Image storage in iOS devices, the appropriate behavior? - iphone

Question

I'm kinda puzzeled about image storage in iOS devices for an app i'm making.
My requirement is to load an Image onto a tableViewCell, lets say in the default Image space of a UITableViewCell and hence isnt a background image.
Now The user can either add an Image either via the PhotoDirectory or take an entirely new image.
If a new image is taken, where should that image be stored preferebly? In the default photo directory ? or in the documents folder of the app sandbox?
Because these are image files, I'm afraid that store images within the app bundle can make it pretty big, I'm afraid I dont wana cross the size limit.
Performance wise though... what would be a better option?

Answer 1

I have an app that also does some of the things you describe. My solutions was to create a singleton that I call my imageStore. You can find information about a singleton here
In this imageStore, I store all my "full size" images; however, like you I am concerned about the size of these images, so instead of using them directly, I use thumbnails. What I do is this. For each object that I want to represent in the table, I make sure the object has a UIImage defined that is about thumnail size (64x64 or any size you desire). Then an object is created, I create a thumbnail that I store along with the object. I use this thumbnail instead of the larger images where I can get a way with it, like on a table cell.
I'm not behind my Mac at the moment, but if you want I can post some code later to demonstrate both the singleton and the creation and usage of the thumbnail.
Here is my header file for the ImageStore
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#interface BPImageStore : NSObject {
NSMutableDictionary *dictionary;
}
+ (BPImageStore *)defaultImageStore;
- (void)setImage:(UIImage *)i forKey:(NSString *)s;
- (UIImage *)imageForKey:(NSString *)s;
- (void)deleteImageForKey:(NSString *)s;
#end
Here is the ImageStore.m file - my Singleton
#import "BPImageStore.h"
static BPImageStore *defaultImageStore = nil;
#implementation BPImageStore
+ (id)allocWithZone:(NSZone *)zone {
return [[self defaultImageStore] retain];
}
+ (BPImageStore *)defaultImageStore {
if(!defaultImageStore) {
defaultImageStore = [[super allocWithZone:NULL] init];
}
return defaultImageStore;
}
- (id)init
{
if(defaultImageStore) {
return defaultImageStore;
}
self = [super init];
if (self) {
dictionary = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
NSNotificationCenter *nc = [NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter];
[nc addObserver:self selector:#selector(clearCach:) name:UIApplicationDidReceiveMemoryWarningNotification object:nil];
}
return self;
}
- (void) clearCache:(NSNotification *)note {
[dictionary removeAllObjects];
}
- (oneway void) release {
// no op
}
- (id)retain {
return self;
}
- (NSUInteger)retainCount {
return NSUIntegerMax;
}
- (void)setImage:(UIImage *)i forKey:(NSString *)s {
[dictionary setObject:i forKey:s];
// Create full path for image
NSString *imagePath = pathInDocumentDirectory(s);
// Turn image into JPEG data
NSData *d = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(i, 0.5);
// Write it to full path
[d writeToFile:imagePath atomically:YES];
}
- (UIImage *)imageForKey:(NSString *)s {
// if possible, get it from the dictionary
UIImage *result = [dictionary objectForKey:s];
if(!result) {
// Create UIImage object from file
result = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:pathInDocumentDirectory(s)];
if (result)
[dictionary setObject:result forKey:s];
}
return result;
}
- (void)deleteImageForKey:(NSString *)s {
if(!s) {
return;
}
[dictionary removeObjectForKey:s];
NSString *path = pathInDocumentDirectory(s);
[[NSFileManager defaultManager] removeItemAtPath:path error:NULL];
}
#end
Here is where I use the image store. In my Object "player", I have a UIImage to store the thumbnail and I have an NSString to house a key that I create. Each original image I put into the store has a key. I store the key with my Player. If I ever need the original image, I get by the unique key. It is also worth noting here that I don't even store the original image at full size, I cut it down a bit already. After all in my case, it is a picture of a player and nobody has too look so good as to have a full resolution picture :)
- (void)imagePickerController:(UIImagePickerController *)picker didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo:(NSDictionary *)info
{
NSString *oldKey = [player imageKey];
// did the player already have an image?
if(oldKey) {
// delete the old image
[[BPImageStore defaultImageStore] deleteImageForKey:oldKey];
}
UIImage *image = [info objectForKey:UIImagePickerControllerOriginalImage];
// Create a CFUUID object it knows how to create unique identifier
CFUUIDRef newUniqueID = CFUUIDCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault);
// Create a string from unique identifier
CFStringRef newUniqueIDString = CFUUIDCreateString(kCFAllocatorDefault, newUniqueID);
// Use that unique ID to set our player imageKey
[player setImageKey:(NSString *)newUniqueIDString];
// we used Create in the functions to make objects, we need to release them
CFRelease(newUniqueIDString);
CFRelease(newUniqueID);
//Scale the images down a bit
UIImage *smallImage = [self scaleImage:image toSize:CGSizeMake(160.0,240.0)];
// Store image in the imageStore with this key
[[BPImageStore defaultImageStore] setImage:smallImage
forKey:[player imageKey]];
// Put that image onto the screen in our image view
[playerView setImage:smallImage];
[player setThumbnailDataFromImage:smallImage];
}
Here is an example of going back to get the original image from the imageStore:
// Go get image
NSString *imageKey = [player imageKey];
if (imageKey) {
// Get image for image key from image store
UIImage *imageToDisplay = [[BPImageStore defaultImageStore] imageForKey:imageKey];
[playerView setImage:imageToDisplay];
} else {
[playerView setImage:nil];
}
Finally, here is how I create a thumbnail from the original image:
- (void)setThumbnailDataFromImage:(UIImage *)image {
CGSize origImageSize = [image size];
CGRect newRect;
newRect.origin = CGPointZero;
newRect.size = [[self class] thumbnailSize]; // just give a size you want here instead
// How do we scale the image
float ratio = MAX(newRect.size.width/origImageSize.width, newRect.size.height/origImageSize.height);
// Create a bitmap image context
UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(newRect.size);
// Round the corners
UIBezierPath *path = [UIBezierPath bezierPathWithRoundedRect:newRect cornerRadius:5.0];
[path addClip];
// Into what rectangle shall I composite the image
CGRect projectRect;
projectRect.size.width = ratio * origImageSize.width;
projectRect.size.height = ratio *origImageSize.height;
projectRect.origin.x = (newRect.size.width - projectRect.size.width) / 2.0;
projectRect.origin.y = (newRect.size.height - projectRect.size.height) / 2.0;
// Draw the image on it
[image drawInRect:projectRect];
// Get the image from the image context, retain it as our thumbnail
UIImage *small = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
[self setThumbnail:small];
// Get the image as a PNG data
NSData *data = UIImagePNGRepresentation(small);
[self setThumbnailData:data];
// Cleanup image context resources
UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
}