take pictures was the iPhone 4. Today, the camera on a smartphone has become one of the top selling points, with manufacturers building far superior cameras than digital cameras produced as recently as a few years ago.

Pictures can also add to the usability of an app. The Contacts app from Apple is a good example of this. When you add contacts, you have the option to assign a picture to them. When you receive a phone call from contacts, their picture displays on the screen. In the old days of landlines and caller ...