android - Strange OutOfMemory issue while loading an image to a Bitmap object

Question

I have a ListView with a couple of image buttons on each row. When the user clicks the list row, it launches a new activity. I have had to build my own tabs because of an issue with the camera layout. The activity that gets launched for the result is a map. If I click on my button to launch the image preview (load an image off the SD card) the application returns from the activity back to the ListView activity to the result handler to relaunch my new activity which is nothing more than an image widget.

The image preview on the ListView is being done with the cursor and ListAdapter. This makes it pretty simple, but I am not sure how I can put a resized image (I.e. Smaller bit size not pixel as the src for the image button on the fly. So I just resized the image that came off the phone camera.

The issue is that I get an OutOfMemoryError when it tries to go back and re-launch the 2nd activity.

• Is there a way I can build the list adapter easily row by row, where I can resize on the fly (bitwise)?

This would be preferable as I also need to make some changes to the properties of the widgets/elements in each row as I am unable to select a row with the touch screen because of the focus issue. (I can use rollerball.)

• I know I can do an out of band resize and save my image, but that is not really what I want to do, but some sample code for that would be nice.

As soon as I disabled the image on the ListView it worked fine again.

FYI: This is how I was doing it:

String[] from = new String[] { DBHelper.KEY_BUSINESSNAME, DBHelper.KEY_ADDRESS,
    DBHelper.KEY_CITY, DBHelper.KEY_GPSLONG, DBHelper.KEY_GPSLAT,
    DBHelper.KEY_IMAGEFILENAME  + ""};
int[] to = new int[] { R.id.businessname, R.id.address, R.id.city, R.id.gpslong,
    R.id.gpslat, R.id.imagefilename };
notes = new SimpleCursorAdapter(this, R.layout.notes_row, c, from, to);
setListAdapter(notes);

Where R.id.imagefilename is a ButtonImage.

Here is my LogCat:

01-25 05:05:49.877: ERROR/dalvikvm-heap(3896): 6291456-byte external allocation too large for this process.
01-25 05:05:49.877: ERROR/(3896): VM wont let us allocate 6291456 bytes
01-25 05:05:49.877: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896): Uncaught handler: thread main exiting due to uncaught exception
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896): java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: bitmap size exceeds VM budget
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.graphics.BitmapFactory.nativeDecodeStream(Native Method)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.graphics.BitmapFactory.decodeStream(BitmapFactory.java:304)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.graphics.BitmapFactory.decodeFile(BitmapFactory.java:149)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.graphics.BitmapFactory.decodeFile(BitmapFactory.java:174)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.graphics.drawable.Drawable.createFromPath(Drawable.java:729)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.ImageView.resolveUri(ImageView.java:484)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.ImageView.setImageURI(ImageView.java:281)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.SimpleCursorAdapter.setViewImage(SimpleCursorAdapter.java:183)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.SimpleCursorAdapter.bindView(SimpleCursorAdapter.java:129)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.CursorAdapter.getView(CursorAdapter.java:150)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.AbsListView.obtainView(AbsListView.java:1057)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.ListView.makeAndAddView(ListView.java:1616)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.ListView.fillSpecific(ListView.java:1177)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.ListView.layoutChildren(ListView.java:1454)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.AbsListView.onLayout(AbsListView.java:937)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.view.View.layout(View.java:5611)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.setChildFrame(LinearLayout.java:1119)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.layoutHorizontal(LinearLayout.java:1108)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.onLayout(LinearLayout.java:922)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.view.View.layout(View.java:5611)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.FrameLayout.onLayout(FrameLayout.java:294)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.view.View.layout(View.java:5611)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.setChildFrame(LinearLayout.java:1119)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.layoutVertical(LinearLayout.java:999)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.onLayout(LinearLayout.java:920)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.view.View.layout(View.java:5611)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.widget.FrameLayout.onLayout(FrameLayout.java:294)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.view.View.layout(View.java:5611)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:771)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1103)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:88)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3742)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:739)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:497)
01-25 05:05:49.917: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3896):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
01-25 05:10:01.127: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(3943): ERROR: thread attach failed 

I also have a new error when displaying an image:

22:13:18.594: DEBUG/skia(4204): xxxxxxxxxxx jpeg error 20 Improper call to JPEG library in state %d
22:13:18.604: INFO/System.out(4204): resolveUri failed on bad bitmap uri: 
22:13:18.694: ERROR/dalvikvm-heap(4204): 6291456-byte external allocation too large for this process.
22:13:18.694: ERROR/(4204): VM won't let us allocate 6291456 bytes
22:13:18.694: DEBUG/skia(4204): xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx allocPixelRef failed

Answer 1

To fix the OutOfMemory error, you should do something like this:

BitmapFactory.Options options = new BitmapFactory.Options();
options.inSampleSize = 8;
Bitmap preview_bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(is, null, options);

This inSampleSize option reduces memory consumption.

Here's a complete method. First it reads image size without decoding the content itself. Then it finds the best inSampleSize value, it should be a power of 2, and finally the image is decoded.

// Decodes image and scales it to reduce memory consumption
private Bitmap decodeFile(File f) {
    try {
        // Decode image size
        BitmapFactory.Options o = new BitmapFactory.Options();
        o.inJustDecodeBounds = true;
        BitmapFactory.decodeStream(new FileInputStream(f), null, o);

        // The new size we want to scale to
        final int REQUIRED_SIZE=70;

        // Find the correct scale value. It should be the power of 2.
        int scale = 1;
        while(o.outWidth / scale / 2 >= REQUIRED_SIZE && 
              o.outHeight / scale / 2 >= REQUIRED_SIZE) {
            scale *= 2;
        }

        // Decode with inSampleSize
        BitmapFactory.Options o2 = new BitmapFactory.Options();
        o2.inSampleSize = scale;
        return BitmapFactory.decodeStream(new FileInputStream(f), null, o2);
    } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {}
    return null;
}