Today i am going to discuss about implementation of selecting multiple photos from Photo Gallery. You know, i have searched enough to find out a solution for selecting multiple images from android’s native gallery. There are 2 ways to implement multi selection of images in gallery: 1) Intent for getting multiple images

2) Define custom gallery with fetching and loading photos from native gallery.

1. Intent for getting multiple images:

As being native lover, i tried to find out a solution by implementing solution provided same like we select single image from gallery, by using below code:

Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setType('image/*');
intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent, 'Select Picture'), PICK_IMAGE);

But i am unable to implement a solution for selecting multiple images using the above way. Yes i came to know we can use SEND_MULTIPLE intent but i am sure how do we implement this and select mutiple images. I will try to implement it and share with you if i will get success.

2. Define custom gallery with fetching and loading photos from native gallery:

As we dont know about the Intent way solution, this is the good idea for selecting multiple photos. One of my friend Vikas Kanani is already done with this solution earlier. I did thorough testing and came to know about the below issues:

1. Images are loading very slow if we are having larger number of images, lets say 2000-5000
2. Crashing if we load more images

For resolving above issues, what i did? I have implemented Asynchronous image loading so that every image gets loaded asynchronously.

Now, lets implement improved solution

Step 1: Download Image loader library from Here.

Step 2: Add the library inside the libs folder, right click on the jar file -> Select Add to Build Path

Step 3: Define row layout for image item
row_multiphoto_item.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android='http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android'
 android:layout_width='fill_parent'
 android:layout_height='fill_parent' >

 <ImageView
 android:id='@+id/imageView1'
 android:layout_width='100dp'
 android:layout_height='100dp'
 android:src='@drawable/ic_launcher' />

 <CheckBox
 android:id='@+id/checkBox1'
 android:layout_width='wrap_content'
 android:layout_height='wrap_content'
 android:layout_alignRight='@+id/imageView1'
 android:layout_centerVertical='true'/>

</RelativeLayout>

Step 4: Define activity layout with GridView
ac_image_grid.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android='http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android'
 android:layout_width='fill_parent'
 android:layout_height='fill_parent' >

 <GridView
 android:id='@+id/gridview'
 android:layout_width='fill_parent'
 android:layout_height='fill_parent'
 android:columnWidth='100dip'
 android:gravity='center'
 android:horizontalSpacing='4dip'
 android:numColumns='auto_fit'
 android:stretchMode='columnWidth'
 android:layout_above='@+id/button1'
 android:verticalSpacing='2dip' />

 <Button
 android:id='@+id/button1'
 android:layout_alignParentBottom='true'
 android:layout_width='wrap_content'
 android:layout_height='wrap_content'
 android:layout_centerHorizontal='true'
 android:onClick='btnChoosePhotosClick'
 android:text='Select Photos' />

</RelativeLayout>

Step 5: Define a UILApplication to declare application level configuration settings
UILApplication.java

package com.technotalkative.multiphotoselect;

import android.app.Application;

import com.nostra13.universalimageloader.cache.disc.naming.Md5FileNameGenerator;
import com.nostra13.universalimageloader.core.ImageLoader;
import com.nostra13.universalimageloader.core.ImageLoaderConfiguration;

/**
 * @author Paresh Mayani (@pareshmayani)
 */
public class UILApplication extends Application {

 @Override
 public void onCreate() {
 super.onCreate();

 // This configuration tuning is custom. You can tune every option, you may tune some of them, 
 // or you can create default configuration by
 // ImageLoaderConfiguration.createDefault(this);
 // method.
 ImageLoaderConfiguration config = new ImageLoaderConfiguration.Builder(getApplicationContext())
 .threadPoolSize(3)
 .threadPriority(Thread.NORM_PRIORITY - 2)
 .memoryCacheSize(1500000) // 1.5 Mb
 .denyCacheImageMultipleSizesInMemory()
 .discCacheFileNameGenerator(new Md5FileNameGenerator())
 .enableLogging() // Not necessary in common
 .build();
 // Initialize ImageLoader with configuration.
 ImageLoader.getInstance().init(config);
 }
}

Step 6: Define a base activity to create a singleton instance of ImageLoader class.
BaseActivity.java

package com.technotalkative.multiphotoselect;

import android.app.Activity;

import com.nostra13.universalimageloader.core.ImageLoader;

/**
 * @author Paresh Mayani (@pareshmayani)
 */
public abstract class BaseActivity extends Activity {

 protected ImageLoader imageLoader = ImageLoader.getInstance();

}

Step 7: Now, Its time to define a main activity where we can write a logic for fetching photos from native gallery. Here i have also defined an ImageAdapter for the GridView.
MultiPhotoSelectActivity.java

package com.technotalkative.multiphotoselect;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import android.content.Context;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.provider.MediaStore;
import android.util.Log;
import android.util.SparseBooleanArray;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.view.animation.Animation;
import android.view.animation.AnimationUtils;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.CheckBox;
import android.widget.CompoundButton;
import android.widget.Toast;
import android.widget.CompoundButton.OnCheckedChangeListener;
import android.widget.GridView;
import android.widget.ImageView;

import com.nostra13.universalimageloader.core.DisplayImageOptions;
import com.nostra13.universalimageloader.core.assist.SimpleImageLoadingListener;

/**
 * @author Paresh Mayani (@pareshmayani)
 */
public class MultiPhotoSelectActivity extends BaseActivity {

 private ArrayList<String> imageUrls;
 private DisplayImageOptions options;
 private ImageAdapter imageAdapter;

 @Override
 public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
 setContentView(R.layout.ac_image_grid);

 final String[] columns = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA, MediaStore.Images.Media._ID };
 final String orderBy = MediaStore.Images.Media.DATE_TAKEN;
 Cursor imagecursor = managedQuery(
 MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI, columns, null,
 null, orderBy + ' DESC');

 this.imageUrls = new ArrayList<String>();

 for (int i = 0; i < imagecursor.getCount(); i++) {
 imagecursor.moveToPosition(i);
 int dataColumnIndex = imagecursor.getColumnIndex(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
 imageUrls.add(imagecursor.getString(dataColumnIndex));

 System.out.println('=====> Array path => '+imageUrls.get(i));
 }

 options = new DisplayImageOptions.Builder()
 .showStubImage(R.drawable.stub_image)
 .showImageForEmptyUri(R.drawable.image_for_empty_url)
 .cacheInMemory()
 .cacheOnDisc()
 .build();

 imageAdapter = new ImageAdapter(this, imageUrls);

 GridView gridView = (GridView) findViewById(R.id.gridview);
 gridView.setAdapter(imageAdapter);
 //gridView.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {
 // @Override
 //public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
 // startImageGalleryActivity(position);
 // }
 //});
 
 }

 @Override
 protected void onStop() {
 imageLoader.stop();
 super.onStop();
 }

 public void btnChoosePhotosClick(View v){

 ArrayList<String> selectedItems = imageAdapter.getCheckedItems();
 Toast.makeText(MultiPhotoSelectActivity.this, 'Total photos selected: '+selectedItems.size(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
 Log.d(MultiPhotoSelectActivity.class.getSimpleName(), 'Selected Items: ' + selectedItems.toString());
 }

 /*private void startImageGalleryActivity(int position) {
 Intent intent = new Intent(this, ImagePagerActivity.class);
 intent.putExtra(Extra.IMAGES, imageUrls);
 intent.putExtra(Extra.IMAGE_POSITION, position);
 startActivity(intent);
 }*/

 public class ImageAdapter extends BaseAdapter {

 ArrayList<String> mList;
 LayoutInflater mInflater;
 Context mContext;
 SparseBooleanArray mSparseBooleanArray;

 public ImageAdapter(Context context, ArrayList<String> imageList) {
 // TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
 mContext = context;
 mInflater = LayoutInflater.from(mContext);
 mSparseBooleanArray = new SparseBooleanArray();
 mList = new ArrayList<String>();
 this.mList = imageList;

 }

 public ArrayList<String> getCheckedItems() {
 ArrayList<String> mTempArry = new ArrayList<String>();

 for(int i=0;i<mList.size();i++) {
 if(mSparseBooleanArray.get(i)) {
 mTempArry.add(mList.get(i));
 }
 }

 return mTempArry;
 }

 @Override
 public int getCount() {
 return imageUrls.size();
 }

 @Override
 public Object getItem(int position) {
 return null;
 }

 @Override
 public long getItemId(int position) {
 return position;
 }

 @Override
 public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {

 if(convertView == null) {
 convertView = mInflater.inflate(R.layout.row_multiphoto_item, null);
 }

 CheckBox mCheckBox = (CheckBox) convertView.findViewById(R.id.checkBox1);
 final ImageView imageView = (ImageView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.imageView1);

 imageLoader.displayImage('file://'+imageUrls.get(position), imageView, options, new SimpleImageLoadingListener() {
 @Override
 public void onLoadingComplete(Bitmap loadedImage) {
 Animation anim = AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(MultiPhotoSelectActivity.this, R.anim.fade_in);
 imageView.setAnimation(anim);
 anim.start();
 }
 });

 mCheckBox.setTag(position);
 mCheckBox.setChecked(mSparseBooleanArray.get(position));
 mCheckBox.setOnCheckedChangeListener(mCheckedChangeListener);

 return convertView;
 }

 OnCheckedChangeListener mCheckedChangeListener = new OnCheckedChangeListener() {

 @Override
 public void onCheckedChanged(CompoundButton buttonView, boolean isChecked) {
 // TODO Auto-generated method stub
 mSparseBooleanArray.put((Integer) buttonView.getTag(), isChecked);
 }
 };
 }
}

Download this example from here: Android – Select multiple photos from Gallery
 

Reference: Android – Select multiple photos from Gallery from our JCG partner Paresh N. Mayani at the TechnoTalkative blog.