Media.selectPhoto Photo Date and Time Created Info?

Hardware (GPS, accelerometer, etc.)
#1

Hi Corona community!

    I’m using Media.selectPhoto to open up the photo album, and allowing users to select a picture to import into my Corona SDK app. Is there a way to get the date and time that these pictures were taken?

I’ve tried to import the picture from the photo album to system.TemporaryDirectory, then using:

local pathOrigin = system.pathForFile( photoData[i].fileName, system.TemporaryDirectory ); local fileAtributes = lfs.attributes(pathOrigin); local dateMod = fileAtributes.modification; local dateTime = os.date("%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S", dateMod);

To get the date and time of when the picture was created. This works in the simulator on my computer, but when I tested it on my iPhone it returns the current date and time.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thank you very much Corona Community!

#2

There isn’t a way with Corona SDK that I know of. Corona Enterprise lets you access native iOS and Android SDK API functions and both have ways to read the images meta data.

Rob

#3

Thanks Rob.

I am able to use this function to extract the EXIF width and height of an image, any ideas on how I can get the date and time using it?

local function getJpegInfo(fh, path) local function unpackMsbUint16(s) local c,d = s:byte(1,#s) local num = (c \* 256) + d return num end -- local function readMsbUint16(fh) return unpackMsbUint16(fh:read(2)) end -- local filePath = path or nil local theFile = nil -- if filePath == nil then theFile = system.pathForFile(fh, system.ResourceDirectory) else theFile = system.pathForFile(fh, path) end -- local fileHandle = assert(io.open(theFile, 'rb')) -- local self = {} -- --JPEG Markers local jpegSOI = string.char( 255 ) .. string.char( 216 ) local jpegAPP0 = string.char( 255 ) .. string.char( 224 ) local jpegSOF0 = string.char( 255 ) .. string.char( 192 ) local jpegSOF2 = string.char( 255 ) .. string.char( 194 ) -- local tempBytes -- repeat tempBytes = fileHandle:read(2) until ( ( tempBytes == jpegSOI ) or ( tempBytes == nil ) ) --assert( tempBytes~=nil, "SOI not found. Are you sure this is a JPEG file?" ) -- local APP0Marker = fileHandle:read(2) --assert( APP0Marker == jpegAPP0, "APP0 Marker not what's expected. Is this really a JPEG file?") -- local APP0Length = readMsbUint16(fileHandle) - 4 --we're 4 bytes into this thing already fileHandle:seek( "cur", APP0Length ) -- skipping ahead, but this is where the DPI is stored if you need it. -- local readHead -- repeat repeat tempBytes = fileHandle:read(2) until ( ( tempBytes == jpegSOF0 ) or ( tempBytes == jpegSOF2 ) or ( tempBytes == nil )) if tempBytes ~= nil then readHead = fileHandle:seek() if (tempBytes == jpegSOF0 or tempBytes == jpegSOF2) then print("Found SOF0:", tempBytes == jpegSOF0, "SOF2:", tempBytes == jpegSOF2) end end until tempBytes == nil if readHead then fileHandle:seek("set", readHead) fileHandle:read(3) -- length of frame self.bitDepth = readByte(fileHandle) -- bit depth self.height = readMsbUint16(fileHandle) -- image height self.width = readMsbUint16(fileHandle) -- image width print(readHead); end --close the file io.close(fileHandle) fileHandle = nil return self end

The credit for the function above goes to Toby2.

I’ve been playing around with the function and I’m able to also get the image DPI info, but not the date and time created. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks guys!

#4

I was able to extract the date and time created from an image in Simulator using the following code that I wrote:

local function ExtractDateTimeFile(photoName) local filePath = system.pathForFile(photoName, system.TemporaryDirectory); local file = io.open(filePath); local jpg = file:read(1000); local ofst = 0; for jr = 2000, 2030 do ofst = string.find(jpg, jr); if (ofst ~= nil and ofst \> 0) then print(ofst); break; end end if (ofst == 0) then if (string.find(jpg,"PC100")) then ofst = 169; elseif (string.find(jpg, "FUJIFILM")) then ofst = 241; elseif (string.find(jpg, "KODAK")) then ofst = 449; elseif (string.find(jpg, "CYBERSHOT")) then ofst = 211; elseif (string.find(jpg, "MINOLTA")) then ofst = 277; elseif (string.find(jpg, "iPhone")) then print("iPhone Camera Image Detected") ofst = 197; end end io.close(file); if (ofst == nil or ofst == 0) then print("Oh no! Can't get the meta data date and time") return 0; end local ofstEnd = ofst+19; local dateTime = jpg:sub(ofst, ofstEnd); print("This is the date and time taken from the metadata: "..dateTime); return dateTime; end

Unfortunately on the actual iPhone, it’s unable to get the date and time information. I did a little digging and it seems like on the iPhone when I copy the image that I select from the photo album to system.temporaryDirectory, it strips away the date and time information from the image. Is this correct? When running on the simulator this is not an issue and the date and time is returned properly.

#5

There isn’t a way with Corona SDK that I know of. Corona Enterprise lets you access native iOS and Android SDK API functions and both have ways to read the images meta data.

Rob

#6

Thanks Rob.

I am able to use this function to extract the EXIF width and height of an image, any ideas on how I can get the date and time using it?

local function getJpegInfo(fh, path) local function unpackMsbUint16(s) local c,d = s:byte(1,#s) local num = (c \* 256) + d return num end -- local function readMsbUint16(fh) return unpackMsbUint16(fh:read(2)) end -- local filePath = path or nil local theFile = nil -- if filePath == nil then theFile = system.pathForFile(fh, system.ResourceDirectory) else theFile = system.pathForFile(fh, path) end -- local fileHandle = assert(io.open(theFile, 'rb')) -- local self = {} -- --JPEG Markers local jpegSOI = string.char( 255 ) .. string.char( 216 ) local jpegAPP0 = string.char( 255 ) .. string.char( 224 ) local jpegSOF0 = string.char( 255 ) .. string.char( 192 ) local jpegSOF2 = string.char( 255 ) .. string.char( 194 ) -- local tempBytes -- repeat tempBytes = fileHandle:read(2) until ( ( tempBytes == jpegSOI ) or ( tempBytes == nil ) ) --assert( tempBytes~=nil, "SOI not found. Are you sure this is a JPEG file?" ) -- local APP0Marker = fileHandle:read(2) --assert( APP0Marker == jpegAPP0, "APP0 Marker not what's expected. Is this really a JPEG file?") -- local APP0Length = readMsbUint16(fileHandle) - 4 --we're 4 bytes into this thing already fileHandle:seek( "cur", APP0Length ) -- skipping ahead, but this is where the DPI is stored if you need it. -- local readHead -- repeat repeat tempBytes = fileHandle:read(2) until ( ( tempBytes == jpegSOF0 ) or ( tempBytes == jpegSOF2 ) or ( tempBytes == nil )) if tempBytes ~= nil then readHead = fileHandle:seek() if (tempBytes == jpegSOF0 or tempBytes == jpegSOF2) then print("Found SOF0:", tempBytes == jpegSOF0, "SOF2:", tempBytes == jpegSOF2) end end until tempBytes == nil if readHead then fileHandle:seek("set", readHead) fileHandle:read(3) -- length of frame self.bitDepth = readByte(fileHandle) -- bit depth self.height = readMsbUint16(fileHandle) -- image height self.width = readMsbUint16(fileHandle) -- image width print(readHead); end --close the file io.close(fileHandle) fileHandle = nil return self end

The credit for the function above goes to Toby2.

I’ve been playing around with the function and I’m able to also get the image DPI info, but not the date and time created. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks guys!

#7

I was able to extract the date and time created from an image in Simulator using the following code that I wrote:

local function ExtractDateTimeFile(photoName) local filePath = system.pathForFile(photoName, system.TemporaryDirectory); local file = io.open(filePath); local jpg = file:read(1000); local ofst = 0; for jr = 2000, 2030 do ofst = string.find(jpg, jr); if (ofst ~= nil and ofst \> 0) then print(ofst); break; end end if (ofst == 0) then if (string.find(jpg,"PC100")) then ofst = 169; elseif (string.find(jpg, "FUJIFILM")) then ofst = 241; elseif (string.find(jpg, "KODAK")) then ofst = 449; elseif (string.find(jpg, "CYBERSHOT")) then ofst = 211; elseif (string.find(jpg, "MINOLTA")) then ofst = 277; elseif (string.find(jpg, "iPhone")) then print("iPhone Camera Image Detected") ofst = 197; end end io.close(file); if (ofst == nil or ofst == 0) then print("Oh no! Can't get the meta data date and time") return 0; end local ofstEnd = ofst+19; local dateTime = jpg:sub(ofst, ofstEnd); print("This is the date and time taken from the metadata: "..dateTime); return dateTime; end

Unfortunately on the actual iPhone, it’s unable to get the date and time information. I did a little digging and it seems like on the iPhone when I copy the image that I select from the photo album to system.temporaryDirectory, it strips away the date and time information from the image. Is this correct? When running on the simulator this is not an issue and the date and time is returned properly.