Develop Reference

Set AudioStreamType for an audio file played from Resource (raw folder)

[First App] I am creating a sort of Alarm app that allows user to select alarm sound from either sd-card or app-supplied sounds. Since, the app essentially plays alarms, I want the volume to be 'alarm volume' of the device. I am able to achieve this for sd card sounds. But, I am unable to setAudioStreamType for raw resource sounds.
I am using following code :
MediaPlayer m_player = new MediaPlayer();
m_player.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_ALARM);
switch (bin_name) { //bin_name = various user selectable music files
default:
m_player = MediaPlayer.create(context, R.raw.blu);
break;
}
m_player.setLooping(true);
m_player.start();
My blu.mp3 plays at media volume only. Upon checking the documentation for MediaPlayer.create(Context context, int resid), I found this :
Note that since prepare() is called automatically in this method, you cannot change the audio stream type (see setAudioStreamType(int)), audio session ID (see setAudioSessionId(int)) or audio attributes (see setAudioAttributes(AudioAttributes) of the new MediaPlayer.
I also tried finding code samples for above method but none of them showed how to set AudioStreamType to AudioManager.STEAM_ALARM. I will accept answers with alternative ways that simply play the sound with infinite loop. How to achieve this ?

As the documentation you are referring to says, you must create and prepare the MediaPlayer yourself. Haven't tried with the STREAM_ALARM but I'm using following snippet to play on STREAM_VOICE_CALL
Uri uri = Uri.parse("android.resource://com.example.app/" + R.raw.hdsweep);
MediaPlayer mMediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer();
mMediaPlayer.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_VOICE_CALL);
mMediaPlayer.setDataSource(context, uri);
mMediaPlayer.prepare();
mMediaPlayer.start()

Dynamic Http Streaming in Android to play live Flash video

I am trying to connect my android application with FTP Server which is broadcasting multiple streams using Dynamic Http Streaming at different bit rates.Flash Messaging Server(FMS) is using H.264 codec to broadcast video in flv format.On client side(Android) I am getting f4m(manifest (xml) file)) having diffrent streams.
I am unable to use the f4m file to fetch video in android from FMS.
String url = "http://d2233avv69kunu.cloudfront.net/hds-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream.f4m";
Uri uri = Uri.parse(url);
// videoView.setVideoURI(uri);
videoView.setVideoPath(str);
MediaController mc = new MediaController(this);
//VMRuntime.getRuntime().setMinimumHeapSize(40);
mc.setAnchorView(videoView);
videoView.setMediaController(mc);
System.out.println("Max Memory - "+java.lang.Runtime.getRuntime().maxMemory());
videoView.requestFocus();
videoView.setOnPreparedListener(new OnPreparedListener()
{
public void onPrepared(MediaPlayer mp)
{
videoView.start();
}
});
In above code I am trying to run video in Video View component by passing link of f4m file.
Flash encoder convert video into 3 file formats as listed below
.f4m (manifest files) - Bootstrap Info,Metadata, Bitrate, Flash Access license Server location
.f4f (fragment files) - extends the F4V format,MP4 fragment std
.f4x (index files) - binary
Kindly provide solution to play video on different android devices via Http Streaming in android.
Thanks in advance.

1) You have left something out of your code. What is str that you are passing to setVideoPath? (this is somewhat irrelevant, though...)
2) The MediaPlayer (and thereby VideoView) cannot play Flash video at all. It's simply not supported. It definitely won't understand an XML file, either, so passing it the f4m file is pointless.

Playing media from internal storage directory I created

So I created a directory on the internal storage like so:
File mediadir = getDir("tvr", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
Then I download files from a server and save them inside the directory like this:
URL url = new URL(urlString);
URLConnection conexion = url.openConnection();
conexion.connect();
int lenghtOfFile = conexion.getContentLength();
InputStream is = url.openStream();
Log.d("DOWNLOAD NAME",name);
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(mediadir+name);
etc
Then files are saved successfully, then next I want to play them like this:
String path = filelist[playListIndex].getAbsolutePath();
videoView = (VideoView) findViewById(R.id.videoView);
videoView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
videoView.setOnCompletionListener(this);
videoView.setVideoPath(path);
videoView.start();
where path is :
/data/data/com.mypackage/tvr/video.mp4
The file does not want to play with this error:
02-20 15:57:21.447: E/MediaPlayer(24143): error (1, -2147483648)
And on the device a message pops up : Cannot play video, Sorry this video cannot be player.
Is this a issue with rights or what? If it is, I was thinking because I created them, I have the rights to them?

CommonsWare has a good example on how to use the VideoView. Here is a link to someone who had a similar issue with video not wanting to play:
Playing a video in VideoView in Android
Also here is a video class of his example that I found useful when learning how to incorporate the VideoView:
https://github.com/commonsguy/cw-advandroid/blob/master/Media/Video/src/com/commonsware/android/video/VideoDemo.java hope this helps.
I would also make sure that you have the permission settings in your manifest set:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

The problem might be with the video encoding. Android FROYO and Gingerbread doesn't support H264 formats other than "Baseline" H264. So if your video is Mp4 & H264 encoded make sure its "AVC baseline" encoded. Use some tools like "Media info" in windows/Linux and check your video encoding. Convert the video to Baseline if possible.
An alternative workaround is to skip the Videoview and use a video play intent and redirect the playback to an app. User will be prompted to pick a player to handle the playback. Obviously if the video view cant play the file, the default player also wont be able to handle the file. you can choose some other installed player like Mx-Player which will stream the file perfectly.

Prevent MediaPlayer from play all mp3 files in the folder automatically

I'm from Taiwan and my English is pretty basic, thanks for your forgiveness.
I built a iPad app and published to App Store, which is a kind of communicating board (AAC for the person who has difficult on speaking). It has several buttons on main view and when user touch up one, the app will play a mp3 sound corresponding to that button. I've put all mp3 files on a folder and determining which one to play dynamically at run-time.
Recently I'm working on build the Android version of this app, but I meet a problem that is when I touch up one button on the view, the MediaPlayer play not only the corresponding one but keep playing all the rest mp3 files on the folder continuously. It doesn't happen on the development of iPad version. Any one can help me to resolve this problem and set the MediaPlayer up to working appropriately?
PS. I put all MP3 files on some sub-folders and put them on the "assets" folder. It because for some reasons, all mp3 files are using numeric file name (ex. 0123223.mp3), and which MP3 to play is according to which button user touched up, so I can't use R.raw.0123223 not only because the R class can't has a member named in numeric, but also the target mp3 file can only determining at run-time instead of compile-time, so I can't use the res/raw folder.
My code is as following:
private void PlayMP3(String mp3File) throws IOException {
AssetFileDescriptor afd = this.getAssets().openFd(mp3File);
MediaPlayer player = new MediaPlayer();
player.setOnCompletionListener(new OnCompletionListener(){
public void onCompletion(MediaPlayer mp) {
System.out.println(mp.getAudioSessionId() + " finished.");
}
});
player.setDataSource(afd.getFileDescriptor());
player.setLooping(false);
player.prepare();
player.start();
}
the parameter "mp3file" of PlayMP3 is a concatenated string of mp3 file path, according to the button user touched up.
Many thanks!

Your version would work if you had only that one file in the assets directory. The asset directory contents are put together one after another. So, if you do not specify where to start and how many bytes to read, the player will read up to the end as if they are one file.
You can accomplish what you want by using setDataSource with more arguments:
player.setDataSource(afd.getFileDescriptor(),afd.getStartOffset(),afd.getLength());
This will allow you to define the limits of the player and only play the song you specify in your string mp3File.

You did not post some code.
First step is to insert your sound file into the raw folder
Then, you need only a few lines of code:
MediaPlayer mediaPlayer = null;
mediaPlayer = MediaPlayer.create(getBaseContext(), R.raw.mysoundfile);
mediaPlayer.start();
When the application is closing, dont forget to "release" your media player:
mediaPlayer.release();
mediaPlayer = null;

VideoView can play mp4 file in application data directory

While save mp4 file to /data/data/mypackage/files/my.mp4, then call VideoView's setVideoPath(); it can not work.
For the same file, if I save the file to /mnt/sdcard/my.mp4, then call the same VideoView's setVideoPath, it plays correctly.
Is there any way I can play mp4 file under /data/data/mypackage/files/?

The MP or VideoView uses a native player which cannot access non-worldreadable files.
So you have to options basically:
1) Make the created files world-readable
2) Open an input stream to the file in your program and just hand over the file descriptor to the media player:
FileInputStream fi = new FileInputStream(file);
MediaPlayer pl = new MediaPlayer();
pl.setDataSource(fi.getFD());
pl.prepare();
pl.start();
Also look at this thread VideoView/MediaPlayer doesn't play video from internal storage And find a Custom VideoView class code from here also look at this SO question Can a videoview play a video stored on internal storage?