AVQueuePlayer - using slider to control all audio tracks at once - ios

I have multiple audio files that I want to play continuously and be able to control it with UISlider. I was using AVAudioPlayer but there was problem with gaps between each tracks. So I found AVQueuePlayer and now there are no gaps. But now I have problem with set AVQueuePlayer to right asset and time to play when UISlider value changed.
I have different duration of each tracks and I want to slider have same slice for each track so I get maximum duration of biggest track and then get acceleration for each track. Here is how I update slider when AVQueuePlayer is playing:
func updateSliderProgress() {
var value: Float = 0
if let track = tracks[self.playingIndex] {
value = Float(self.playingIndex) * self.maximumDuration + Float(CMTimeGetSeconds(audioQueuePlayer.currentTime())) * track.acceleration
}
playerSlider.setValue(value, animated: false)
}
And here is notification when AVPlayerItem did end:
func playerItemDidReachEnd(sender: AnyObject) {
self.playingIndex++
...
}
It's working and UISlider is correctly progressing. But I have problem with other way:
#IBAction func playerSliderValueChanged(sender: AnyObject) {
let seconds = Double(self.getSeekTime(self.playerSlider.value))
audioQueuePlayer.seekToTime(CMTimeMakeWithSeconds(seconds, 1000))
}
Function seekToTime is inherit from AVPlayer and it sets time just for current track, right? So is it possible to change current AVPlayerItem (by index or something like that) and then apply time in that item? I found just method advanceToNextItem but I was hoping in more functions with changing current item.
So for now only solution which comes to my mind is that each time user uses slider I create new AVQueuePlayer use advanceToNextItem to set right track and then use seekToTime to get to correct time. Is there better solution?

Related

AudioKit 5 iOS Current Playback Time

Hello fellow AudioKit users,
I'm trying to setup AudioKit 5 with a playback time indication, and am having trouble.
If I use AudioPlayer's duration property, this is the total time of the audio file, not the current playback time.
ex:
let duration = player.duration
Always gives the file's total time.
Looking at old code from AKAudioPlayer, it seemed to have a "currentTime" property.
The migration guide (https://github.com/AudioKit/AudioKit/blob/v5-main/docs/MigrationGuide.md) mentions some potentially helpful classes from the old version, however the "AKTimelineTap" has no replacement with no comments from the developers... nice.
Also still not sure how to manipulate the current playback time either...
I've also checked out Audio Kit 5's Cookbooks, however this is for adding effects and nodes, not necessarily for playback display, etc..
Thanks for any help with this new version of AudioKit.
You can find playerNode in AudioPlayer, it's AVAudioPlayerNode class.
Use lastRenderTime and playerTime, you can calculate current time.
ex:
// get playerNode in AudioPlayer.
let playerNode = player.playerNode
// get lastRenderTime, and transform to playerTime.
guard let lastRenderTime = playerNode.lastRenderTime else { return }
guard let playerTime = playerNode.playerTime(forNodeTime: lastRenderTime) else { return }
// use sampleRate and sampleTime to calculate current time in seconds.
let sampleRate = playerTime.sampleRate
let sampleTime = playerTime.sampleTime
let currentTime = Double(sampleTime) / sampleRate

How to play multiple sounds from buffer simultaneously using nodes connected to AVAudioEngine's mixer

I am making a basic music app for iOS, where pressing notes causes the corresponding sound to play. I am trying to get multiple sounds stored in buffers to play simultaneously with minimal latency. However, I can only get one sound to play at any time.
I initially set up my sounds using multiple AVAudioPlayer objects, assigning a sound to each player. While it did play multiple sounds simultaneously, it didn't seem like it was capable of starting two sounds at the same time (it seemed like it would delay the second sound just slightly after the first sound was started). Furthermore, if I pressed notes at a very fast rate, it seemed like the engine couldn't keep up, and later sounds would start well after I had pressed the later notes.
I am trying to solve this problem, and from the research I have done, it seems like using the AVAudioEngine to play sounds would be the best method, where I can set up the sounds in an array of buffers, and then have them play back from those buffers.
class ViewController: UIViewController
{
// Main Audio Engine and it's corresponding mixer
var audioEngine: AVAudioEngine = AVAudioEngine()
var mainMixer = AVAudioMixerNode()
// One AVAudioPlayerNode per note
var audioFilePlayer: [AVAudioPlayerNode] = Array(repeating: AVAudioPlayerNode(), count: 7)
// Array of filepaths
let noteFilePath: [String] = [
Bundle.main.path(forResource: "note1", ofType: "wav")!,
Bundle.main.path(forResource: "note2", ofType: "wav")!,
Bundle.main.path(forResource: "note3", ofType: "wav")!]
// Array to store the note URLs
var noteFileURL = [URL]()
// One audio file per note
var noteAudioFile = [AVAudioFile]()
// One audio buffer per note
var noteAudioFileBuffer = [AVAudioPCMBuffer]()
override func viewDidLoad()
{
super.viewDidLoad()
do
{
// For each note, read the note URL into an AVAudioFile,
// setup the AVAudioPCMBuffer using data read from the file,
// and read the AVAudioFile into the corresponding buffer
for i in 0...2
{
noteFileURL.append(URL(fileURLWithPath: noteFilePath[i]))
// Read the corresponding url into the audio file
try noteAudioFile.append(AVAudioFile(forReading: noteFileURL[i]))
// Read data from the audio file, and store it in the correct buffer
let noteAudioFormat = noteAudioFile[i].processingFormat
let noteAudioFrameCount = UInt32(noteAudioFile[i].length)
noteAudioFileBuffer.append(AVAudioPCMBuffer(pcmFormat: noteAudioFormat, frameCapacity: noteAudioFrameCount)!)
// Read the audio file into the buffer
try noteAudioFile[i].read(into: noteAudioFileBuffer[i])
}
mainMixer = audioEngine.mainMixerNode
// For each note, attach the corresponding node to the audioEngine, and connect the node to the audioEngine's mixer.
for i in 0...2
{
audioEngine.attach(audioFilePlayer[i])
audioEngine.connect(audioFilePlayer[i], to: mainMixer, fromBus: 0, toBus: i, format: noteAudioFileBuffer[i].format)
}
// Start the audio engine
try audioEngine.start()
// Setup the audio session to play sound in the app, and activate the audio session
try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSession.Category.soloAmbient)
try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setMode(AVAudioSession.Mode.default)
try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
}
catch let error
{
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
}
func playSound(senderTag: Int)
{
let sound: Int = senderTag - 1
// Set up the corresponding audio player to play its sound.
audioFilePlayer[sound].scheduleBuffer(noteAudioFileBuffer[sound], at: nil, options: .interrupts, completionHandler: nil)
audioFilePlayer[sound].play()
}
Each sound should be playing without interrupting the other sounds, only interrupting its own sound when the sounds is played again. However, despite setting up multiple buffers and players, and assigning each one to its own Bus on the audioEngine's mixer, playing one sound still stops any other sounds from playing.
Furthermore, while leaving out .interrupts does prevent sounds from stopping other sounds, these sounds won't play until the sound that is currently playing completes. This means that if I play note1, then note2, then note3, note1 will play, while note2 will only play after note1 finishes, and note3 will only play after note2 finishes.
Edit: I was able to get the audioFilePlayer to reset to the beginning again without using interrupt with the following code in the playSound function.
if audioFilePlayer[sound].isPlaying == true
{
audioFilePlayer[sound].stop()
}
audioFilePlayer[sound].scheduleBuffer(noteAudioFileBuffer[sound], at: nil, completionHandler: nil)
audioFilePlayer[sound].play()
This still leaves me with figuring out how to play these sounds simultaneously, since playing another sound will still stop the currently playing sound.
Edit 2: I found the solution to my problem. My answer is below.
It turns out that having the .interrupt option wasn't the issue (in fact, this actually turned out to be the best way to restart the sound that was playing in my experience, as there was no noticeable pause during the restart, unlike the stop() function). The actual problem that was preventing multiple sounds from playing simultaneously was this particular line of code.
// One AVAudioPlayerNode per note
var audioFilePlayer: [AVAudioPlayerNode] = Array(repeating: AVAudioPlayerNode(), count: 7)
What happened here was that each item of the array was being assigned the exact same AVAudioPlayerNode value, so they were all effectively sharing the same AVAudioPlayerNode. As a result, the AVAudioPlayerNode functions were affecting all of the items in the array, instead of just the specified item. To fix this and give each item a different AVAudioPlayerNode value, I ended up changing the above line so that it starts as an empty array of type AVAudioPlayerNode instead.
// One AVAudioPlayerNode per note
var audioFilePlayer = [AVAudioPlayerNode]()
I then added a new line to append to this array a new AVAudioPlayerNode at the beginning inside of the second for-loop of the viewDidLoad() function.
// For each note, attach the corresponding node to the audioEngine, and connect the node to the audioEngine's mixer.
for i in 0...6
{
audioFilePlayer.append(AVAudioPlayerNode())
// audioEngine code
}
This gave each item in the array a different AVAudioPlayerNode value. Playing a sound or restarting a sound no longer interrupts the other sounds that are currently being played. I can now play any of the notes simultaneously and without any noticeable latency between note press and playback.

Reloading AKAudioFile in AKSequencer using AKCallbackInstrument.noteOff?

First, I called a AKMIDISampler to play an audio file, and then assigned it to AKSequencer. The 'midi' file I used is just a 2 bars long, C3 note, single track midi file, exactly as long as the audio file I wanted to play. But, in calling AKAudioFile, I wanted to choose mp3 file randomly. I temporarily made 1.mp3, 2.mp3 and 3.mp3 as below.
let track = AKMIDISampler()
let sequencer = AKSequencer(filename: "midi")
try? track.loadAudioFile(AKAudioFile(readFileName: String(arc4random_uniform(3)+1) + ".mp3"))
sequencer.tracks[0].setMIDIOutput(track.midiIn)
// Tempo track I had to made to remove sine wave
sequencer.tracks[1].setMIDIOutput(track.midiIn)
And did some sequencer settings,
sequencer.setTempo(128.0)
sequencer.setLength(AKDuration(beats: 8))
sequencer.setLoopInfo(AKDuration(beats: 8), numberOfLoops: 4)
sequencer.preroll()
and assigned AKMIDISampler to AudioKit.output, then did sequencer.play().
The sequencer playback was successful! It loaded among three mp3 files randomly, and played 8 beats (2 bars), looped for 4 times exactly.
But my goal is to load random MP3 files every time the loop repeats. It seems like the sequencer only plays the first assigned mp3 file when looping. I am struggling finding a solution to this.
Perhaps I could use "AKCallbackInstrument"? Since I play audiofile through a midi note in this case, I might reset "loadAudioFile" whenever the midi note is off? In that way I might loop the sequencer and play random a audio file in every loop. This is just an idea, but for me now it is hard to write it properly. I hope I am on the right track. It would be great if I could get an advice here. <3
You're definitely on the right track - you can easily get random audio files to loop at a fixed interval with AKSequencer + AKCallbackInstrument. But I wouldn't worry about trying to reload on the NoteOff message.
I would first load each mp3 into a separate player (e.g., AKAppleSampler) in an array (e.g.,you could call it players) and create a method that will trigger one of these players at random:
func playRandom() {
let playerIndex = Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32(players.count)))
try? players[playerIndex].play()
}
When you create your sequencer, add a track and assign it to an AKCallbackInstrument. The callback function for this AKCallbackInstrument will call playRandom when it receives a noteOn message.
seq = AKSequencer()
track = seq.newTrack()!
callbackInst = AKCallbackInstrument()
track.setMIDIOutput(callbackInst.midiIn)
callbackInst.callback = { status, note, vel in
guard status == .noteOn else { return }
self.playRandom()
}
It isn't necessary to load the sequencer with a MIDI file. You could just add the triggering MIDI event directly to the track.
track.add(noteNumber: 48, // i.e., C3
velocity: 127,
position: AKDuration(beats: 0), // noteOn message here
duration: AKDuration(beats: 8), // noteOff 8 beats later
channel: 0)
Your problem with the sine wave is probably being caused by an extra track (probably tempo track) in the MIDI file which you created which hasn't been assigned an output. You can avoid the problem altogether by adding the MIDI events directly.
In principle, you could use the callback to check for noteOff events and trigger code from the noteOff, but I wouldn't recommend it in your case. There is no good reason to re-use a single player for multiple audiofiles. Loading the file is where you are most likely to create an error. What happens if your file hasn't finished playing and you try to load another one? The resources needed to keep multiple players in memory is pretty trivial - if you're going to play the same file more than once, it is cleaner and safer to load it once and keep the player in memory.
It was very helpful, c_booth! Thanks to you, I made a huge progress today. Here's what I've written based on your advise. First, I made an array of AKPlayers include 6 mp3 files. They're assigned to AKMixer, and then I called sequencer and callback instrument. I made a track and a note on the sequencer, which calls 'playRandom' function on every noteOn :
let players: [AKPlayer] = {
do {
let filenames = ["a1.mp3", "a2.mp3", "a3.mp3", "b1.mp3", "b2.mp3", "b3.mp3"]
return try filenames.map { AKPlayer(audioFile: try AKAudioFile(readFileName: $0)) }
} catch {
fatalError()
}
}()
func playRandom() {
let playerIndex = Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32(players.count)))
players[playerIndex].play()
}
func addTracks() {
let track = sequencer.newTrack()!
track.add(noteNumber: 48, velocity: 127, position: AKDuration(beats: 0), duration: AKDuration(beats: 16), channel: 0)
track.setMIDIOutput(callbackInst.midiIn)
callbackInst.callback = { status, note, vel in
guard status == .noteOn else { return }
self.playRandom()
}
}
func sequencerSettings() {
sequencer.setTempo(128.0)
sequencer.setLength(AKDuration(beats: 16))
sequencer.setLoopInfo(AKDuration(beats: 16), numberOfLoops: 4)
sequencer.preroll()
}
func makeConnections() {
players.forEach { $0 >>> mixer }
}
func startAudioEngine() {
AudioKit.output = mixer
do {
try AudioKit.start()
} catch {
print(error)
fatalError()
}
}
func startSequencer() {
sequencer.play()
}
This worked great. It randomly selects one from 6 mp3 files (they are all the same length, 128bpm and 16 beats). What I found strange here is, though, the first playback plays two audio files at once. It works fine after the second loop. I changed the numberOfLoop setting, enableLooping(), etc but still the same - plays two files on the first playback. The trackcount is still 1, and I only called one AKPlayer as you could see. Is there anything I can do about this?
Also, ultimately, I'd like to call hundreds of mp3 files on the array, as what I'm trying to make is a sort of DJing app (something like Ableton Live preset). Do you think it's a good idea to use AKPlayer, assuming this code will load mp3 files from the cloud and stream it to the user? Much appreciated. <3

addPeriodicTimeObserver keeps AVPlayer instances

After being all over Stack Overflow and the deepest corners of the internet, I'm yet to find the solution. I hope someone out there will be able help me out with a problem I've had for days now.
The app in question has a collection view with lots of items. When you click on it you get to a preview collection view. And finally (where I need help) when you click "GO" you come to a collection view with cells that fills out the entire screen. It consists of an AVPlayerLayer and AVPlayer. Each time you scroll to right or left you see another video. The following code works:
UICollectionViewCell
class PageCell: UICollectionViewCell {
var player: AVPlayer?
var playerLayer: AVPlayerLayer?
var playerItem: AVPlayerItem?
var videoAsset: AVAsset?
var indexPath: IndexPath?
var page: Page? {
didSet {
guard let unwrappedPage = page, let unwrappedIndexPath = indexPath else { return }
addingVideo(videoID: unwrappedPage.steps[unwrappedIndexPath.item].video)
}
}
func setupPlayerView() {
player = AVPlayer()
playerLayer = AVPlayerLayer(player: player)
playerLayer?.videoGravity = .resizeAspectFill
videoView.layer.addSublayer(playerLayer!)
layoutIfNeeded()
playerLayer?.frame = videoView.bounds
}
func addingVideo(videoID: String) {
setupPlayerView()
guard let url = URL(string: videoID) else { return }
videoAsset = AVAsset(url: url)
activityIndicatorView.startAnimating()
videoAsset?.loadValuesAsynchronously(forKeys: ["duration"]) {
guard self.videoAsset?.statusOfValue(forKey: "duration", error: nil) == .loaded else { return }
self.player?.play()
self.playerItem = AVPlayerItem(asset: self.videoAsset!)
self.player?.replaceCurrentItem(with: self.playerItem)
}
}
In the UICollectionViewController I'm reusing cells. Since there is no way to know the number of AVPlayer instances, I simply made a helper variable inside the PageCell and it seems like three cells are getting reused (the normal amount when dequeuing and reusing cells). Now when I close this UICollectionViewController the AVPlayer instances seems to disappear/close.
Now, the problem arises when I want to loop the videos. Using AVPlayerLooper is not an option because it simply is too laggy (I've implemented it in a dusin different ways without luck). So my solution was to use a period time observer inside the videoAsset?.loadValuesAsynchronously block:
self.timeObserver = self.player?.addPeriodicTimeObserver(forInterval: CMTime(value: 1, timescale: 2),
queue: DispatchQueue.global(), using: { (progressTime) in
if let totalDuration = self.player?.currentItem?.duration{
if progressTime == totalDuration {
self.player?.seek(to: kCMTimeZero)
self.player?.play()
}
}
})
Problem
Video showcasing problem: Problem video
The problem arises when having +17 AVPlayer instances running simultaneously then suddenly the videos won't load anymore. iOS devices have a hardware limitation of everything from 4 to 18 AVPlayer instances running at the same time (most likely depending on RAM), see the following Stack Overflow posts just to mention a few:
AVPlayerItemStatusFailed error when too many AVPlayer instances created
How many AVPlayers are allowed to be created at the same time?
AVPlayer not able to play after playing some items
Loading issues with AVPlayerItem from local URL
See also these articles for more insight:
Building native video Pins
Too Many AVPlayers?
Because the problem only occurs when adding the time observer I suspect that it keeps the AVPlayer instances "alive" even though I've closed the collection view.
Notes to Problem video: Every time I press "GO" one AVPlayer instance is created. When I swipe to the right two more cells are created hence two more AVPlayer instances. All in all 3 AVPlayer instances are created each time accumulating in the end to about 17 instances and the videos will not load anymore. I've tried scrolling through all the videos each time I've pressed "GO" but this does not change the outcome with a maximum of three cells being reused all the time.
What I've tried to solve the problem
Try 1:
I made playerLayer a global variable and in viewDidDisappear inside the UICollectionViewController I added:
playerLayer?.player = nil
This resulted in one AVPlayer instance to disappear/close when I closed the cells onto the "GO" page (i.e. the view disappeared). This meant that I hit 17 instances a bit later than when I didn't add this code. Together with the code above I also tried adding playerLayer = nil, playerLayer?.player?.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil) and playerLayer?.removeFromSuperlayer() but the only thing that changed anything was playerLayer?.player = nil. It should be noted that if I do not scroll and simply open the first video and close, open the first video and close and so on, I could do it "forever" without any problems. So, in this case one instance was created and then closed/disappeared afterwards.
Video showcasing try 1: Try 1 video
Try 2:
I changed the addPeriodicTimeObserver block to:
self.timeObserver = playerLayer?.player?.addPeriodicTimeObserver(forInterval: CMTime(value: 1, timescale:
2), queue: DispatchQueue.global(), using: { (progressTime) in
if let totalDuration = playerLayer?.player?.currentItem?.duration{
if progressTime == totalDuration {
playerLayer?.player?.seek(to: kCMTimeZero)
playerLayer?.player?.play()
}
}
})
In this block I essentially changed all self.player? to playerLayer?.player?.
This made me able to open and close the view with the videos as much as I wanted - so the AVPlayer instances were somehow closing/disappearing. Though now the looping didn't work. The first video would loop initially. But then I swiped to the second cell and this video would not loop. Then I swiped back to the first cell and now this wouldn't loop either. If I added playerLayer?.player = nil like in "Try 1" no effect occurred with neither the open and close nor the loops.
Video showcasing try 2: Try 2 video
Try 3:
I made the timeObserver variable global and tried many many things. But when I tried to remove the observer(s) it always resulted in the following error:
'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: 'An instance of AVPlayer cannot remove a time observer that was added by a different instance of AVPlayer.'
The error indicates that the time observers are clearly all over the place. This was clear when I added helper variables (counters) inside the addPeriodicTimeObserver block and found out that the time observers were quickly adding up. At one point with all the different combinations of the code presented in this post, I was able to remove the time observer at any time during the scrolling. But this resulted in only removing a single time observer out of many - resulting in the same situation as in "Try 1" where I was able to remove a single AVPlayer instance each time I closed the view.
General note:
To test whether or not it really was only three AVPlayer instances that were created each time I press "GO" and swiped I made a test where I scrolled through over 20 videos, but there was no problem loading them. Therefore I'm quite sure, as mentioned earlier, that a maximum of three AVPlayer instances are created in the view each time.
Conclusion
The problem is, as I see it, that when I add the time observers in order to loop the videos they accumulate and keep the AVPlayer instances "alive". Remember that I had no problem at all without the time observers. When applying playerLayer?.player = nil it seems as though, I was able to "save" an instance but then again it's so hard to tell when I don't know the amount of AVPlayer instances currently "active". Simply put, all I wanna do is to delete all AVPlayer instances the moment the view disappears and it will be happy days. If anyone got this far, I will be overly grateful if you are able to help me out.
There is a retain cycle. Use weak self in escaping closures. The retain cycle you created was:
cell -> Player -> observer closure -> cell
Try this:
self.timeObserver = self.player?.addPeriodicTimeObserver(forInterval: CMTime(value: 1, timescale: 2),
queue: DispatchQueue.global(), using: { [weak self] (progressTime) in
if let totalDuration = self?.player?.currentItem?.duration{
if progressTime == totalDuration {
self?.player?.seek(to: kCMTimeZero)
self?.player?.play()
}
}
})

How to close previous AVPlayer and AVPlayerItem

I'm making an iOS app in Swift that plays a video in a loop in a small layer in the top right corner of the screen which shows a video of specific coloured item. the user then taps the corresponding coloured item on the screen. when they do, the videoName variable is randomly changed to the next colour and the corresponding video is triggered. I have no problem raising, playing and looping the video with AVPlayer, AVPlayerItem as seen in the attached code.
Where I'm stuck is that whenever the next video is shown, previous ones stay open behind it. Also, After 16 videos have played, the player disappears altogether on my iPad. I've tried many suggestions presented in this and other sites but either swift finds a problem with them or it just doesn't work.
So question: within my code here, how do I tell it "hey the next video has started to play, remove the previous video and it's layer and free up the memory so i can play as many videos as needed"?
//set variables for video play
var playerItem:AVPlayerItem?
var player:AVPlayer?
//variables that contain video file path, name and extension
var videoPath = NSBundle.mainBundle().resourcePath!
var videoName = "blue"
let videoExtension = ".mp4"
//DISPLAY VIDEO
func showVideo(){
//Assign url path
let url = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: videoPath+"/Base.lproj/"+videoName+videoExtension)
playerItem = AVPlayerItem(URL: url)
player=AVPlayer(playerItem: playerItem!)
let playerLayer=AVPlayerLayer(player: player!)
//setplayser location in uiview and show video
playerLayer.frame=CGRectMake(700, 5, 350, 350)
self.view.layer.addSublayer(playerLayer)
player!.play()
// Add notification to know when the video ends, then replay it again. THIS IS A CONTINUAL LOOP
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserverForName(AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTimeNotification, object: player!.currentItem, queue: nil)
{ notification in
let t1 = CMTimeMake(5, 100);
self.player!.seekToTime(t1)
self.player!.play()
}
}
`
I adapted #Anupam Mishra's Swift code suggestion. It wasn't working at first but finally figured I had to take the playerLayer outside the function and close the playerLayer after I set the player to nil. Also. instead of using 'if(player!.rate>0 ...)' which would no doubt still work, I created a variable switch to indicate when to say "kill the player AND the layer" as seen below. It may not be pretty but it works! The following is for absolute newbies like myself - WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS EXPERIENCE: it seems to me that an ios device only allows 16 layers to be added to a viewController (or superLayer). so each layer needs to be deleted before opening the next layer with its player unless you really want 16 layers running all at once. WHAT THIS CODE BELOW ACTUALLY DOES FOR YOU: this code creates a re-sizable layer over an existing viewController and plays a video from your bundle in an endless loop. When the next video is about to be called, the current video and the layer are totally removed, freeing up the memory, and then a new layer with the new video is played. The video layer size and location is totally customizable using the playerLayer.frame=CGRectMake(left, top, width, height) parameters. HOW TO MAKE IT ALL WORK: Assuming you've already added your videos to you bundle, create another function for your button tap. in that function, first call the 'stopPlayer()' function, change the 'videoName' variable to the new video name you desire, then call the 'showVideo()' function. (if you need to change the video extension, change 'videoExtension' from a let to a var.
`
//set variables for video play
var playerItem:AVPlayerItem?
var player:AVPlayer?
var playerLayer = AVPlayerLayer() //NEW playerLayer var location
//variables that contain video file path, name and extension
var videoPath = NSBundle.mainBundle().resourcePath!
var videoName = "blue"
let videoExtension = ".mp4"
var createLayerSwitch = true /*NEW switch to say whether on not to create the layer when referenced by the closePlayer and showVideo functions*/
//DISPLAY VIDEO
func showVideo(){
//Assign url path
let url = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: videoPath+"/Base.lproj/"+videoName+videoExtension)
playerItem = AVPlayerItem(URL: url)
player=AVPlayer(playerItem: playerItem!)
playerLayer=AVPlayerLayer(player: player!) //NEW: remove 'let' from playeLayer here.
//setplayser location in uiview and show video
playerLayer.frame=CGRectMake(700, 5, 350, 350)
self.view.layer.addSublayer(playerLayer)
player!.play()
createLayerSwitch = false //NEW switch to tell if a layer is already created or not. I set the switch to false so that when the next tapped item/button references the closePlayer() function, the condition is triggered to close the player AND the layer
// Add notification to know when the video ends, then replay it again without a pause between replays. THIS IS A CONTINUAL LOOP
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserverForName(AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTimeNotification, object: player!.currentItem, queue: nil)
{ notification in
let t1 = CMTimeMake(5, 100);
self.player!.seekToTime(t1)
self.player!.play()
}
}
//NEW function to kill the current player and layer before playing the next video
func closePlayer(){
if (createLayerSwitch == false) {
player!.pause()
player = nil
playerLayer.removefromsuperlayer()
}
}
`
Why don't just use replaceCurrentItemWithPlayerItem on your player ? You will keep the same player for all your videos. I think it's a better way to do.
Edit : replaceCurrentItemWithPlayerItem has to be call on the main thread
Before moving on next track first check, is player having any videos or music, to stop it do the following checks:
Swift Code-
if player!.rate > 0 && player!.error == nil
{
player!.pause()
player = nil
}
Objective-C Code-
if (player.rate > 0 && !player.error)
{
[player setRate:0.0];
}

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