camera.setParameters failed in android

Question

I have included camera functionality in my application. I have also launched the app in the market. I got an error message from one of the users that he is getting an error while opening the camera...

I have tested the app on the device on 2.1. The error i got from the user is using nexus one which will mostly run 2.2...Here's the logcat error that i received...

java.lang.RuntimeException: setParameters failed

at android.hardware.Camera.native_setParameters(Native Method) at android.hardware.Camera.setParameters(Camera.java:647) at com.CameraApp.Preview.surfaceChanged(Preview.java:67) at android.view.SurfaceView.updateWindow(SurfaceView.java:538) at android.view.SurfaceView.dispatchDraw(SurfaceView.java:339) at android.view.ViewGroup.drawChild(ViewGroup.java:1638) at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchDraw(ViewGroup.java:1367) at android.view.ViewGroup.drawChild(ViewGroup.java:1638) at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchDraw(ViewGroup.java:1367) at android.view.ViewGroup.drawChild(ViewGroup.java:1638) at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchDraw(ViewGroup.java:1367) at android.view.View.draw(View.java:6743) at android.widget.FrameLayout.draw(FrameLayout.java:352) at android.view.ViewGroup.drawChild(ViewGroup.java:1640) at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchDraw(ViewGroup.java:1367) at android.view.View.draw(View.java:6743) at android.widget.FrameLayout.draw(FrameLayout.java:352) at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.draw(PhoneWindow.java:1842) at android.view.ViewRoot.draw(ViewRoot.java:1407) at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:1163) at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1727) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123) at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521) at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868) at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626) at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

I ran the app on 2.2 emulator also to check it. But it worked fine. can anyone please tell me why the error is occuring???

Hi here is the class which i mentioned in the comments :

class Preview extends SurfaceView implements SurfaceHolder.Callback { private static final String TAG = "Preview";

SurfaceHolder mHolder;
public Camera camera;

Preview(Context context) {
    super(context);

    // Install a SurfaceHolder.Callback so we get notified when the
    // underlying surface is created and destroyed.
    mHolder = getHolder();
    mHolder.addCallback(this);
    mHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
}



public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
    // The Surface has been created, acquire the camera and tell it where
    // to draw.
     camera = Camera.open();
    try {
        camera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
    } catch (IOException exception) {
        camera.release();
        camera = null;
        // TODO: add more exception handling logic here
    }
}

public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
    // Surface will be destroyed when we return, so stop the preview.
    // Because the CameraDevice object is not a shared resource, it's very
    // important to release it when the activity is paused.
    camera.stopPreview();
    camera.release();
    camera = null;
}

public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int w, int h) {
    // Now that the size is known, set up the camera parameters and begin
    // the preview.

    Camera.Parameters parameters = camera.getParameters();
    parameters.setPreviewSize(w, h);
    camera.setParameters(parameters);
    camera.startPreview();
}

@Override
public void draw(Canvas canvas) {
        super.draw(canvas);
        Paint p= new Paint(Color.RED);
        Log.d(TAG,"draw");
        canvas.drawText("PREVIEW", canvas.getWidth()/2, canvas.getHeight()/2, p );
}

}

Answer 1

It is failing because not all devices support arbitrary preview sizes. Apparently some do but you can rely on it. In your surfaceChanged method you need to do something like this:

public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int w, int h) {
    Camera.Parameters parameters = camera.getParameters();
    List<Camera.Size> previewSizes = parameters.getSupportedPreviewSizes();

    // You need to choose the most appropriate previewSize for your app
    Camera.Size previewSize = // .... select one of previewSizes here

    parameters.setPreviewSize(previewSize.width, previewSize.height);
    camera.setParameters(parameters);
    camera.startPreview();
}

You'll have to figure out a way to scale this so that you don't lose the aspect ratio etc.

For reference here is the Android SDK doc.