Question

I have a flex application in which I have to convert a jpeg picture taken by camera using base64 converter and then upload the result to sqlite database (as MEDIUMBLOB). The code looks like this:

MXML declarations of images:

        <s:Group width="480" height="304">
            <s:Label x="0" y="0" width="100%" height="34" backgroundColor="#4D4D4D"
                     color="#FFFFFF" fontSize="30" text="   Select photo" verticalAlign="middle"/>
            <s:Image id="image" x="10" y="42" width="217" height="246" />
            <s:Image id="image2" x="10" y="42" width="217" height="246" source = "@Embed(source='skins/PhotoNotAvailable.jpg')"/>
            <s:Button x="235" y="42" width="235" height="84" label="Take a Picture"
                      click="captureImage(event)" enabled="{CameraUI.isSupported}" fontSize="30"/>
            <s:Button x="235" y="150" width="235" height="70" label="Delete"
                      click="deletePhoto(event)" fontSize="30"/>
        </s:Group>

Scripts for taking a picture and convertion:

//Taking the pictures

        protected function application1_applicationCompleteHandler(event:FlexEvent):void {
            image.setVisible(true);
            image2.setVisible(false);
            if (CameraUI.isSupported){
                var mediaPromise:MediaPromise;
                camera = new CameraUI();
                camera.addEventListener(MediaEvent.COMPLETE, onComplete);
                camera.addEventListener(ErrorEvent.ERROR, onError);
            } else {
            }
        }

        protected function view1_activateHandler(event:Event):void
        {
            conn  = data as SQLConnection;
        }

        private function captureImage(event:MouseEvent):void {
            camera.launch(MediaType.IMAGE);
        }
        private function onError(event:ErrorEvent):void {
            trace("error has occurred");
        }
        private function onComplete(event:MediaEvent):void {
            var mediaPromise:MediaPromise = event.data;
            image.source = mediaPromise.file.url;
            pictureTaken = true;
        }

//Convertion and uploading to database

protected function AddHandler(event:MouseEvent):void

//irrelevant code skipped

                insertStmt = new SQLStatement();
                insertStmt.sqlConnection = conn;
                var insertSQL:String = ("INSERT INTO RecipeDB (RecipeID, Name, Category, Origin, Recipe, Favorite, Image)" + "VALUES (:RecipeID, :Name, :Category, :Origin, :Recipe, :Favorite, :Image)");
                insertStmt.text = insertSQL;
                    if(pictureTaken)
                {
                    var jencoder:JPEGEncoder = new JPEGEncoder(75);  
                    var imageByteArray:ByteArray = jencoder.encode(image.bitmapData);
                    var baseEncoder:Base64Encoder = new Base64Encoder();
                    baseEncoder.encodeBytes(imageByteArray); 
                    encodedBytes = baseEncoder.toString();
                }
                else
                {
                    var jencoder:JPEGEncoder = new JPEGEncoder(75);  
                    var imageByteArray:ByteArray = jencoder.encode(image2.bitmapData);
                    var baseEncoder:Base64Encoder = new Base64Encoder();
                    baseEncoder.encodeBytes(imageByteArray); 
                    encodedBytes = baseEncoder.toString();

                }
                insertStmt.parameters[":RecipeID"] = ID as int;
                insertStmt.parameters[":Name"] = NameArea.text;
                insertStmt.parameters[":Category"] = TypeArea.text;
                insertStmt.parameters[":Origin"] = OriginArea.text;
                insertStmt.parameters[":Recipe"] = RecipeArea.text;
                insertStmt.parameters[":Favorite"] = 0 as int;
                insertStmt.parameters[":Image"] = encodedBytes;
                insertStmt.execute();
}

//Deleting photo
            protected function deletePhoto(event:MouseEvent):void
        {
            pictureTaken = false;
            image.setVisible(false);
            image2.setVisible(true);
        }

Now, if no picture was taken, the program uploads skins/PhotoNotAvailable.jpg to the DB correctly, but if the picture was taken or taken and deleted, the program hangs (android asks if to close it or wait). I have checked the size of taken pictures and it does not exceed MEDIUMBLOB`s size (picture has ca. 2 MBytes). What could be wrong?

Answer 1

My first thought from your description of what happens is “a breakpoint.” The only time my phone gives me that message is when I’m debugging and it’s stopped on a break point for too long.

You might cast your event.data as MediaPromise

    private function onComplete(event:MediaEvent):void {
        var mediaPromise:MediaPromise = event.data as MediaPromise;
        image.source = mediaPromise.file.url;
        pictureTaken = true;
    }

Though that may just be a copying error.

So far as I can tell you don’t need to base64 encode the image data. It’s already encoded and ready to be inserted into a database. Perhaps “double-encoding” is somehow creating a problem. ???

I would change

if(pictureTaken)
{
    var jencoder:JPEGEncoder = new JPEGEncoder(75);  
    var imageByteArray:ByteArray = jencoder.encode(image.bitmapData);
    var baseEncoder:Base64Encoder = new Base64Encoder();
    baseEncoder.encodeBytes(imageByteArray); 
    encodedBytes = baseEncoder.toString();
}
else
{
    var jencoder:JPEGEncoder = new JPEGEncoder(75);  
    var imageByteArray:ByteArray = jencoder.encode(image2.bitmapData);
    var baseEncoder:Base64Encoder = new Base64Encoder();
    baseEncoder.encodeBytes(imageByteArray); 
    encodedBytes = baseEncoder.toString();
}

insertStmt.parameters[":RecipeID"] = ID as int;
insertStmt.parameters[":Name"] = NameArea.text;
insertStmt.parameters[":Category"] = TypeArea.text;
insertStmt.parameters[":Origin"] = OriginArea.text;
insertStmt.parameters[":Recipe"] = RecipeArea.text;
insertStmt.parameters[":Favorite"] = 0 as int;
insertStmt.parameters[":Image"] = encodedBytes;
insertStmt.execute();

to

var jencoder:JPEGEncoder = new JPEGEncoder(75);
var imageByteArray:ByteArray;
if(pictureTaken)
{
    imageByteArray = jencoder.encode(image.bitmapData);
}
else
{
    imageByteArray = jencoder.encode(image2.bitmapData);
}

insertStmt.parameters[":RecipeID"] = ID as int;
insertStmt.parameters[":Name"] = NameArea.text;
insertStmt.parameters[":Category"] = TypeArea.text;
insertStmt.parameters[":Origin"] = OriginArea.text;
insertStmt.parameters[":Recipe"] = RecipeArea.text;
insertStmt.parameters[":Favorite"] = 0 as int;
insertStmt.parameters[":Image"] = imageByteArray;
insertStmt.execute();

If for some reason you still want the base64 encoding and it’s not creating the problem, I would still suggest refactoring the code like this to save duplication since the only thing that varies between the two if branches is the source of the bitmap data.

var jencoder:JPEGEncoder = new JPEGEncoder(75);  
var imageByteArray:ByteArray;
if(pictureTaken)
{
    imageByteArray = jencoder.encode(image.bitmapData);
}
else
{
    imageByteArray = jencoder.encode(image2.bitmapData);
}
var baseEncoder:Base64Encoder = new Base64Encoder();
baseEncoder.encodeBytes(imageByteArray); 
encodedBytes = baseEncoder.toString();

However, this is just a first stab at it. It would be useful to see the code all together. I’m assuming that encodedBytes is a String available to the whole class? I can’t see how/when AddHandler is invoked, so I also can’t tell variable states when it is called (which could be related to the problem). It would also be useful to know what’s happening after the AddHandler is completed. Perhaps it’s an error occurring after the insert statement that is hanging up?

Did you debug it and get any errors to share?

I know the post is a month old, so maybe you already figured it out. Maybe you could share it so others don’t make the same mistake. Either way, I hope this can help someone.