Video Saving and Display in iOS App

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In this article, we will explore the process of saving and displaying videos in an iOS app. We will cover the steps involved in creating a custom album for storing videos and how to implement video recording and playback functionality.

Creating Custom Album

To create a custom album for storing videos, we need to use the ALAssetsLibrary framework. Here’s how you can do it:

#import <Photos/Photos.h>

- (void)createCustomAlbum {
    ALAssetsLibrary *library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
    
    // Add assets group album with name "HEP"
    [library addAssetsGroupAlbumWithName:@"HEP" resultBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group) {
        NSLog(@"Adding Folder: 'My Album', success: %@", group.editable ? @"Success" : @"Already created: Not Success");
        
    } failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {
        NSLog(@"Error: Adding on Folder");
    }];
}

Video Recording

For recording video, we can use the UIImagePickerController class. Here’s an example of how to record a video:

- (IBAction)StartRecord:(id)sender {
    UIImagePickerController *picker = [[UIImagePickerController alloc] init];
    picker.delegate = self;
    picker.allowsEditing = YES;
    picker.sourceType = UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypeCamera;
    picker.mediaTypes = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:(NSString *)kUTTypeMovie, nil];
    
    [self presentViewController:picker animated:YES completion:nil];

}

Downloading Video

To download a video from the camera roll to our custom album, we can use the following function:

- (void)downloadVideo:(NSURL *)videoURL {
    [MBProgressHUD showHUDAddedTo:self.view animated:YES];
    
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), ^{
        NSLog(@"Downloading Started");
        
        NSData *urlData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:videoURL];
        
        if (urlData) {
            NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
            NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
            NSString *filePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@", documentsDirectory, @"thefile.mp4"];
            
            [urlData writeToFile:filePath atomically:YES];

            dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
                [MBProgressHUD hideAllHUDsForView:self.view animated:YES];
                
                [self.library saveVideo:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:filePath] toAlbum:@"HEP" completion:^(NSURL *assetURL, NSError *error) {
                    NSLog(@"Success downloaded");
                    
                } failure:^(NSError *error) {
                    NSLog(@"Error: %@", [error localizedDescription]);
                    [MBProgressHUD hideAllHUDsForView:self.view animated:YES];
                    [self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
                }];
            });
        }
    });
}

Displaying Videos

To display videos in our custom album, we can use a UICollectionView with a custom cell. Here’s an example of how to do it:

- (NSInteger)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView numberOfItemsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return self.library.count;
}

- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    
    UICollectionViewCell *cell = [super dequeueReusableCellReusable WithReuseIdentifier:@"VideoCell" forIndexPath:indexPath];
    
    ALAsset *asset = [self.library assetAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    NSURL *videoURL = [asset valueForKey:PHAssetPropertiesNaturalDuration];
    
    // Download video from URL
    [self downloadVideo:videoURL];

    // Set up cell content
    
    return cell;
}

Conclusion

Saving and displaying videos in an iOS app can be a challenging task, but with the right knowledge and tools, it’s definitely possible. In this article, we covered how to create a custom album for storing videos, record video using UIImagePickerController, download video from camera roll, and display videos in a UICollectionView. By following these steps and examples, you should now have a good understanding of how to implement video saving and display functionality in your iOS app.

Additional Resources

Last modified on 2024-04-29