video set to "true" in Skype video chat URI, but video is not enabled when call starts

Question

I'm using the Skype API from their site: skype apir/uri for video call

which saiys the following URI "Calls other people on Skype, and automatically turns on the call originator’s video":

skype:skypeUserName?call&video=true

when I start the intent, it places the call successfully, but the video is NOT enabled, on either phone by default.

One suspicion I have is maybe everything after the question mark is getting stripped. this is how I pass it in:

  static String skypeURI = "skype:stablesentryremote?call&video=true";

  public void initiateSkypeUri(Context myContext, String mySkypeUri) {

  // Create the Intent from our Skype URI
  Uri skypeUri = Uri.parse(mySkypeUri);
  Intent myIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, skypeUri);
  }

But this could just be a skype bug.

[update] I read somewhere that this is a bug that started in the latest release of skype. So at this point I am looking for a work around.

Answer 1

I see you've figured out that there seems to be a problem with video call in the newest versions of Skype for android and ios. Maybe the new apps treat video calls as a conference call even if it's a 1 to 1 call (which isn't supported as stated in the skype api/uri doc), I suggest you report this problem to MS through for example appstore (not sure if there's similar possibility to do so in google play?) and mention the same bug happens on android.

If you need something to work ASAP while waiting for MS to fix the bug I'll suggest a solution but it might not be worth the time you'll need to spend in order for a working implementation. But I'll leave that up to you to consider.

1. What you could do is send an message (or just do a regular call) to the remote sentry with an unique message ie: "videocall:requested timestamp here"
2. And then have a Autohotkey script running at a X seconds interval on your remote sentry, looking for the unique message above from point 1.
3. If the message is retrieved and identified as valid, then initiate a video call from your sentry towards the user.

There's some good skype functions here that might help you get started: http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/96375-skype-functions/