java.lang.RuntimeException: takePicture failed

Question

when i do continuous click on Capture button (without any break), getting Runtime Exception how can i resolve this issue ? if its not possible so how may i handle this Exception ? ``` btnCapture = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.btnCapture); final MediaPlayer mp = MediaPlayer.create(CameraLauncherActivity.this, R.raw.button); btnCapture.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { // line where getting RuntimeException camera.takePicture(null, null, mPicture); } }); ``` Log: ``` 02-12 14:48:41.580: E/AndroidRuntime(6997): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 02-12 14:48:41.580: E/AndroidRuntime(6997): java.lang.RuntimeException: takePicture failed 02-12 14:48:41.580: E/AndroidRuntime(6997): at android.hardware.Camera.native_takePicture(Native Method) 02-12 14:48:41.580: E/AndroidRuntime(6997): at android.hardware.Camera.takePicture(Camera.java:1126) 02-12 14:48:41.580: E/AndroidRuntime(6997): at android.hardware.Camera.takePicture(Camera.java:1071) 02-12 14…

Accepted Answer

Firstly, catch your exceptions in onPictureTaken, leaving empty catch sections is not a good practice. Then, I would add a flag that would prevent from calling takePicture() while previous picture is being saved. Later in your button onClick you would check if it's ok to call takePicture().

Declare a flag as a member of your Activity:

```
private boolean safeToTakePicture = false;
```

In `surfaceChanged()`, just set the flag to true after calling startPreview():

```
camera.startPreview();
safeToTakePicture = true;
```

In your `onClick()` listener check the flag and take picture if ok to do so:

```
if (safeToTakePicture) {
    mp.start();
    camera.takePicture(null, null, mPicture); 
    safeToTakePicture = false;
}
```

In `onPictureTaken()`, set the flag again to true after picture has been saved (and add exception printing):

```
PictureCallback mPicture = new PictureCallback() {
    @Override
    public void onPictureTaken(byte[] data, Camera camera) {
        pictureFile = getOutputMediaFile();
        camera.startPreview();

if (pictureFile == null) {
            //no path to picture, return
            safeToTakePicture = true;
            return;
        }
        try {
            FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(pictureFile);
            fos.write(data);
            fos.close();

} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();              //<-------- show exception
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();              //<-------- show exception
        }

//finished saving picture 
        safeToTakePicture = true;
    }
};
```

NOTES: As the docs say, "Preview must be started before you can take a picture.", so possible enhancement would be to use setPreviewCallback() to register callback that will be called when preview data is available, and set the flag to true when onPreviewFrame is called.

java.lang.RuntimeException: takePicture failed

Solution

Problem