Android allows you to play a sound or a video file in different ways. In this tip, I am going to write an example on playing a sound file using the MediaPlayer class. The MediaPlayer class is able to play both sound and video files.
To play a sound file, first you need to create an instance of the MediaPlayer using the create(Context c,int resid). The below are some commonly used methods of the MediaPlayer class.

-getCurrentPostion() gets the current position in milliseconds of the media.
-getDuration() returns the total time in milliseconds of the media.
-isPlaying() indicates that the soundis playing.
-pause() pauses the current playing task.
-reset() resets the MediaPlayer to its uninitialized state.
-seekTo(int position) seeks to specified time postion.
-start() starts playing the file.

Now to demonstrate the MediaPlayer example, you will create a new Android project. Then modify the acitivity_main.xml file to add one TextView, one ProgressBar, and three Buttons as shown below. The TextView displays the current time of playing and the total time of the media file. You need a sound file in the res/raw folder to play. In my case, I have kalimba.mp3 file. The ProgressBar visually shows the progress of playing the file. The three Buttons are Start, Pause, and Stop buttons.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
     android:id="@+id/container"
     android:layout_width="match_parent"
     android:layout_height="match_parent"
     android:orientation="vertical"
     android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
     android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
     android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
     android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
     tools:context=".MainActivity"
      
      >
     <TextView
        android:id="@+id/txt_current"
  	   android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  	   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  	   android:gravity="center"
  	   android:textSize="30sp"
        /> 
        
     <ProgressBar
        android:id="@+id/progress_bar"
        style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleHorizontal"     
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      
        />
     
<LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        >
        <Button
  	   android:id="@+id/bt_play"
  	   android:text="Play"
  	   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
  	   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  	   android:onClick="playSound"
  	   
  	   
  	   />
  	<Button 
  	   android:id="@+id/bt_pause"
  	   android:text="Pause"
  	   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
  	   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  	   android:onClick="pauseSound"
  	   />
  	   
  	<Button 
  	   android:id="@+id/bt_stop"
  	   android:text="Stop"
  	   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
  	   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  	   android:onClick="stopSound"
  	      
  	   
  	   />
  	</LinearLayout>

  </LinearLayout>

  package com.example.andtip;
  import android.app.Activity;
  import android.media.MediaPlayer;
  import android.os.Bundle;
  import android.os.Handler;
  import android.view.Menu;
  import android.view.View;
  import android.widget.ProgressBar;
  import android.widget.TextView;
  public class MainActivity extends Activity {
     MediaPlayer mPlayer;
     TextView tv;
     Handler handler;
     ProgressBar pb;
     int maxTime;
     int curTime;
     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
     	//TODO Auto-generated method stub
     	super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
     	setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
     	mPlayer=MediaPlayer.create(this, R.raw.kalimba);
     	handler=new Handler();
     	
     }
      @Override
      public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
          getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
          //create a LayoutTransition object
          
    	 	  return true;
      }
      
      
      public void playSound(View view){
     	 	//start playing sound
  		 mPlayer.start();			 
  		//get file duration
  	   	 maxTime=mPlayer.getDuration();
  	   	 //get start/current position in milliseconds
  	   	 curTime=mPlayer.getCurrentPosition()/1000;
  	   	 //set starting time to textview
  	   	 tv.setText(curTime+"s/"+maxTime/1000+"s");
  	   	 //set maximum value to progressbar
  	   	 pb.setMax(maxTime/1000);   	 
  	   	 //set the start time to progressbar
  	   	 pb.setProgress(curTime);   	 
  	   	 //update the textview and progressbar while the sound is playing
  	   	 handler.post(UpdateTime);
  		
     	
     	 
      }
      
      public void pauseSound(View view){
     	 if(mPlayer.isPlaying())
     		 //pause the media staying on the current position
     		 mPlayer.pause();
      }
      
      public void stopSound(View view){
     	 if(mPlayer.isPlaying()){
     	  //pause and back to the beginning of media
     	  mPlayer.pause();
     	  mPlayer.seekTo(0);
     	 
     	   
     	 	
     	 }
     	 
     	 
      }
      
      Runnable UpdateTime=new Runnable(){
     	 public void run(){
     		 if(mPlayer.isPlaying()){
     			 
     			 curTime=mPlayer.getCurrentPosition()/1000;
     			 tv.setText(curTime+"s/"+maxTime/1000+"s");
     			 pb.setProgress(curTime);
     			 //delay 1s before next call
     			 handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
     		 }
     	 }
      };
    
      public void onStart(){
     	 super.onStart();  
     	 tv=(TextView)findViewById(R.id.txt_current);  	 
     	 pb=(ProgressBar)findViewById(R.id.progress_bar);
  }
  }

Posted by: Dara | post date: 07-12-2014 | Subject: Android Apps Development