Question

In my previous question I asked if System.currentTimeMillis() was buggy in Droid, and the answer was no.

I assume the problem I’m having is somewhere else. While I wait for my Droid lone-user to report if a test app works on his phone, I would like to post some relevant code here.

Please keep in mind that I removed everything in the code I thought would be irrelevant (posting the code leading to the first suspicious line in the log). I might have removed the code where the problem is, but I doubt it. It smells like a layout, not code, problem. I say this because (see last line, where the log is) the surface is 0.

Best regards, Ari.

MANIFEST

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" />
<application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
    <activity android:name=".BeMeBB" android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:screenOrientation="landscape">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity android:name="BeMeBBPref" android:label="@string/app_name">
    </activity>
</application>
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" android:targetSdkVersion="5" />
<supports-screens>
</supports-screens>

LAYOUT

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:paddingTop="0pt" android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:gravity="bottom" android:background="#00000001">

    <android.view.SurfaceView android:id="@+id/preview_LAND"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:keepScreenOn="true" android:layout_margin="0pt">
    </android.view.SurfaceView>

    <LinearLayout android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:layout_weight="1">

        <TextView android:id="@+id/ACCELERATION_LINE" android:text="0  2  4  6  8  10 12 14 16 18 20  "
            android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:typeface="monospace" android:layout_weight="0"
            android:textSize="20dp" android:textStyle="bold" android:textColor="@color/white"
            android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal" android:paddingTop="0dp"
            android:paddingLeft="0dp" android:background="#66000000" />

        <TextView android:id="@+id/ACCELERATION" android:text="@string/Accelerometers"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:typeface="monospace" android:textStyle="bold"
            android:layout_weight="0" android:textSize="20dp" android:textColor="@color/white"
            android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal|top" android:paddingLeft="0dp"
            android:background="#66000000" />

        <LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="bottom" android:layout_weight="1">

            <Button android:id="@+id/SAVE_LAND" android:text="@string/Save"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:gravity="left|bottom"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_weight="0"
                android:textSize="26dp" android:textColor="@color/black"
                android:padding="20dp" />
        </LinearLayout>
    </LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

CODE

public class BeMeBB extends Activity implements OnClickListener, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener, SensorEventListener {
    private SurfaceView preview=null;
    private SurfaceHolder previewHolder=null;

    SurfaceHolder.Callback surfaceCallback = new SurfaceHolder.Callback() {
        public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
            DoRecording();      
        }   
    }; // End SurfaceHolder.Callback surfaceCallback

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
        setContentView(R.layout.main_land);
        preview=(SurfaceView)findViewById(R.id.preview_LAND);
        previewHolder=preview.getHolder();
        previewHolder.addCallback(surfaceCallback);
        previewHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
    } // End OnCreate

    private void DoRecording() {
        m_worker.setSurfaceHolder(previewHolder);
    } // End DoRecording
} // End class

IN ANOTHER CLASS

public void setSurfaceHolder(SurfaceHolder previewHolder) { 
    m_previewHolder = previewHolder;
    m_surface = m_previewHolder.getSurface();   
    Log.d("BeMeBB", "BeMeBBWorker m_surface="  + m_surface);
} //End  setSurfaceHolder

AND THE RESULT IN LOG (SURFACE IS NOT VALID):

11-19 17:58:13.171 D/BeMeBB  ( 1404): BeMeBBService m_surface=Surface(native-token=0)

Answer 1

Now it’s confirmed, my lone Droid user sent back the 2 log files from:

1. A test app using MediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay (Surface sv). It REQUIRES use of getSurface, which crashes in API 5 on Droid phone.

2. A test app using Camera.setPreviewDisplay(SurfaceHolder sh). It REQUIRES use of MediaRecorder.setCamera for preview, but setCamera is apparently broken “Known limitation – locked camera” in API 3.

So: I Cannot have a previewed media recorder that works on 1.5 and 2.0. So my only option is, (confirmed MediaRecorder.setCamera is not broken in Android2.0 – they added an unlock) is to have two separate versions , one for API 3 and one for API 5.

Thank you commonsware for pointing me in the right direction. I will change the status to “answered” once I try again with deviceanywhere, just to be safe.