I'm working on a simple image manipulation app that requires opening bitmaps at full resolution, which of course results in OutOfMemory issues. I know that the short answer is to simply use less memory via BitmapFactory's inSampleSize Option to downsample the bitmap, but for this app I really would like to retain the full resolution for editing. One solution I have been investigating is loading the bitmap entirely on the native heap, after learning that the memory limitation is only imposed within the Dalvik VM heap. A look into the Android source code revealed that this is already the case... BitmapFactory uses native methods to load a bitmap on the native heap, while maintaining a reference to it on the VM heap. The issue then is that it appears the native memory used by the bitmap is actually counted against the available VM memory, when it really isn't there. A look into the stock Camera and Gallery apps' source revealed that they get around this by using an additional BitmapFactory Option, inNativeAlloc. I was able to find this field in the Java code for BitmapFactory:
196 * Normally bitmap allocations count against the dalvik heap, which 197 * means they help trigger GCs when a lot have been allocated. However, 198 * in rare cases, the caller may want to allocate the bitmap outside of 199 * that heap. To request that, set inNativeAlloc to true. In these 200 * rare instances, it is solely up to the caller to ensure that OOM is 201 * managed explicitly by calling bitmap.recycle() as soon as such a 202 * bitmap is no longer needed. 203 * 204 * @hide pending API council approval 205 */ 206 public boolean inNativeAlloc; Are there any plans to "unhide" this field anytime soon? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
