media.selectVideo()

Type Function
Library media.*
Return value none
Revision Release 2022.3683
Keywords media, camera, video
See also media.hasSource()

Overview

Opens a platform-specific interface to the device's photo library. This function is asynchronous, meaning that it returns immediately so the calling code will continue to execute until the end of its scope; after that, the application will be suspended until the session is complete.

Gotchas

General

This API is not supported on Windows, macOS, or tvOS.

iOS

  • On iOS, in order to use the camera, you must include the following keys/descriptions in the plist table of build.settings. When the system prompts the user to allow access, the associated description is displayed as part of the alert. Note that these descriptions can be customized to your preference and they can even be localized (guide).
settings =
{
    iphone =
    {
        plist =
        {
            NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription = "This app would like to access the photo library.",
        },
    },
}
  • The iPad requires the additional parameters of origin and permittedArrowDirections to specify the location and direction of the popup used to select the video.

Syntax

media.selectVideo ( { listener [, mediaSource] [, origin] [, permittedArrowDirections] } )
listener (required)

Listener. Can be either a function listener or a table listener. If a table, it must have a completion method. The event dispatched to the listener will be a completion event with the following additional properties:

  • event.url is a string which is the URL of the video. If the operation was cancelled, this value will be nil.
  • event.completed will be true if the user captured a video; false if the user cancelled the video selection.
  • event.duration will be the number of seconds of the video if the user selected a video; nil if the user cancelled the video selection or the value could not be obtained. On some Android app/device combinations, this can occur if the android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission is missing.
  • event.fileSize will be the number of bytes of the user selected a video; nil if the user cancelled the video selection or the value could not be obtained. On some Android app/device combinations, this can occur if the android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission is missing.
mediaSource (optional)

Constant. Can be one of the following:

  • media.PhotoLibrary
  • media.SavedPhotosAlbum
origin (optional)

Table. Only applicable on iPad. Defines the bounds of the object (typically a button) from which the iPad's popup emerges from. A convenience pattern is to pass the contentBounds property of the object.

permittedArrowDirections (optional)

Table. Only applicable on iPad. An array of values which defines the directions in which the iPad's popup arrow may point. Valid values are "up", "down", "left", "right", or "any". The default is "any".

Examples

Standard
local function onComplete( event )
    if event.completed then
        media.playVideo( event.url )
    end
end

if media.hasSource( media.PhotoLibrary ) then
   media.selectVideo( { listener=onComplete } )
else
   native.showAlert( "Corona", "This device does not have a photo library.", { "OK" } )
end
iPad
-- Video completion listener
local function onVideoComplete( event )
    print( "video session ended" )
end

-- Selection completion listener
local function onComplete( event )
    if event.completed then
        media.playVideo( event.url, media.RemoteSource, true, onVideoComplete )
        print( event.duration )
        print( event.fileSize )
    end
end

local button = display.newRect( 120, 240, 80, 70 )

local function pickVideo( event )
    
    media.selectVideo(
    {
        mediaSource = media.SavedPhotosAlbum,
        listener = onComplete, 
        origin = button.contentBounds, 
        permittedArrowDirections = { "right" } 
    })
end

button:addEventListener( "tap", pickVideo )