Introduction

AIR application that takes an image from a webcam, geotags it, and uploads it to a flickr account.

Application built for the Adobe on AIR Bus Tour.

Requirements

• Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) Beta 1
• Mac or Windows Operating System (see AIR system requirements for specific version information)
• Webcam
• A Flickr Account
• GPS Device (if you want to geo-encode images)

Source

Source is in Flex 3 and ActionScript 3. You can compile it using mxmlc (included in Flex 3 SDK Beta) or in Flex Builder 3 beta.

• View Source.
• Download Source.

Compiling

• Get source.
• Get source of ActionScript 3 Flickr Library (You have to link to source and not the SWC).
• Put flickr source in class path.
• Put common library in class path.
• Download ActionScript 3 corelib SWC and link to it.
• Compile.

Screenshots

Screenshot after an image has been taken

Flickr Authorization Panel

Settings Panel

Usage

Currently, there is not an AIR file for distribution, so to use, you must first compile and either launch via ADL or Flex Builder, or build and install an AIR file.

Before using the application you must fill in the settings, and authorize the application with Flickr.

Settings

The following settings are required:

• Flickr API Key
• Flickr API Secret

Normally, the Flickr API Key and Secret of the application author is compiled into the application. However, because this is an open source project, you must supply your owb key and secret. Flickr has a page with information on how to obtain a key. The key should have an Auth mode of Desktop.

Flickr Authorization

Once you have specified your Flickr API Key and secret in the settings, then you must authorize the application with Flickr. This will all the application to upload images to your Flickr account.

To do this, click the authorize button, and follow the steps in the wizard.

Setting up the Webcam

In order to set up your webcam:

1. Right click on application
2. Choose settings
3. Select the Webcam Icon
4. Choose your webcam
5. Click the close button

If the output of the webcam does not show up in the application, make sure that another program is not already access the webcam.

Taking a picture

Once the application is authorized with Flick, and the webcam is set up, you can take a picture by clicking the "Take Picture" button.

This will take a picture of the current webcam view, encode it into a PNG, and then upload it to the Flickr account.

Geo Encoding Images

If the application is called from the command line, and passed latitude and longitude, then an image will automatically be taken, geo-encoded, and uploaded to flickr.

Latitude and longitude are expected in the following format:

latitude=-122.437858 longitude=37.736639

Thus, to pass this information into the application in Windows:

AIR Snapshot.exe latitude=-122.437858 longitude=37.736639

and on Mac:

AIRSnapshot.app/Contents/MacOS/AIRSnapshot latitude=-122.437858 longitude=37.736639

This will take a picture, geo-tag it with the specified information, and upload it to Flickr.

This allows you to use a program like gpsbabel to interface with your GPS device, and then pass the information into the application.

Offline

If the application is running offline, then images will be save to the file system, and then uploaded once the application can connect to Flickr again.

Code Highlights

The application contains examples of:

• How to save information when offline, and then sync up to the server when the application goes back online.
• How to authenticate an application with Flickr using the ActionScript 3 Flickr Library.

Bugs / Feature Requests

Please log any bugs and / or feature requests on the Issues page.

//todo:

• Create AIR file for distribution
• Check in mac and windows scripts for accessing GPS
• Add geo-encode fields to manually enter information in application UI