Quick Start: Build an app using the Brightcove Native SDK for Android

In this topic, you will use Android Studio and the Brightcove Player SDK for Android to create an app which plays a video from a Brightcove Video Cloud account, as well as videos from a Brightcove Video Cloud playlist.

In this topic, you will use Android Studio and the Brightcove Player SDK for Android to create an app which plays a single video.

Overview

After completing this Quick Start you should be able to:

Create a project and add the Brightcove Player SDK for Android using Gradle.
Alter the layout to include a BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView.
Add to the onCreate() method to play videos. from different sources.

Audience

Developers who use Android Studio for development and are interested in using the Brightcove Player SDK for Android in an Android app.

Prerequisites

A minimal knowledge of Java and Android app development.

Get ready

Get ready for development by installing Android Studio

Download the Android Studio application.
Follow the directions on the pages to install the application.

Create a project

Create a project in Android Studio and then link to the player SDK using Gradle.

Create a project in Android Studio

Open Android Studio.
- If this is your first time opening Android Studio, select Start a new Android Studio project.
- If you are seeing the menus, select File > New > New Project.

Supply values for the Application Name, Company Domain, and Project location. In this quick start the values shown below are used:

Project name
Click Next.
Select the Phone and Tablet platform with the default minimum SDK value.

Project platform
Click Next.
Choose Empty Activity and click Next.
Choose Empty Activity
Accept the defaults for the activity details and click Finish.

Finish project creation
Android Studio will work for a while and eventually display the initial state of the project.

Studio project

Utilize Gradle to link to the Brightcove Player SDK for Android

Since Gradle is integrated with Android Studio, you will use it to add the Native SDK for Android to your project.

Expand the Gradle Scripts section and open the second build.gradle file, which is associated with the current module in your PlayVideos project.

Build gradle file
At the bottom of the build.gradle file, do the following:
1. Add a repositories section for the Brightcove Maven repo.
2. In the dependencies section, include the latest version of the Native SDK for Android. Replace the value 6.4.0 below with the latest SDK version, which can be found in the Overview: Brightcove Native SDK for Android document.
```
repositories {
  maven {
      url 'http://repo.brightcove.com/releases'
  }
}

dependencies {
  implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
  implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:26.1.0'
  implementation 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.2'
  testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
  androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test:runner:1.0.1'
  androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.0.1'
  implementation "com.brightcove.player:exoplayer2:6.4.0"
}
```
Notes:
- Google's ExoPlayer is an open source, application-level media player for Android. Notice that we are using the ExoPlayer 2 framework. For details, see the Migrating to ExoPlayer 2 Framework document.
- The ExoPlayer dependency includes the Native SDK for Android, so you do not have to include the SDK separately. It is recommended that you use the ExoPlayer.If you are not using the exoplayer, you can use the following:
  implementation 'com.brightcove.player:android-sdk:6.+'
Sync the project to pick up the Gradle file changes.

Code the application

Next, you will write the code to layout the app, build the video list, and play the videos

Define the app's layout

Even with the Empty Activity, you will get a simple TextView layout. Replace this with the BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView, which defines the view for the player.

Open the file app/res/layout/activity_main.xml.
Click Text at the bottom of the file's tab to see the raw XML.

Layout XML file

Remove the existing TextView element and add a BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView section so the resulting XML appears as follows. Note for later use the id of the view is named brightcove_video_view.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
        xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        tools:context="com.brightcove.playvideos.MainActivity">

    <com.brightcove.player.view.BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView
        android:id="@+id/brightcove_video_view"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="280dp"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal|top"/>
    </android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

Enable the app to use the Internet

Open the app/manifests/AndroidManifest.xml file.
Just after the <application> code block, but above the ending </manifest> tag, insert the following to enable Internet access.
```
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
```
Sync the project to rebuild it and pick up these changes.

Create the View and play a video

Return to the MainActivity.java file. For the MainActivity class, extend the BrightcovePlayer class. This provides default lifecycle management for your app.
```
public class MainActivity extends BrightcovePlayer {
```
The BrightcovePlayer class is not automatically imported into the project. Press the option + return keys to add the import statement for the class.

Before:

Importing class
After:

Imported class
You will do this for all new classes that you add to the project.
Locate the onCreate() function. Below any existing code in the function, add the following:
- Create an instance of BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView and associate it with the layout. In most cases, you will use the exoplayer view. For details, see the Choosing a Video View document.
```
public class MainActivity extends BrightcovePlayer {
  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    brightcoveVideoView = (BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView) findViewById(R.id.brightcove_video_view);
```
Don't forget to import the BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView class.
Next, you need to send your Brightcove Player Account ID to Brightcove using the analytics setAccount() method.
```
Analytics analytics = brightcoveVideoView.getAnalytics();
analytics.setAccount("your account Id");
```
Optional: If you override the BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView class or do not use the Brightcove player and catalog, you need to send your Video Cloud Publisher ID to Video Cloud Analytics. You can do this by using the analytics setAccount() method. This allows you to view data for this app in Video Cloud Analytics.
```
Analytics analytics = brightcoveVideoView.getAnalytics();
analytics.setAccount("your account Id");
```
For details about sending data to Video Cloud Analytics, see the Using Brightcove Analytics guide.

Create a video object from your video hosted on a remote server. Set the DeliveryType to match the type of video you have.

Video video = Video.createVideo("https://learning-services-media.brightcove.com/videos/hls/greatblueheron/greatblueheron.m3u8",
  DeliveryType.HLS);

Load a remote image to be used as the poster image before video playback starts.

try {
  java.net.URI myposterImage = new java.net.URI("https://solutions.brightcove.com/bcls/assets/images/Great-Blue-Heron.png");
  video.getProperties().put(Video.Fields.STILL_IMAGE_URI, myposterImage);
} catch (URISyntaxException e) {
  e.printStackTrace();
}

Add the video to the view and start video playback.

brightcoveVideoView.add(video);
brightcoveVideoView.start();

Check to be sure your onCreate() method appears as follows:

@Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    brightcoveVideoView = (BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView) findViewById(R.id.brightcove_video_view);

    // Optional: For Brightcove Player customers to register their apps
    Analytics analytics = brightcoveVideoView.getAnalytics();
    analytics.setAccount("your account Id");

    // Define a video from a remote server
    Video video = Video.createVideo("https://learning-services-media.brightcove.com/videos/hls/greatblueheron/greatblueheron.m3u8", DeliveryType.HLS);

    // Load a remote poster image
    try {
        java.net.URI myposterImage = new java.net.URI("https://solutions.brightcove.com/bcls/assets/images/Great-Blue-Heron.png");
        video.getProperties().put(Video.Fields.STILL_IMAGE_URI, myposterImage);
    } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    // Add video to the view
    brightcoveVideoView.add(video);
    // Start video playback
    brightcoveVideoView.start();
  }

Run or debug the application to see the video playing.

When running the app on a device, make sure it is connected to the internet via your cell data plan or wifi.

Get and play a video

In this section, you will use the Catalog class to retrieve a single video from the Video Cloud server, then play it.

The com.brightcove.player.edge.Catalog class provides asynchronous methods for retrieving videos and playlists from the Brightcove Playback API. This is the latest and recommended API to retrieve content from your Video Cloud library.

Remove unneeded code

Some code from the previous app is no longer needed. Remove the two lines of code in the onCreate() method that add and start the video.

Confirm your onCreate() method appears as follows:

public class MainActivity extends BrightcovePlayer {

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    brightcoveVideoView = (BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView) findViewById(R.id.brightcove_video_view);
  }
}

Retrieve a video from the Catalog

From Video Cloud Studio, collect the following information:
- Account ID
- Video ID
- Policy Key
Notes:
- To access the Playback API, you will need a Policy Key. If you are not familiar with Policy Keys, see the Policy API Overview.
- Because the Native SDKs do not send an origin header, you cannot use a domain-restricted Policy Key. If you try this, you will get a 403 Forbidden response when you attempt to fetch content from your Video Cloud library.

Define your custom values in your project. Open the res/values/strings.xml file and update it as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>

      <!-- Application name -->
      <string name="app_name">PlayVideos</string>

      <!-- A sample Brightcove Edge Account ID -->
      <string name="account">your account id</string>

      <!-- A sample Brightcove Edge Policy Key -->
      <string name="policy">your policy key</string>

      <!-- A sample Brightcove Video ID -->
      <string name="videoId">your video id</string>

  </resources>

Return to the MainActivity.java file and add the following code:

Get the event emitter from the SDK
Create an instance of com.brightcove.player.edge.Catalog, using your defined values for Account ID and Policy Key from the previous step.

// Get the event emitter from the SDK and create a catalog request to fetch a video from the
// Brightcove Edge service, given a video id, an account id and a policy key.
EventEmitter eventEmitter = brightcoveVideoView.getEventEmitter();
Catalog catalog = new Catalog(eventEmitter, getString(R.string.account), getString(R.string.policy));

Use the Catalog's findVideoByID() method with your video ID and a VideoListener for the callback.
```
catalog.findVideoByID(getString(R.string.videoId), new VideoListener() {

  // Add the video found to the queue with add().
  // Start playback of the video with start().
  @Override
    }

  @Override
    public void onError(String s) {
    }
});
```
The VideoListener identifies objects that expect to receive a Video object from an asynchronous operation. On a successful operation, an onVideo() method will be called. If there is an error in the operation, an onError() method will be called. Android Studio inserted the signatures of the two needed methods.

In the onVideo() method, add the video to brightcoveVideoView, then start the video.

// Start playback of the video with start().
  @Override
    public void onVideo(Video video) {
      brightcoveVideoView.add(video);
      brightcoveVideoView.start();
    }

In the onError() method throw the error string.

@Override
    public void onError(String s) {
      throw new RuntimeException(s);
    }

The complete code for your MainActivity class should be similar to this:

public class MainActivity extends BrightcovePlayer {

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    brightcoveVideoView = (BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView) findViewById(R.id.brightcove_video_view);

    EventEmitter eventEmitter = brightcoveVideoView.getEventEmitter();
    Catalog catalog = new Catalog(eventEmitter, getString(R.string.account), getString(R.string.policy));
    catalog.findVideoByID(getString(R.string.videoId), new VideoListener() {

      // Add the video found to the queue with add().
      // Start playback of the video with start().
      @Override
      public void onVideo(Video video) {
        brightcoveVideoView.add(video);
        brightcoveVideoView.start();
      }

      @Override
      public void onError(String s) {
        throw new RuntimeException(s);
      }
    });
  }
}

Run the app to confirm the video plays.

Get and play a playlist

In this section, you will use the Catalog class to retrieve a playlist from the Video Cloud server, then play the videos in the playlist.

Remove unneeded code

Some code from the previous app is no longer needed. Remove the call to the Catalog's findVideoByID() method, and the associated VideoListener anonymous callback function.

catalog.findVideoByID(getString(R.string.videoId), new VideoListener() {

    // Add the video found to the queue with add().
    // Start playback of the video with start().
    @Override
      public void onVideo(Video video) {
        brightcoveVideoView.add(video);
        brightcoveVideoView.start();
      }

    @Override
      public void onError(String s) {
        throw new RuntimeException(s);
      }
  });

Retrieve a playlist from the Catalog

The existing catalog instance will work for retrieving a playlist, so no changes are necessary to these lines of code:

EventEmitter eventEmitter = brightcoveVideoView.getEventEmitter();
Catalog catalog = new Catalog(eventEmitter, getString(R.string.account), getString(R.string.policy));

In Video Cloud Studio's Media module, select a playlist and copy the Playlist ID.
Use the Catalog's findPlaylistByID() method using your playlist ID and a PlaylistListener for the callback.
```
catalog.findPlaylistByID("2764931905001", new PlaylistListener() {
  @Override
  public void onPlaylist(Playlist playlist) {
  }

  @Override
  public void onError(String s) {
  }
});
```
The PlaylistListener identifies objects that expect to receive a Playlist object from an asynchronous operation. On a successful operation, an onPlaylist() method will be called. If there is an error in the operation, an onError() method will be called. Android Studio inserted the signatures of the two needed methods.

In the onPlaylist() method, retrieve the videos from the playlist, add all of the videos to brightcoveVideoView, then start the first video.

@Override
    public void onPlaylist(Playlist playlist) {
      brightcoveVideoView.addAll(playlist.getVideos());
      brightcoveVideoView.start();
    }

In the onError() method throw the error string.

 @Override
    public void onError(String s) {
      throw new RuntimeException(s);
    }

The complete code for your MainActivity class should be similar to this:

public class MainActivity extends BrightcovePlayer {

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    brightcoveVideoView = (BrightcoveExoPlayerVideoView) findViewById(R.id.brightcove_video_view);

    EventEmitter eventEmitter = brightcoveVideoView.getEventEmitter();
    Catalog catalog = new Catalog(eventEmitter, getString(R.string.account), getString(R.string.policy));
    catalog.findPlaylistByID("4845949311001", new PlaylistListener() {
      @Override
      public void onPlaylist(Playlist playlist) {
        brightcoveVideoView.addAll(playlist.getVideos());
        brightcoveVideoView.start();
      }

      @Override
      public void onError(String s) {
        throw new RuntimeException(s);
      }
    });
  }
}

Run the app to confirm multiple videos from the playlist play.

You're done! Thanks for working through the Android SDK Quick Start.

Quick Start: Build an app using the Brightcove Native SDK for Android

Overview

Audience

Prerequisites

Get ready

Create a project

Create a project in Android Studio

Utilize Gradle to link to the Brightcove Player SDK for Android

Code the application

Define the app's layout

Enable the app to use the Internet

Create the View and play a video

Get and play a video

Remove unneeded code

Retrieve a video from the Catalog

Get and play a playlist

Remove unneeded code

Retrieve a playlist from the Catalog

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