How to use android exoplayer

Question

I am looking to implement Google's ExoPlayer in my app. Their documentation seems pretty vague to me, and all I am looking for is to play a video from an URL, no complicated custom settings or anything like that. Haven't found any tutorials on how to do it. The example they have on git is way too complicated for what I need and, since I am new to video streaming, I did not understand much. All I have managed to do so far is to display a com.google.android.exoplayer.AspectRatioFrameLayout.

Basically, I have an URL. I need to play the video, and handle onConfigurationChanged when the user flips the screen.

Can anyone help?

Answer 1

The ExoMedia library wraps exoplayer in simpler api and provides a video view for use in layouts. See usage examples on github: https://github.com/brianwernick/ExoMedia/

Answer 2

A VideoView would be a better idea in case you wish to display only a Video URL. ExoPlayer requires some developmental effort, even for invoking its simple instance. However, there is an advantage of faster and more efficient playback, backed up by an active open-source community. This link provides a good walk through the implementation giving ample reasons to switch to ExoPlayer. Ofcourse, do checkout the official developer guide, the updated version has split modules for simpler implementation.

Answer 3

Exoplayer is a very advanced library. Even writing a bare minimum would take 40-50 lines of code. So if you really wanna use a sword to chop onions, here is a direct copy pasta :

//manifest.xml 

<manifest ...>
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
  <application
    android:usesCleartextTraffic="true"
    ...>

    ...

  </application>
</manifest>

//app/build.gradle
apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    ...
    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility = 1.8
        targetCompatibility = 1.8
    }
}

dependencies {
    ...
    implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer:2.10.4'
}

    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        ...

        Context ctx =this;
        String CONTENT_URL = "https://www.radiantmediaplayer.com/media/bbb-360p.mp4";
        int playerID=R.id.pv_main;
        int appNameStringRes = R.string.app_name;
        startPlayingVideo(this,CONTENT_URL,playerID,appNameStringRes);


    }

    //
    private void startPlayingVideo(Context ctx , String CONTENT_URL, int playerID, String appNameRes) {

        PlayerView pvMain = ctx.findViewById(playerID);

        //BandwidthMeter bandwidthMeter = new DefaultBandwidthMeter();
        //TrackSelection.Factory videoTrackSelectionFactory = new AdaptiveTrackSelection.Factory(bandwidthMeter);        
        //TrackSelector trackSelectorDef = new DefaultTrackSelector(videoTrackSelectionFactory);
        TrackSelector trackSelectorDef = new DefaultTrackSelector();

        SimpleExoPlayer absPlayerInternal = ExoPlayerFactory.newSimpleInstance(ctx, trackSelectorDef);

        String userAgent = Util.getUserAgent(ctx, ctx.getString(appNameRes));

        DefaultDataSourceFactory defdataSourceFactory = new DefaultDataSourceFactory(ctx,userAgent);
        Uri uriOfContentUrl = Uri.parse(CONTENT_URL);
        MediaSource mediaSource = new ProgressiveMediaSource.Factory(defdataSourceFactory).createMediaSource(uriOfContentUrl);

        absPlayerInternal.prepare(mediaSource);
        absPlayerInternal.setPlayWhenReady(true);

        pvMain.setPlayer(absPlayerInternal);

    }

    private void stopPlayer(PlayerView pv,SimpleExoPlayer absPlayer){
        pv.setPlayer(null);
        absPlayer.release();
        absPlayer = null;
    }

simply add the player view in your activity layout, call the startPlayingVideo(...) in onCreate() and stopPlayer() in the onStop() . I am not an expert but i can try explaining this if you want, but you asked for no complicated stuff, so here is just the code

Answer 4

//Add dependency in manifest file 
    implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer:2.7.3'


// Add exoplayer in your layout(xml) file 
 <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/rl_video"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <com.google.android.exoplayer2.ui.PlayerView
        android:id="@+id/videoFullScreenPlayer"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="#A6000000"
        app:controller_layout_id="@layout/exo_playback_control_view"
        app:player_layout_id="@layout/exo_simple_player_view"
        app:repeat_toggle_modes="none"
        app:show_timeout="45000"
        app:surface_type="texture_view"
        />
        <ProgressBar
            android:id="@+id/spinnerVideoDetails"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerInParent="true"
            android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="8dp"
            android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
            android:layout_marginBottom="8dp"
            android:indeterminate="true"/>
    </RelativeLayout>




// open video with below code

// initialise varible 
 PlayerView videoFullScreenPlayer;
    SimpleExoPlayer player;
    ProgressBar spinnerVideoDetails;


// find Id 
 videoFullScreenPlayer = findViewById(R.id.videoFullScreenPlayer);
        spinnerVideoDetails = findViewById(R.id.spinnerVideoDetails);

// open video method 
private void setUp() {
        initializePlayer();
        if (videoUrl == null) {
            return;
        }
        buildMediaSource(Uri.parse(videoUrl ));
    }
    private void initializePlayer() {
        if (player == null) {

            BandwidthMeter bandwidthMeter = new DefaultBandwidthMeter();
            TrackSelection.Factory videoTrackSelectionFactory = new AdaptiveTrackSelection.Factory(bandwidthMeter);
            TrackSelector trackSelector = new DefaultTrackSelector(videoTrackSelectionFactory);
            // 1. Create a default TrackSelector
            DefaultLoadControl loadControl = new DefaultLoadControl.Builder().setBufferDurationsMs(32*1024, 64*1024, 1024, 1024).createDefaultLoadControl();
            // 2. Create the player
            player = ExoPlayerFactory.newSimpleInstance(this, trackSelector, loadControl);
            videoFullScreenPlayer.setPlayer(player);
        }
    }

    private void buildMediaSource(Uri mUri) {
        // Measures bandwidth during playback. Can be null if not required.
        DefaultBandwidthMeter bandwidthMeter = new DefaultBandwidthMeter();
        // Produces DataSource instances through which media data is loaded.
        DataSource.Factory dataSourceFactory = new DefaultDataSourceFactory(this,
                Util.getUserAgent(this, getString(R.string.app_name)), bandwidthMeter);
        // This is the MediaSource representing the media to be played.
        MediaSource videoSource = new ExtractorMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory).createMediaSource(mUri);
        // Prepare the player with the source.
        player.prepare(videoSource);
        player.setPlayWhenReady(true);
        player.addListener(this);
    }

    private void releasePlayer() {
        if (player != null) {
            player.release();
            player = null;
        }
    }

    private void pausePlayer() {
        if (player != null) {
            player.setPlayWhenReady(false);
            player.getPlaybackState();
        }
    }

    private void resumePlayer() {
        if (player != null) {
            player.setPlayWhenReady(true);
            player.getPlaybackState();
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();
        pausePlayer();
       /* if (mRunnable != null) {
            mHandler.removeCallbacks(mRunnable);
        }*/
    }

    @Override
    protected void onRestart() {
        super.onRestart();
        resumePlayer();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();
        releasePlayer();
    }

    @Override
    public void onTimelineChanged(Timeline timeline, Object manifest, int reason) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onTracksChanged(TrackGroupArray trackGroups, TrackSelectionArray trackSelections) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onLoadingChanged(boolean isLoading) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onPlayerStateChanged(boolean playWhenReady, int playbackState) {
        switch (playbackState) {
            case Player.STATE_BUFFERING:
                spinnerVideoDetails.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
                break;
            case Player.STATE_ENDED:
                // Activate the force enable
                break;
            case Player.STATE_IDLE:
                break;
            case Player.STATE_READY:
                spinnerVideoDetails.setVisibility(View.GONE);
                break;
            default:
                // status = PlaybackStatus.IDLE;
                break;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onRepeatModeChanged(int repeatMode) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onShuffleModeEnabledChanged(boolean shuffleModeEnabled) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onPlayerError(ExoPlaybackException error) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onPositionDiscontinuity(int reason) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onPlaybackParametersChanged(PlaybackParameters playbackParameters) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onSeekProcessed() {
    }