Video Streaming From Home Group in Windows Store Apps Using Java Script

Introduction

In this article I describe how to create a Windows Store App for Video Streaming from the Home Group using JavaScript. Video, audio, and image streaming has been built into the Windows RT APIs so that users don't have to wait for a large file to completely load before consuming the content. The Windows 8 "Play To" app has more information on streaming and managing media over networks. This app shows the simple case of picking a video on the home group, and streaming it to a video tag.

I assume you can create a simple Windows Store App using JavaScript. For more help visit Simple Windows Store Apps using JavaScript.

To start the creation of the app, add two JavaScript pages by right-clicking on the js folder in the Solution Explorer and select Add > new item > JavaScript Page and then provide an appropriate name. In the same way, add one HTML page to your project.

Write the following code in default.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

</head>

</div>

</div></center>

</body>

</html>

Write the following code in default.Js:

(function () {

"use strict";

var appTitle = "HomeGroup JS";

var pages = [

{ url: "page.html" }

];

function activated(eventObject) {

if (eventObject.detail.kind === Windows.ApplicationModel.Activation.ActivationKind.launch) {

eventObject.setPromise(WinJS.UI.processAll().then(function () {

var url = WinJS.Application.sessionState.lastUrl || pages[0].url;

return WinJS.Navigation.navigate(url);

}));

}

WinJS.Navigation.addEventListener("navigated", function (eventObject) {

var url = eventObject.detail.location;

var host = document.getElementById("contentHost");

host.winControl && host.winControl.unload && host.winControl.unload();

WinJS.Utilities.empty(host);

eventObject.detail.setPromise(WinJS.UI.Pages.render(url, host, eventObject.detail.state).then(function () {

WinJS.Application.sessionState.lastUrl = url;

}));

});

function ensureUnsnapped() {

var currentState = Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationView.value;

var unsnapped = ((currentState !== Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationViewState.snapped) || Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationView.tryUnsnap());

if (!unsnapped) {

WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Cannot unsnap the app application.", "app", "status");

}

return unsnapped;

}

WinJS.Namespace.define("App", {

appTitle: appTitle,

pages: pages,

ensureUnsnapped: ensureUnsnapped

});

WinJS.Application.addEventListener("activated", activated, false);

WinJS.Application.start();

})();

Write the following code in Page.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

</head>

<body>

<button id="streamVideo">Pick video</button>

<br />

</div>

<video id="player" height="338" width="600" controls style="visibility: hidden">Unable to play video file</video>

</div>

</body>

</html>

Write the following code in script.js:

(function () {

"use strict";

var page = WinJS.UI.Pages.define("page.html", {

ready: function (element, options) {

document.getElementById("streamVideo").addEventListener("click", streamUNC, false);

}

});

function streamUNC() {

if (App.ensureUnsnapped()) {

var picker = new Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker();

picker.viewMode = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerViewMode.thumbnail;

picker.suggestedStartLocation = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerLocationId.homeGroup;

picker.fileTypeFilter.replaceAll([".mp4", ".wmv"]);

var vidPlayer = document.getElementById("player");

vidPlayer.style.visibility = "hidden";

vidPlayer.pause();

picker.pickSingleFileAsync().done(function (file) {

if (file) {

vidPlayer.src = URL.createObjectURL(file, { oneTimeOnly: true });

vidPlayer.style.visibility = "visible";

vidPlayer.play();

}

function (file) {

WinJS.log && WinJS.log("File was not returned", "app", "error");

});

}

})();

Write the following code in script1.js:

(function () {

var pageOutput = WinJS.Class.define(

function (element, options) {

element.winControl = this;

this.element = element;

new WinJS.Utilities.QueryCollection(element)

.setAttribute("role", "region")

.setAttribute("aria-labelledby", "outputLabel")

.setAttribute("aria-live", "assertive");

element.id = "output";

this._addOutputLabel(element);

this._addStatusOutput(element);

}, {

_addOutputLabel: function (element) {

var label = document.createElement("h2");

label.id = "outputLabel";

label.textContent = "Output";

element.parentNode.insertBefore(label, element);

_addStatusOutput: function (element) {

var statusDiv = document.createElement("div");

statusDiv.id = "statusMessage";

element.insertBefore(statusDiv, element.childNodes[0]);

}

);

var currentpageUrl = null;

WinJS.Navigation.addEventListener("navigating", function (evt) {

currentpageUrl = evt.detail.location;

});

WinJS.log = function (message, tag, type) {

var statusDiv = document.getElementById("statusMessage");

};

function activated(e) {

WinJS.Utilities.query("#featureLabel")[0].textContent = App.appTitle;

}

WinJS.Application.addEventListener("activated", activated, false);

WinJS.Namespace.define("App", {

pageOutput: pageOutput

});

})();

Output:

Summary

In this app I described Streaming of Video in a Windows Store App using JavaScript. I hope this article has helped you to understand this topic. Please share if you know more about this. Your feedback and constructive contributions are welcome.