MediaGallery

Summary

MediaGallery is a static class that allows interaction with the device's media gallery, providing methods to check access permissions and save media files.

Remarks

This class is designed to work on iOS, Mac Catalyst and Android platforms, utilizing platform-specific implementations for its methods.

The API allows setting the targetFileName, which should ideally be unique - otherwise the OS will either overwrite an existing file with the same name (Android behavior), or generate a new name instead (iOS behavior).

Methods

CheckAccessAsync

public static async Task<bool> CheckAccessAsync()

Summary

Checks the user's permission to access the device's gallery. Will trigger the permission request if not already granted.

Returns

A Task<bool> that completes with true if access is granted, and false otherwise.

SaveAsync (Stream)

public static async Task SaveAsync(MediaFileType type, Stream stream, string targetFileName)

Summary

Saves a media file to the device's gallery using a stream.

Parameters

• MediaFileType type: The type of the media file (e.g., image, video).
• Stream stream: A stream representing the media file.
• string targetFileName: The desired file name for the saved media.

Returns

A Task that completes when the save operation is finished.

SaveAsync (byte array)

public static async Task SaveAsync(MediaFileType type, byte[] data, string targetFileName)

Summary

Saves a media file to the device's gallery using a byte array.

Parameters

• MediaFileType type: The type of the media file (e.g., image, video).
• byte[] data: A byte array representing the media file.
• string targetFileName: The desired file name for the saved media.

Returns

A Task that completes when the save operation is finished.

Permissions

Android

If your app supports only Android 10 and newer, no manifest changes are required. If you support earlier versions of Android, add the following into your manifest:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

iOS & Mac Catalyst

If your app only supports iOS 14 and newer, update your Info.plist as follows:

<key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to the photo gallery for saving photos and videos</string>

If you want to support earlier versions iOS, add the following as well:

<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to the photo gallery for saving photos and videos</string>

Usage

Make sure to wrap the usage of MediaGallery in a #if __ANDROID__ || __IOS__ ... #endif block, as the class is only available on these targets.

Checking for gallery access

#if __ANDROID__ || __IOS__
bool hasAccess = await MediaGallery.CheckAccessAsync();
#endif

Saving an image to the gallery using a byte array

#if __ANDROID__ || __IOS__
byte[] imageData = ...; // Image data
await MediaGallery.SaveAsync(MediaFileType.Image, imageData, "MyImage.jpg");
#endif

Saving a video to the gallery using a stream

#if __ANDROID__ || __IOS__
using Stream videoStream = ...; // Video stream
await MediaGallery.SaveAsync(MediaFileType.Video, videoStream, "MyVideo.mp4");
#endif

Copying an application package file to gallery

#if __ANDROID__ || __IOS__
if (await MediaGallery.CheckAccessAsync())
{
	var file = await StorageFile.GetFileFromApplicationUriAsync(new Uri("ms-appx:///Assets/UnoLogo.png", UriKind.Absolute));
	using var stream = await file.OpenStreamForReadAsync();
	await MediaGallery.SaveAsync(MediaFileType.Image, stream, "UnoLogo.png");
}
else
{
	await new ContentDialog
	{
		Title = "Permission required",
		Content = "The app requires access to the device's gallery to save the image.",
		CloseButtonText = "OK",
		XamlRoot = XamlRoot
	}.ShowAsync();
}
#endif