This article explains how to enable the Chromecast Sender capabilities on the Web SDK, iOS SDK and Android SDK. This article also documents how you can connect with a customer Chromecast Receiver application.
To allow Chromecast playback you need to include Google's Chromecast Sender SDK, which is a JavaScript file. The JavaScript snippet below illustrates how you include this Sender SDK. You can read more about it at https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/web_sender.
<script
type="text/javascript"
src="//www.gstatic.com/cv/js/sender/v1/cast_sender.js?loadCastFramework=1"
></script>
Once this SDK is imported, THEOplayer will automatically add the Chromecast casting capability to your player (if you've enabled the Chromecast feature for your THEOplayer SDK).
Importing the Chromecast feature differs between the Android SDK and Legacy Android SDK (4.12.x) but the usage is similar. Therefore, the points 1 & 2 below are SDK specific meanwhile from point 3 and on they are similar.
Notes
In order to enable Chromecast on the THEOplayer Android SDK:
build.gradle
file.implementation 'com.theoplayer.theoplayer-sdk-android:core:+'
implementation 'com.theoplayer.theoplayer-sdk-android:integration-cast:+' // add cast dependency
In order to enable Chromecast on the THEOplayer Android SDK:
Include the Cast Framework and Media Router libraries
To add Chromecast support you need to include the Cast Framework and Media Router libraries under the dependencies node in your build.gradle
file.
implementation 'androidx.mediarouter:mediarouter:1.1.0'
implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-cast-framework:19.0.0'
Note: you may need to adjust the above snippet to match your Android setup.
Set CastOptionsProvider
:
To enable Chromecast on Android a CastOptionsProvider
should be specified.
This class contains the configuration for Chromecast on Android.
A DefaultCastOptionsProvider
is provided as part of the THEOplayer Android SDK.
This DefaultCastOptionsProvider
associates the default THEOplayer Chromecast receiver application with your Sender application.
You will need to register this class in your AndroidManifest.xml
file within a meta-data tag under your application node,
as demonstrated at https://github.com/THEOplayer/samples-android-sdk/blob/master/Google-Cast/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml#L17-L19.
<meta-data
android:name="com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.OPTIONS_PROVIDER_CLASS_NAME"
android:value="com.theoplayer.android.api.cast.chromecast.DefaultCastOptionsProvider"/>
Optional: Add routing button to your app
In order to get this button to appear in your application's Toolbar, the easiest way is to include it in the menu XML file for your Activity.
res
folder add a menu folderactivity_main_menu.xml
file<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<item
android:id="@+id/media_route_menu_item"
android:title="Cast"
app:actionProviderClass="android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteActionProvider"
app:showAsAction="always" />
</menu>
MenuItem
in the onCreateOptionsMenu
method of your Activity.
(Make sure you have an AppCompatActivity
).@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main_menu, menu);
CastButtonFactory.setUpMediaRouteButton(getApplicationContext(), menu, R.id.media_route_menu_item);
return true;
}
Optional: Add MiniController to your app
In your main activity xml add the following fragment:
<fragment
android:id="@+id/castMiniController"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:visibility="gone"
class="com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.media.widget.MiniControllerFragment" />
Optional: Set a CastStrategy
to your THEOplayerConfig
THEOplayer Android SDK support Chromecast CastStrategy to define the joining behavior.
new THEOplayerConfig.Builder()
.castStrategy(CastStrategy.AUTO)
.build();
In order to enable Chromecast on the iOS SDK:
Set up the Cast Framework:
iOS 14 Warning: Changes to iOS 14 local network access permissions have impacted the Google Cast iOS SDK in a number of ways. Please see the iOS 14 Changes document to see how your app is affected.
THEOplayer iOS SDK version 2.85.0 upgrades Google Cast SDK to 4.6.0 which contains the iOS 14 specific changes from Google.
iOS 13 Warning: Apple permissions changes to iOS 13 and Xcode 11 have impacted the Google Cast iOS SDK in a number of ways. Please see the iOS 13 Changes document to see how your app will be impacted.
iOS 12 Warning: If developing using Xcode 10 and targeting iOS devices running iOS 12 or higher, the "Access Wi-Fi Information" capability is required in order to discover and connect to Cast devices.
https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/iossendersetup
Static vs Dynamic Framework: Because the THEOplayer iOS SDK is a Dynamic Framework, it should not include any dependency frameworks on which it relies (e.g. the Chromecast SDK). Instead, developers should include the dependencies on which THEOplayer relies. Therefore, using a Dynamic Framework ensures that there are no symbol clashes. More info can be found in this article: https://medium.com/onfido-tech/reusing-code-and-resources-with-swift-static-libraries-and-resource-bundles-d070e82d3b3d
Cocoapods setup
Supported until version '4.3.0', pending further investigation for versions above '4.3.0'.
# Comment the next line if you are not using Swift and do not want to use dynamic frameworks
use_frameworks!
# Uncomment the next line to define a global platform for your project
# platform :ios, '9.0'
def target_pods
pod 'google-cast-sdk'
end
target'YourProjectTarget' do
# Select one of the chromecast versions
pod 'google-cast-sdk', '4.3.0'
end
Manual setup
Download the Dynamic Cast Framework from the google developer website. Libraries without guest mode have been provided for situations where your app does not require the feature or you do not wish to require Bluetooth® permissions, which have been introduced in iOS 13. Please see the iOS 13 Changes document for more information.
Set GCKCastContext
To enable Chromecast on iOS the GCKCastContext
shared instance should be set with a GCKCastOptions
.
let options = GCKCastOptions(receiverApplicationID: "A1B2C3D4")
GCKCastContext.setSharedInstanceWith(options)
or use the default THEOplayer cast options.
THEOplayerCastHelper.setGCKCastContextSharedInstanceWithDefaultCastOptions()
That's it. When Chromecast-enabled devices are discovered, the player will display a Chromecast button. The player also works nicely together with the Chromecast controls that are part of the Chromecast Framework, (e.g. GCKUICastButton or the mini controller).
The THEOplayer SDK on your Sender application connects with THEO Chromecast Receiver application by default, but you can connect it to a custom Chromecast Receiver application instead.
If you have your own Receiver app, then you adjust the PlayerConfiguration to connect with a specific appID
as demonstrated below.
let customChromecastReceiverAppID = "1ADD53F3"
let player = new THEOplayer.Player(element, {
libraryLocation: "...",
license: "...",
cast: {
chromecast: {
appID: customChromecastReceiverAppID,
},
},
})
To connect with a custom Chromecast Receiver application, you can create your own CastOptionsProvider
by subclassing com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.OptionsProvider
and implementing the getCastOptions
method.
This approach is further demonstrated at https://github.com/THEOplayer/samples-android-sdk/tree/master/Google-Cast/guides/howto-google-cast-integration#initializing-cast-context,
and in the snippet below.
@Override
public CastOptions getCastOptions(Context context) {
return new CastOptions.Builder()
.setReceiverApplicationId(DEFAULT_APP_ID)
.build();
}
By default, THEOplayer’s Receiver app will be set when you set THEOplayerCastHelper.setGCKCastContextSharedInstanceWithDefaultCastOptions()
.
You can connect with a custom Receiver app by configuring its ID through GCKCastContext.setSharedInstanceWith(GCKCastOptions(receiverApplicationID: "A1B2C3D4"))
.
This approach is further demonstrated at https://github.com/THEOplayer/samples-ios-sdk/tree/master/Google-Cast/Guides/howto-google-cast-integration#gckcastcontext.