Android: Can't play video after its been unzipped or copied in a webview

Question

My goal:

Download a zip file that contains a video and JS file. Create a webview that runs the JS file which (among other things) contains a video tag to play that video file.

Problem: when I try to play the video I get an error saying "Sorry this video cannot be played". In logcat I get: error( 1, -2147483648)

Here is the code to unzip the files:

String path = context.getFilesDir().getPath()+"/";
InputStream is;
ZipInputStream zis;
try {
    is = new FileInputStream(zip file);
    zis = new ZipInputStream( new BufferedInputStream(is));          
    ZipEntry ze = null;
    while ((ze = zis.getNextEntry()) != null) {
        String filename = ze.getName();
        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
        int count;

        FileOutputStream fout = 
        _context.openFileOutput( path + filename, Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE );

    while ((count = zis.read(buffer)) != -1) {
            baos.write(buffer, 0, count);
            baos.toByteArray();
            fout.write(baos.toByteArray());             
            baos.reset();
        }
        fout.close();               
        zis.closeEntry();
        baos.close();
    }
    zis.close();    
}

To show the video I override MraidWebChromeClient.onShowCustomView:

super.onShowCustomView(view, callback);
if (view instanceof FrameLayout) {
  FrameLayout frame = (FrameLayout) view;
  if (frame.getFocusedChild() instanceof VideoView) {
   VideoView video = (VideoView) frame.getFocusedChild();
   frame.removeView(video);
   Activity a = (Activity)getContext();
   a.setContentView(video);
   video.setOnCompletionListener(this);
   video.setOnErrorListener(this);
   video.start();
  }
}  

I do not believe there is an error with the video file, pathing or JS because:

• The video plays fine if included as a resource in res or streamed with an external http link.
• when loading the js file I use loadDataWithBaseURL and all other image elements show up fine.
• I have copied the file from res to the local app folder (using similar code to the unzipping code) and the same error occurs.

I am thinking either:

• the file is being corrupted while its being unzipped/copied
• there is a permissions issue for playing a local video from a webview (even after I've set the file to world_readable. (from this link WebView NOT opening android default video player?)

Any insights into this issue would be greatly appreciated!

K

Ps: does anyone know why in the normal web-browser it will download .mp4 links while in other cases it will try and stream them?

EDIT: After researching these two post seem to suggest that Android has security to prevent this: Android - Load video from private folder of app Playing an app local video (.mp4) in a webview Copying files to public external worked fine.

And with regards to the Ps: why some videos stream and some are downloaded, Android 3 doesn't support streaming from https and so will download the file.

Answer 1

1. Since you're unzipping/reading video to/from the SD card, make sure to add the following line to your manifest file: <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

2. Since you're using JS, make sure to enable it in your WebView as follows:

   private WebView mWebView;
   
   @Override
   protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
           super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
           setContentView(R.layout.main);
           ...
           ...
           mWebView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webview);
           mWebView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
           ...
   }
   

3. As for video playback, the most reliable solution I've found so far is to hand it off to the native media player app (cause I found the WebView really buggy). In order to achieve this, you need to Bind JavaScript code to Android code so that when the user taps on a video thumbnail, you create the corresponding intent and launch the media player app as follows:

   Intent i = new Intent();
   i.setAction(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
   File file = new File(PATH_TO_YOUR_VIDEO);
   i.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFile(file), "video/*");
   i.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
   mContext.startActivity(i);
   

4. [UPDATE] As per the official documentation (see under "Accessing files on external storage"),

"If you're using API Level 8 or greater, use getExternalFilesDir() to open a File that represents the external storage directory where you should save your files".

"If you're using API Level 7 or lower, use getExternalStorageDirectory(), to open a File representing the root of the external storage".

Your unzipping code contains the line String path = context.getFilesDir().getPath(), try to modify it as per the above.