Selecting and enjoying movies in Swift

Let’s choose some movies!

Should you bear in mind my earlier tutorial about picture selecting in iOS, then you realize that I already made fairly a reusable picker class constructed on high of UIKit. If you do not know how the UIImagePickerController class works, please learn that tutorial first as a result of it provides you an awesome overview concerning the fundamentals.

Initially you may want so as to add some keys into your Data.plist file, since you’d wish to entry some private information. You understand: privateness is essential. 🤫

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app desires to take photos & movies.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app desires to make use of your image & video library.</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app desires to file sound.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app desires to save lots of photos & movies to your library.</string>

Since we’re not going to seize silent movies we even have so as to add the Privateness – Microphone Utilization Description subject. Prepared, set, motion! 🎬

I am not going to deceive you, however I used to be a little bit bit lazy this time, so our VideoPicker class will likely be 90% the identical as our ImagePicker class was. You can also make an summary class, no matter, I am going to present you the ultimate code, then we are able to discuss concerning the variations. 😅

import UIKit

public protocol VideoPickerDelegate: class {
    func didSelect(url: URL?)
}

open class VideoPicker: NSObject {

    personal let pickerController: UIImagePickerController
    personal weak var presentationController: UIViewController?
    personal weak var delegate: VideoPickerDelegate?

    public init(presentationController: UIViewController, delegate: VideoPickerDelegate) {
        self.pickerController = UIImagePickerController()

        tremendous.init()

        self.presentationController = presentationController
        self.delegate = delegate

        self.pickerController.delegate = self
        self.pickerController.allowsEditing = true
        self.pickerController.mediaTypes = ["public.movie"]
        self.pickerController.videoQuality = .typeHigh
    }

    personal func motion(for kind: UIImagePickerController.SourceType, title: String) -> UIAlertAction? {
        guard UIImagePickerController.isSourceTypeAvailable(kind) else {
            return nil
        }

        return UIAlertAction(title: title, fashion: .default) { [unowned self] _ in
            self.pickerController.sourceType = kind
            self.presentationController?.current(self.pickerController, animated: true)
        }
    }

    public func current(from sourceView: UIView) {

        let alertController = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: nil, preferredStyle: .actionSheet)

        if let motion = self.motion(for: .digital camera, title: "Take video") {
            alertController.addAction(motion)
        }
        if let motion = self.motion(for: .savedPhotosAlbum, title: "Digital camera roll") {
            alertController.addAction(motion)
        }
        if let motion = self.motion(for: .photoLibrary, title: "Video library") {
            alertController.addAction(motion)
        }

        alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Cancel", fashion: .cancel, handler: nil))

        if UIDevice.present.userInterfaceIdiom == .pad {
            alertController.popoverPresentationController?.sourceView = sourceView
            alertController.popoverPresentationController?.sourceRect = sourceView.bounds
            alertController.popoverPresentationController?.permittedArrowDirections = [.down, .up]
        }

        self.presentationController?.current(alertController, animated: true)
    }

    personal func pickerController(_ controller: UIImagePickerController, didSelect url: URL?) {
        controller.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)

        self.delegate?.didSelect(url: url)
    }
}

extension VideoPicker: UIImagePickerControllerDelegate {

    public func imagePickerControllerDidCancel(_ picker: UIImagePickerController) {
        self.pickerController(picker, didSelect: nil)
    }

    public func imagePickerController(_ picker: UIImagePickerController,
                                      didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo data: [UIImagePickerController.InfoKey: Any]) {

        guard let url = data[.mediaURL] as? URL else {
            return self.pickerController(picker, didSelect: nil)
        }


        self.pickerController(picker, didSelect: url)
    }
}

extension VideoPicker: UINavigationControllerDelegate {

}

There are only a few small that modifications. The primary one is the mediaTypes property, you should utilize the "public.film" worth this time. Additionally you need to set the videoQuality property on the pickerController, as a result of 4k is all the time higher than 320. 🤪

The delegate is the very last thing that modified a little bit bit. After the picker end the job you may get the .mediaURL property, which is a URL to get your media file (a.ok.a. the captured / chosen video file). If a brand new file was recorded you may as well put it aside to the media library, that is simply two traces of additional code.

Congrats, play-back time! 📹

Taking part in video recordsdata utilizing AVPlayer & UIView

Is not it nice when a webpage has some properly themed video within the background of the header? Properly, you’ll be able to have the very same factor in iOS by utilizing AVFoundation, UIKit and a few low-level layer magic. Don’t fret it is not that troublesome. 😬

You need to use an everyday UIView subclass, then substitute its default layer with an AVPlayerLayer. This can help you play movies direcly within the view. Additionally an AVPlayer is only a easy controller object that may handle the playback and timing of a media file.

The toughest half was checking the standing modifications of the media file. For instance after I first tried to file a brand new video the payback of the participant view consistently stopped after a second. I needed to seek for solutions, as a result of I am not an AVFoundation knowledgeable in any respect, nevertheless it turned out that you need to look ahead to the fee property, becuase the system is making an attempt to buffer the video and that may trigger some issues.

Anyway I used to be capable of put collectively a reasonably good VideoView with some good further options like consistently looping the video or selecting between the fill / match side content material modes. I am not telling you that this can be a 100% bulletproof resolution, nevertheless it’s place to begin, plus it is greater than sufficient in some instances. 👻

import UIKit
import AVFoundation

open class VideoView: UIView {

    public enum Repeat {
        case as soon as
        case loop
    }

    override open class var layerClass: AnyClass {
        return AVPlayerLayer.self
    }

    personal var playerLayer: AVPlayerLayer {
        return self.layer as! AVPlayerLayer
    }

    public var participant: AVPlayer? {
        get {
            self.playerLayer.participant
        }
        set {
            self.playerLayer.participant = newValue
        }
    }


    open override var contentMode: UIView.ContentMode {
        didSet {
            change self.contentMode {
            case .scaleAspectFit:
                self.playerLayer.videoGravity = .resizeAspect
            case .scaleAspectFill:
                self.playerLayer.videoGravity = .resizeAspectFill
            default:
                self.playerLayer.videoGravity = .resize
            }
        }
    }

    public var `repeat`: Repeat = .as soon as

    public var url: URL? {
        didSet {
            guard let url = self.url else {
                self.teardown()
                return
            }
            self.setup(url: url)
        }
    }

    @obtainable(*, unavailable)
    override init(body: CGRect) {
        tremendous.init(body: body)

        self.initialize()
    }

    @obtainable(*, unavailable)
    public required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        tremendous.init(coder: aDecoder)

        self.initialize()
    }

    public init() {
        tremendous.init(body: .zero)

        self.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false

        self.initialize()
    }

    open func initialize() {

    }

    deinit {
        self.teardown()
    }


    personal func setup(url: URL) {

        self.participant = AVPlayer(playerItem: AVPlayerItem(url: url))

        self.participant?.currentItem?.addObserver(self,
                                              forKeyPath: "standing",
                                              choices: [.old, .new],
                                              context: nil)

        self.participant?.addObserver(self, forKeyPath: "fee", choices: [.old, .new], context: nil)


        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                                               selector: #selector(self.itemDidPlayToEndTime(_:)),
                                               identify: .AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTime,
                                               object: self.participant?.currentItem)

        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,
                                               selector: #selector(self.itemFailedToPlayToEndTime(_:)),
                                               identify: .AVPlayerItemFailedToPlayToEndTime,
                                               object: self.participant?.currentItem)
    }

    personal func teardown() {
        self.participant?.pause()

        self.participant?.currentItem?.removeObserver(self, forKeyPath: "standing")

        self.participant?.removeObserver(self, forKeyPath: "fee")

        NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self,
                                                  identify: .AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTime,
                                                  object: self.participant?.currentItem)

        NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self,
                                                  identify: .AVPlayerItemFailedToPlayToEndTime,
                                                  object: self.participant?.currentItem)

        self.participant = nil
    }



    @objc func itemDidPlayToEndTime(_ notification: NSNotification) {
        guard self.repeat == .loop else {
            return
        }
        self.participant?.search(to: .zero)
        self.participant?.play()
    }

    @objc func itemFailedToPlayToEndTime(_ notification: NSNotification) {
        self.teardown()
    }


    open override func observeValue(forKeyPath keyPath: String?,
                                          of object: Any?,
                                          change: [NSKeyValueChangeKey : Any]?,
                                          context: UnsafeMutableRawPointer?) {
        if keyPath == "standing", let standing = self.participant?.currentItem?.standing, standing == .failed {
            self.teardown()
        }

        if
            keyPath == "fee",
            let participant = self.participant,
            participant.fee == 0,
            let merchandise = participant.currentItem,
            !merchandise.isPlaybackBufferEmpty,
            CMTimeGetSeconds(merchandise.period) != CMTimeGetSeconds(participant.currentTime())
        {
            self.participant?.play()
        }
    }
}

I made a pattern undertaking for you and truthfully my view controller is easy as f.ck. It demonstrates each the picture selecting and the video capturing capabilities. Be happy to obtain it from The.Swift.Dev tutorials repository, it is known as Pickers.

When you’ve got any questions you’ll be able to ask me on twitter and please do not forget to subscribe to my month-to-month publication beneath, or utilizing the hyperlink. ❤️