Adding Mobile

Our photo gallery app won’t be complete until it runs on iOS, Android, and the web - all using one codebase. All it takes is some small logic changes to support mobile platforms, installing some native tooling, then running the app on a device. Let’s go!

Let’s start with making some small code changes - then our app will "just work" when we deploy it to a device.

Platform-specific Logic

First, we’ll update the photo saving functionality to support mobile. We'll run slightly different code depending on the platform - mobile or web. At the top of usePhotoGallery.ts, import isPlatform from Ionic Vue and Capacitor from Capacitor's core package:

import { ref, onMounted, watch } from 'vue';
import { Camera, CameraResultType, CameraSource, Photo } from '@capacitor/camera';
import { Filesystem, Directory } from '@capacitor/filesystem';
import { Preferences } from '@capacitor/preferences';
// CHANGE: Add imports from `@ionic/vue` and `@capcitor/core`.
import { isPlatform } from '@ionic/vue';
import { Capacitor } from '@capacitor/core';

// Same old code from before.

Next, update the usePhotoGallery function's savePicture method to check which platform the app is running on. If it’s "hybrid" (Capacitor, the native runtime), then read the photo file into base64 format using the readFile method. Also, return the complete file path to the photo using the Filesystem API. When setting the webviewPath, use the special Capacitor.convertFileSrc method (details here). Otherwise, use the same logic as before when running the app on the web.

// CHANGE: Update the `savePicture` method to include branches for web and native.
const savePicture = async (photo: Photo, fileName: string): Promise<UserPhoto> => {
  let base64Data: string | Blob;
  // "hybrid" will detect mobile - iOS or Android
  if (isPlatform('hybrid')) {
    const file = await Filesystem.readFile({
      path: photo.path!,
    });
    base64Data = file.data;
  } else {
    // Fetch the photo, read as a blob, then convert to base64 format
    const response = await fetch(photo.webPath!);
    const blob = await response.blob();
    base64Data = (await convertBlobToBase64(blob)) as string;
  }

  const savedFile = await Filesystem.writeFile({
    path: fileName,
    data: base64Data,
    directory: Directory.Data,
  });

  if (isPlatform('hybrid')) {
    // Display the new image by rewriting the 'file://' path to HTTP
    // Details: https://ionicframework.com/docs/building/webview#file-protocol
    return {
      filepath: savedFile.uri,
      webviewPath: Capacitor.convertFileSrc(savedFile.uri),
    };
  } else {
    // Use webPath to display the new image instead of base64 since it's
    // already loaded into memory
    return {
      filepath: fileName,
      webviewPath: photo.webPath,
    };
  }
};

Next, add a new bit of logic in the loadSaved method. On mobile, we can directly point to each photo file on the Filesystem and display them automatically. On the web, however, we must read each image from the Filesystem into base64 format. This is because the Filesystem API uses IndexedDB under the hood. Update the loadSaved function:

// CHANGE: Update the `loadSaved` method to convert to base64 on web platform only.
const loadSaved = async () => {
  const photoList = await Preferences.get({ key: PHOTO_STORAGE });
  const photosInPreferences = photoList.value ? JSON.parse(photoList.value) : [];

  // If running on the web...
  if (!isPlatform('hybrid')) {
    for (const photo of photosInPreferences) {
      const file = await Filesystem.readFile({
        path: photo.filepath,
        directory: Directory.Data,
      });
      // Web platform only: Load the photo as base64 data
      photo.webviewPath = `data:image/jpeg;base64,${file.data}`;
    }
  }

  photos.value = photosInPreferences;
};

Our Photo Gallery now consists of one codebase that runs on the web, Android, and iOS.

usePhotoGallery.ts should now look like this:

import { ref, onMounted, watch } from 'vue';
import { Camera, CameraResultType, CameraSource, Photo } from '@capacitor/camera';
import { Filesystem, Directory } from '@capacitor/filesystem';
import { Preferences } from '@capacitor/preferences';
import { isPlatform } from '@ionic/vue';
import { Capacitor } from '@capacitor/core';

export const usePhotoGallery = () => {
  const PHOTO_STORAGE = 'photos';
  const photos = ref<UserPhoto[]>([]);

  const takePhoto = async () => {
    const photo = await Camera.getPhoto({
      resultType: CameraResultType.Uri,
      source: CameraSource.Camera,
      quality: 100,
    });
    const fileName = Date.now() + '.jpeg';
    const savedFileImage = await savePicture(photo, fileName);

    photos.value = [savedFileImage, ...photos.value];
  };

  const convertBlobToBase64 = (blob: Blob) =>
    new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      const reader = new FileReader();
      reader.onerror = reject;
      reader.onload = () => {
        resolve(reader.result);
      };
      reader.readAsDataURL(blob);
    });

  const cachePhotos = () => {
    Preferences.set({
      key: PHOTO_STORAGE,
      value: JSON.stringify(photos.value),
    });
  };

  const savePicture = async (photo: Photo, fileName: string): Promise<UserPhoto> => {
    let base64Data: string | Blob;
    // "hybrid" will detect mobile - iOS or Android
    if (isPlatform('hybrid')) {
      const file = await Filesystem.readFile({
        path: photo.path!,
      });
      base64Data = file.data;
    } else {
      // Fetch the photo, read as a blob, then convert to base64 format
      const response = await fetch(photo.webPath!);
      const blob = await response.blob();
      base64Data = (await convertBlobToBase64(blob)) as string;
    }

    const savedFile = await Filesystem.writeFile({
      path: fileName,
      data: base64Data,
      directory: Directory.Data,
    });

    if (isPlatform('hybrid')) {
      // Display the new image by rewriting the 'file://' path to HTTP
      // Details: https://ionicframework.com/docs/building/webview#file-protocol
      return {
        filepath: savedFile.uri,
        webviewPath: Capacitor.convertFileSrc(savedFile.uri),
      };
    } else {
      // Use webPath to display the new image instead of base64 since it's
      // already loaded into memory
      return {
        filepath: fileName,
        webviewPath: photo.webPath,
      };
    }
  };

  const loadSaved = async () => {
    const photoList = await Preferences.get({ key: PHOTO_STORAGE });
    const photosInPreferences = photoList.value ? JSON.parse(photoList.value) : [];

    // If running on the web...
    if (!isPlatform('hybrid')) {
      for (const photo of photosInPreferences) {
        const file = await Filesystem.readFile({
          path: photo.filepath,
          directory: Directory.Data,
        });
        // Web platform only: Load the photo as base64 data
        photo.webviewPath = `data:image/jpeg;base64,${file.data}`;
      }
    }

    photos.value = photosInPreferences;
  };

  onMounted(loadSaved);
  watch(photos, cachePhotos);

  return {
    photos,
    takePhoto,
  };
};

export interface UserPhoto {
  filepath: string;
  webviewPath?: string;
}

Next up, the part you’ve been waiting for - deploying the app to a device.