Creating a player instance

This article is a brief introduction to the player API to help you get quickly started.

Add a player to an Activity

There are two ways to add a player to an Activity:

• Option 1 : Use FlowplayerView .
• Option 2 : Use either FlowplayerSupportFragment or FlowplayerFragment , depending on whether or not your Activity inherits (directly or indirectly) from AndroidX's FragmentActivity .

The second method is recommended since these two Fragments wrap FlowplayerView and handle its lifecycle automatically.

Optionally, both these Fragments can also handle orientation changes and toggle fullscreen.

Option 1: Add FlowplayerView

The FlowplayerView is the core of the Wowza Flowplayer Android SDK. It can load a video/audio, control the playback, and subscribe to player related callbacks.

It extends FrameLayout and can, therefore, be added either via xml or programmatically in an ordinary fashion:

<RelativeLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">
    
    <com.flowplayer.android.player.FlowplayerView
        android:id="@+id/player_view"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />
</RelativeLayout>

Adding FlowplayerView gives you more control over its lifecycle. However, if you don't need this control, we recommend using either FlowplayerFragment or FlowplayerSupportFragment instead.

If you decide to use FlowplayerView instead of FlowplayerFragment or FlowplayerSupportFragment, then you must manage its lifecycle. There are two ways to achieve this:

1. If your Activity or Fragment inherits (directly or indirectly) from AndroidX's FragmentActivity or Fragment, respectively, then it implements LifecycleOwner . In this case, you can simply register your Activity's or Fragment's lifecycle by adding the following line in its onCreate() method:
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   FlowplayerLifecycleObserver.registerLifecycle(lifecycle)

2. If your Activity or Fragment does not implement LifecycleOwner , then you must call the FlowplayerView 's lifecycle methods manually by putting the following code inside the parent Activity or Fragment:
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   override fun onStart() {
       super.onStart()
       flowplayerView.onStart()
   }
   
   override fun onResume() {
       super.onResume()
       flowplayerView.onResume()
   }
   
   override fun onPause() {
       flowplayerView.onPause()
       super.onPause()
   }
   
   override fun onStop() {
       flowplayerView.onStop()
       super.onStop()
   }
   
   override fun onDestroy() {
       flowplayerView.onDestroy()
       super.onDestroy()
   }

Option 2: Add FlowplayerFragment or FlowplayerSupportFragment

Both FlowplayerFragment and FlowplayerSupportFragment can be added in the same way as any other Fragment, either via xml:

<RelativeLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/player_fragment"
        class="com.flowplayer.android.player.FlowplayerFragment"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />
</RelativeLayout>

or programmatically:

val playerFragment = FlowplayerFragment.newInstance()

fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
        .replace(R.id.player_holder, playerFragment)
        .commit()

You can then get the instance of the FlowplayerView by calling:

playerFragment.getPlayer()

Prepare the player

FlowplayerView can play media directly from a media URL that you specify.

The player can be prepared with a local or remote media URL. This is possible by preparing the player with an ExternalMedia instance as shown below. An ExternalMedia may optionally contain an ad schedule as well.

val externalMedia = ExternalMedia("https://link.to.a.media.file")
flowplayerView.prepare(externalMedia, true)