Question

My application allows users to take a photo using the camera and save it as their profile picture. There can be only 1 image stored at a time?

• Is it a bad idea to use SharedPrefertences for this purpose although I am only storing 1 image? (Converting image to Base64). What are the cons?
• If storing the image using shared preferences is not a good idea, what are the alternatives?

Answer 1

I think storing binary data in SharedPreferences is not a good idea. Instead save it to the filesystem. Example for that, if the data is coming from an InputStream:

storeImage( new File(context.getFilesDir().getAbsolutePath() + fileDir), 
            is, 
            "profile.png" ); 

public static void storeImage( 
            File fileDir, 
            InputStream inputStream, 
            String fileName ) throws IOException {
    File file = new File( fileDir,fileName );
    FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream( file );
    Bitmap bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(inputStream);
    bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 100, fos);
    inputStream.close();
    fos.close();
    bitmap.recycle();
    bitmap = null;
}

Where context can be the Application/Activity context.