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Did you come here for Live Video Shopping?

This is documentation for Bambuser Live Streaming SDK.

If you're looking for documentation regarding Live Video Shopping (opens new window) , see these pages (opens new window)

How to create a live video player app in Swift using XCode

This guide is based on Xcode 12.2.

This guide focuses on the bare minimum required to play broadcasts. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the example apps in the SDK bundles for a more complete overview.

Choose your environment:

Xcode (Objective C)

Xcode (Swift)

Xcode and Swift

Open Xcode.
Select File -> New -> Project...
Choose the App template.
Enter a suitable product name and add your team and your organization identifier
Ensure Swift is the selected language. Or see the Objective-C guide if you prefer Objective-C.

Add dependencies

Installing dependencies using Swift Package Manager

You can use Swift Package Manager to install the Bambuser SDK:s.

Add https://github.com/bambuser/bambuser-sdk-ios to your Xcode project or Package.swift file.
Select the 1.0.4 version to get the latest SDK:s.
Xcode will then update the SDK:s automatically, depending on the version rule you choose.

Installing dependencies using CocoaPods

If your development environment is set up for it, you can use CocoaPods (opens new window) to install the Bambuser SDK:s.

Prepare the newly created project for CocoaPods use with pod init.
Add pod 'libbambuser-ios', '1.0.4' to your Podfile.
Run pod install to fetch the SDK and configure the project.

Installing dependencies manually

The Bambuser playback library has the following dependencies:

AudioToolbox, AVFoundation, AVKit, CoreMedia, Foundation, libc++.tbd and UIKit.

Add the playback SDK

Log in to the Bambuser site and download the latest iOS SDK bundle from the Developer (opens new window) page.
Open up Finder and navigate to the download folder, then double click the SDK bundle to unzip it.
Go to the Frameworks directory in the SDK bundle and drag BambuserPlayer.xcframework into the Frameworks section of your Xcode project's file tree navigator.

Check Copy items if needed to ensure that your project folder gets its own copy of the files.

The act of adding BambuserPlayer.xcframework into Frameworks should also have added BambuserPlayer.xcframework to Frameworks, Libraries and Embedded Content under General.

Add a BambuserPlayer

Now that you have installed the dependencies it's time to start using the SDK.

In ViewController.swift import BambuserPlayer and add a BambuserPlayer (opens new window) variable to your ViewController.

import BambuserPlayer

var bambuserPlayer: BambuserPlayer

Add the player view

In ViewController.swift in the viewDidLoad method, add the player view to the view hierarchy.

self.view.addSubview(bambuserPlayer)

In ViewController.swift add a viewWillLayoutSubviews method, then add some code to ensure the player view is assigned the desired dimensions.

override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
	let statusBarOffset = self.topLayoutGuide.length
	bambuserPlayer.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0 + statusBarOffset, width: self.view.bounds.size.width, height: self.view.bounds.size.height - statusBarOffset)
}

Authentication

To be allowed to retrieve broadcasts, your app needs to identify itself to Bambuser. Head over to the Developer (opens new window) page on the Bambuser site again and get the Sandbox application ID, then assign it to BambuserPlayer (opens new window) in ViewController.swift directly after initialization.

Remember to replace the Sandbox id with a Production application ID before you release your app!

bambuserPlayer.applicationId = "GFZalqkR5iyZcIgaolQmA"

We will also need a signed resource URI for the broadcast we want to play. For the scope of this guide, we will use a pre-signed resource URI supplied in the example application distributed with the Bambuser iOS SDK bundle. To learn how to sign your own resource URIs, refer to the chapter on Resource URI.

bambuserPlayer.playVideo("https://cdn.bambuser.net/broadcasts/ec968ec1-2fd9-f8f3-4f0a-d8e19dccd739?da_signature_method=HMAC-SHA256&da_id=432cebc3-4fde-5cbb-e82f-88b013140ebe&da_timestamp=1456740399&da_static=1&da_ttl=0&da_signature=8e0f9b98397c53e58f9d06d362e1de3cb6b69494e5d0e441307dfc9f854a2479")

Add playback controls

Let's add some buttons to be able to control the playback.

In ViewController.swift, declare the following buttons:

class ViewController: UIViewController {
	var bambuserPlayer: BambuserPlayer
	var playButton: UIButton
	var pauseButton: UIButton
	var rewindButton: UIButton
	...

In ViewController.swift, in the viewDidLoad method, initialize the buttons and add them to the view hierarchy:

playButton.setTitle("Play", for: UIControl.State.normal)
playButton.addTarget(bambuserPlayer, action: #selector(BambuserPlayer.playVideo as (BambuserPlayer) -> () -> Void), for: UIControl.Event.touchUpInside)
self.view.addSubview(playButton)
pauseButton.setTitle("Pause", for: UIControl.State.normal)
pauseButton.addTarget(bambuserPlayer, action: #selector(BambuserPlayer.pauseVideo as (BambuserPlayer) -> () -> Void), for: UIControl.Event.touchUpInside)
self.view.addSubview(pauseButton)
rewindButton.setTitle("Rewind", for: UIControl.State.normal)
rewindButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(ViewController.rewind), for: UIControl.Event.touchUpInside)
self.view.addSubview(rewindButton)

In ViewController.swift, in the viewWillLayoutSubviews method, position the buttons to taste

playButton.frame = CGRect(x: 20, y: 20 + statusBarOffset, width: 100, height: 40)
pauseButton.frame = CGRect(x: 20, y: 80 + statusBarOffset, width: 100, height: 40)
rewindButton.frame = CGRect(x: 20, y: 140 + statusBarOffset, width: 100, height: 40)

Also add a new method to handle the rewind action

@objc func rewind() {
	bambuserPlayer.seek(to: 0.0);
}

To know what's going on inside BambuserPlayer (opens new window), we should hook up ourself as its delegate. In ViewController.swift, assign self to bambuserPlayer.delegate directly after initialization:

bambuserPlayer.delegate = self;

In ViewController.swift, we now need to declare that we support the BambuserPlayerDelegate (opens new window) protocol:

class ViewController: UIViewController, BambuserPlayerDelegate {

Finally, we add a status callback method in ViewController.swift:

func playbackStatusChanged(_ status: BambuserPlayerState) {
		switch status {
		case kBambuserPlayerStatePlaying:
			playButton.isEnabled = false
			pauseButton.isEnabled = true
			break

		case kBambuserPlayerStatePaused:
			playButton.isEnabled = true
			pauseButton.isEnabled = false
			break

		case kBambuserPlayerStateStopped:
			playButton.isEnabled = true
			pauseButton.isEnabled = false
			break

		case kBambuserPlayerStateError:
			NSLog("Failed to load video for %@", bambuserPlayer.resourceUri);
			break

		default:
			break
		}
}

Configuring AVAudioSession

Use AVAudioSession to configure the behavior of audio in the app. There are several possible categories you can choose from, but the AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback (opens new window) is the most commonly used in a playback application. When using this category, audio continues with the Silent switch set to silent. If it is desired to honour the Silent switch then AVAudioSessionCategorySoloAmbient (opens new window)(deafult category) or AVAudioSessionCategoryAmbient (opens new window) are suitable options.

Read more about AVAudioSession in Apples documentation (opens new window).

do {
  try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback)
  try	AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
} catch {
}

Putting it all together

The above steps should lead to a main view source somewhat along these lines:

ViewController.swift

import UIKit
import BambuserPlayer

class ViewController: UIViewController, BambuserPlayerDelegate {
	var bambuserPlayer: BambuserPlayer
	var playButton: UIButton
	var pauseButton: UIButton
	var rewindButton: UIButton

	required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
		bambuserPlayer = BambuserPlayer()
		playButton = UIButton(type: UIButton.ButtonType.system)
		pauseButton = UIButton(type: UIButton.ButtonType.system)
		rewindButton = UIButton(type: UIButton.ButtonType.system)
		super.init(coder: aDecoder)
	}

	override func viewDidLoad() {
		super.viewDidLoad()
		// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
    	do {
			try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback)
			try	AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
		} catch {
		}

		bambuserPlayer.delegate = self
		bambuserPlayer.applicationId = "GFZalqkR5iyZcIgaolQmA"
		bambuserPlayer.playVideo("https://cdn.bambuser.net/broadcasts/ec968ec1-2fd9-f8f3-4f0a-d8e19dccd739?da_signature_method=HMAC-SHA256&da_id=432cebc3-4fde-5cbb-e82f-88b013140ebe&da_timestamp=1456740399&da_static=1&da_ttl=0&da_signature=8e0f9b98397c53e58f9d06d362e1de3cb6b69494e5d0e441307dfc9f854a2479")
		self.view.addSubview(bambuserPlayer)
		playButton.setTitle("Play", for: UIControl.State.normal)
		playButton.addTarget(bambuserPlayer, action: #selector(BambuserPlayer.playVideo as (BambuserPlayer) -> () -> Void), for: UIControl.Event.touchUpInside)
		self.view.addSubview(playButton)
		pauseButton.setTitle("Pause", for: UIControl.State.normal)
		pauseButton.addTarget(bambuserPlayer, action: #selector(BambuserPlayer.pauseVideo as (BambuserPlayer) -> () -> Void), for: UIControl.Event.touchUpInside)
		self.view.addSubview(pauseButton)
		rewindButton.setTitle("Rewind", for: UIControl.State.normal)
		rewindButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(ViewController.rewind), for: UIControl.Event.touchUpInside)
		self.view.addSubview(rewindButton)
	}

	@objc func rewind() {
		bambuserPlayer.seek(to: 0.0);
	}

	override func viewWillLayoutSubviews() {
		let statusBarOffset = self.topLayoutGuide.length
		bambuserPlayer.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0 + statusBarOffset, width: self.view.bounds.size.width, height: self.view.bounds.size.height - statusBarOffset)
		playButton.frame = CGRect(x: 20, y: 20 + statusBarOffset, width: 100, height: 40)
		pauseButton.frame = CGRect(x: 20, y: 80 + statusBarOffset, width: 100, height: 40)
		rewindButton.frame = CGRect(x: 20, y: 140 + statusBarOffset, width: 100, height: 40)
	}

	override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
		super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
		// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
	}

	func playbackStatusChanged(_ status: BambuserPlayerState) {
		switch status {
		case kBambuserPlayerStatePlaying:
			playButton.isEnabled = false
			pauseButton.isEnabled = true
			break

		case kBambuserPlayerStatePaused:
			playButton.isEnabled = true
			pauseButton.isEnabled = false
			break

		case kBambuserPlayerStateStopped:
			playButton.isEnabled = true
			pauseButton.isEnabled = false
			break

		case kBambuserPlayerStateError:
			NSLog("Failed to load video for %@", bambuserPlayer.resourceUri);
			break

		default:
			break
		}
	}
}

Testing in the simulator

To test in the simulator, we just select a suitable simulator device as a target and click run. If your applicationId and resourceUri were valid, you should see something like this.

Testing on a device

How to configure Xcode for ad-hoc development is out of scope for this guide. Assuming you have all the required privileges, you should be able to tether your iOS device to Xcode and click run.

If your applicationId and resourceUri were valid, you should see something like this.

← iOS (Objective C) Web (HTML5) →

# How to create a live video player app in Swift using XCode

# Xcode and Swift

# Add dependencies

# Installing dependencies using Swift Package Manager

# Installing dependencies using CocoaPods

# Installing dependencies manually

# Add the playback SDK

# Add a BambuserPlayer

# Add the player view

# Authentication

# Add playback controls

# Subscribe to events

# Configuring AVAudioSession

# Putting it all together

# ViewController.swift

# Testing in the simulator

# Testing on a device

How to create a live video player app in Swift using XCode

Xcode and Swift

Add dependencies

Installing dependencies using Swift Package Manager

Installing dependencies using CocoaPods

Installing dependencies manually

Add the playback SDK

Add a BambuserPlayer

Add the player view

Authentication

Add playback controls

Subscribe to events

Configuring AVAudioSession

Putting it all together

ViewController.swift

Testing in the simulator

Testing on a device