MediaManager - Cross platform media plugin for Xamarin and Windows

• Designed to be simple and easy to use
• Native playback of media files from remote http(s), embedded and local sources
• Native media notifications and remote controls
• Queue and playback management by default
• Playback status (Playing, Buffering, Loading, Paused, Progress)
• Events for media handling to hook into

Status:

Platform Support

Platform	Supported	Version	Player
.Net Standard	Yes	2.0+	MediaManager
Xamarin.Forms	Yes	3.2+	MediaManager
Xamarin.Android	Yes	API 16+	ExoPlayer
Xamarin.iOS	Yes	iOS 10+	AVPlayer
Xamarin.Mac	Yes	3.0+	AVPlayer
Xamarin.tvOS	Yes	10.0+	AVPlayer
Tizen	Yes	4.0+	MediaPlayer
Windows 10 UWP	Yes	10+	MediaElement
Windows WPF	No

Installation

Add the NuGet package to all the projects you want to use it in.

• In Visual Studio - Tools > NuGet Package Manager > Manage Packages for Solution
• Select the Browse tab, search for MediaManager
• Select Plugin.MediaManager
• Install into each project within your solution

More information on the Xamarin Blog

Usage

Call MediaManager.Current from any .Net library or Xamarin project to gain access to APIs.

IMPORTANT: Initialize plugin

Make sure to call Init() in all the native platforms on startup of your app.

CrossMediaManager.Current.Init();

Optionally provide the Activity on Android.

public class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity
{
	protected override void OnCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
	{
		base.OnCreate(savedInstanceState);
		SetContentView(Resource.Layout.main_activity);

		CrossMediaManager.Current.Init(this);
	}
}

Play a single media item

//Audio
await CrossMediaManager.Current.Play("https://ia800806.us.archive.org/15/items/Mp3Playlist_555/AaronNeville-CrazyLove.mp3");
//Video
await CrossMediaManager.Current.Play("http://clips.vorwaerts-gmbh.de/big_buck_bunny.mp4");

Play multiple media items

public IList<string> Mp3UrlList => new[]{
	"https://ia800806.us.archive.org/15/items/Mp3Playlist_555/AaronNeville-CrazyLove.mp3",
	"https://ia800605.us.archive.org/32/items/Mp3Playlist_555/CelineDion-IfICould.mp3",
	"https://ia800605.us.archive.org/32/items/Mp3Playlist_555/Daughtry-Homeacoustic.mp3",
	"https://storage.googleapis.com/uamp/The_Kyoto_Connection_-_Wake_Up/01_-_Intro_-_The_Way_Of_Waking_Up_feat_Alan_Watts.mp3",
	"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/02d84890-e58d-43eb-ab4c-26bcc8524289/d9b38b7f-5ede-4ca7-a5d6-a18d5605aba1.mp3"
	};

await CrossMediaManager.Current.Play(Mp3UrlList);

Retrieve metadata for media

Depending on the platform and the media item metadata will be extracted from ID3 data in the file.

CrossMediaManager.Current.MediaQueue.Current.Title;
CrossMediaManager.Current.MediaQueue.Current.AlbumArt;
CrossMediaManager.Current.MediaQueue.Current.*

Add Video Player to the UI

For android we need a videoview

playerView = view.FindViewById<VideoView>(Resource.Id.exoplayerview_activity_video);

For iOS we need a UIView, which we add to the videoSurface

_videoSurface = new VideoSurface(vwPlayer);

Then for both android and iOS we have to add the player view to the mediaplayer

CrossMediaManager.Current.MediaPlayer.SetPlayerView(playerView);

Control the player

await CrossMediaManager.Current.Play();
await CrossMediaManager.Current.Pause();
await CrossMediaManager.Current.Stop();

await CrossMediaManager.Current.StepForward();
await CrossMediaManager.Current.StepBackward();

await CrossMediaManager.Current.SeekToStart();
await CrossMediaManager.Current.SeekTo(TimeSpan position);

Control the Queue

await CrossMediaManager.Current.PlayPrevious();
await CrossMediaManager.Current.PlayNext();
await CrossMediaManager.Current.PlayPreviousOrSeekToStart();

Retrieve information

CrossMediaManager.Current.MediaPlayer.State == MediaPlayerState.Playing;

Hook into events

event StateChangedEventHandler StateChanged;
event PlayingChangedEventHandler PlayingChanged;
event BufferingChangedEventHandler BufferingChanged;
event MediaItemFinishedEventHandler MediaItemFinished;
event MediaItemChangedEventHandler MediaItemChanged;
event MediaItemFailedEventHandler MediaItemFailed;
event PositionChangedEventHandler PositionChanged;

Xamarin.Forms

await CrossMediaManager.Current.*

Platform specific features

Feature	Android	iOS, Mac, tvOS	UWP	Tizen
Audio	x	x	x	x
Video	x	x	x	x
Queue	x	x	x	x
Notifications	x	x	x	x
Volume	x	x	x	x
Media Extraction	x	x	x	x
HLS	x	x
DASH	x
SmoothStreaming	x
ChromeCast	x
Airplay		x
Xamarin.Forms	x	x	x

You can also directly access the native media player if you need it!

//Access ExoPlayer on Android
(CrossMediaManager.Current as IMediaManager<MediaPlayer, SimpleExoPlayer>).NativeMediaPlayer.Player.VideoDecoderCounters

Building the source code

• On Windows you need Visual Studio 2019 with the latest Xamarin, .NET Core and UWP installed.
• On Visual Studio for Mac 2019 multi-target is not supported. Therefor you need to compile from command line on a Mac. Simple go to the folder where the source code is and run: msbuild MediaManager.sln /t:rebuild /p:Configuration=Release

IMPORTANT

Android:

• You must request AccessWifiState, Internet, MediaContentControl and WakeLock permissions

iOS:

• In order for the audio to contiunue to play in the background you have to add the Audio and Airplay Background mode to your Info.plist
• If you want to enable RemoteControl features, you will have to override UIApplication.RemoteControlReceived(UIEvent) and forward the event to the MediaManagerImplementation.MediaRemoteControl.RemoteControlReceived(UIEvent) method. See the sample application for more details.
• If you are playing audio from a http resource you have to take care of ATS.
• If you want to display a artwork/cover that is embedded into an MP3 file, make sure that you use ID3 v2.3 (not v2.4).

Tizen:

• You must request http://tizen.org/privilege/internet, http://tizen.org/privilege/mediastorage, and http://tizen.org/privilege/externalstorage privileges

Contributors

• martijn00
• modplug
• jmartine2
• SimonSimCity
• fela98
• bubavanhalen
• rookiejava