[video_player] duration updates event

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

I am the maintainer of the package video_player_media_kit. While working with live streams, I encountered an issue where I needed to update the duration dynamically. However, I realized that there was no existing mechanism to update the duration.

This pull request aims to address this problem by introducing a new event called durationUpdate. This event allows the duration to be updated independently, providing greater flexibility when working with live streams. With this addition, developers will have the ability to send duration updates as needed.

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[stuartmorgan-g]

Thanks for the contribution! This needs to follow the process described at https://github.com/flutter/flutter/wiki/Contributing-to-Plugins-and-Packages#changing-federated-plugins

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

https://github.com/flutter/flutter/wiki/Contributing-to-Plugins-and-Packages#changing-federated-plugins following this i should get an approval on this first, then i should open a pr with the changes in the platform interface alone,

i did add the required tests in video_player, is there something else i should do, or only the approval remaining?

[hellohuanlin]

is this PR complete? I do not see relevant logic on native side that listens to duration change event.

[hellohuanlin]

this needs a version bump so it can be released

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

is this PR complete? I do not see relevant logic on native side that listens to duration change event.

As explained in the description, I am a maintainer of a package that uses video_player package

So this change will help me greatly in my development of the package video_player_media_kit, since I do have duration updates there when playing live streams

I didn't implement the native side due to not having enough knowledge on how it should be handled correctly, I just implemented the platform interface enum, video_player listener and test

Which I need in my package, if other changes are required let me know

Also this change is a change of api right? So it should affect 0.x.0 the x version correct?

[hellohuanlin]

can you provide more details on when the duration will change? is it specific to your package? or is it general behavior that this package may use in the future? is there other workarounds (such as using your own interface?)

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

can you provide more details on when the duration will change? is it specific to your package? or is it general behavior that this package may use in the future? is there other workarounds (such as using your own interface?)

The duration changes when playing a live stream m3u8, while playing the duration will keep increasing

It's a specific behavior in media_kit which the layer I use to play videos on desktop

Does exo player or iOS native use it and it's ignored in this package, I don't know sadly

If I use my own interface I will have to use my own video_player and that will break the idea of me integrating easily with the video_player package and will have to handle updates whenever this package is updated keeping in mind it's all for a small change.

[stuartmorgan-g]

The duration changes when playing a live stream m3u8, while playing the duration will keep increasing

Please file an issue (you've checked the box, but didn't actually file an issue) with a reproducible test case, so that we can address this:

Does exo player or iOS native use it and it's ignored in this package, I don't know sadly

There's no inherent issue with us adding a new API that is only used by some implementations, but I'd like to understand if that's actually the case here, and if so why. In at least some cases, both AVPlayer and ExoPlayer will report an unknown time value for live streams, and we should determine:

• If that's true for the cases you are trying to address in your implementation, or if they are also getting dynamic duration updates that we should be handling using this new API, and
• If they aren't, why media_kit is doing something different, and if those differences are actually meaningful, or if they should be elided for consistency. (E.g., if it's just always saying the duration is the current playback point or something like that, then that's probably not valuable enough to create new API to preserve it.)

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

The duration changes when playing a live stream m3u8, while playing the duration will keep increasing

Please file an issue (you've checked the box, but didn't actually file an issue) with a reproducible test case, so that we can address this:

Does exo player or iOS native use it and it's ignored in this package, I don't know sadly

There's no inherent issue with us adding a new API that is only used by some implementations, but I'd like to understand if that's actually the case here, and if so why. In at least some cases, both AVPlayer and ExoPlayer will report an unknown time value for live streams, and we should determine:

• If that's true for the cases you are trying to address in your implementation, or if they are also getting dynamic duration updates that we should be handling using this new API, and
• If they aren't, why media_kit is doing something different, and if those differences are actually meaningful, or if they should be elided for consistency. (E.g., if it's just always saying the duration is the current playback point or something like that, then that's probably not valuable enough to create new API to preserve it.)

The issue is related to my package should I file an issue when it's not a video_player issue?

Media_kit does the duration thing to allow people to seeking back when playing live videos

I may check exoplayer and avplayer if they allow this type of implemention and comment again for this details

[stuartmorgan-g]

The issue is related to my package should I file an issue when it's not a video_player issue?

You are trying to add functionality to video_player, by opening a PR against video_player; how is that not a video_player issue?

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

The issue is related to my package should I file an issue when it's not a video_player issue?

You are trying to add functionality to video_player, by opening a PR against video_player; how is that not a video_player issue?

I am adding a feature in video_player that will help me fix an issue in my platform interface

For video_player it's a feature

For me it's a fix for an issue

[stuartmorgan-g]

The Flutter issue tracker (like most issue trackers) tracks both bug reports and feature requests, so I'm not sure why you are concerned about the distinction.

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

The Flutter issue tracker (like most issue trackers) tracks both bug reports and feature requests, so I'm not sure why you are concerned about the distinction.

In that case, I will open an issue explaining that playing live streams don't provide the duration updates, which is limiting the functionality of seeking back when playing

I guess that is a good general issue

[stuartmorgan-g]

@zezo357 Are you still planning on opening an issue for this to continue discussion?

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

@zezo357 Are you still planning on opening an issue for this to continue discussion?

Yes I am just busy these days, I found out exo player has this behavior (https://exoplayer.dev/live-streaming.html)

Of increasing the duration for live streams,

But didn't check iOS,

anyway i will work on creating the issue and android implementation when i got time

[abdelaziz-mahdy]

I created an issue

[camsim99]

Thank you for your contribution. It looks like the tests are failing. Before we review the PR, please see what you can do to resolve the test failures. If you are unsure how to proceed, please reach out for help on the #hackers-new channel.

[stuartmorgan-g]

I'm going to mark this as a draft for now while the question of what other platforms would do with this is resolved in the issue.

[stuartmorgan-g]

Since this is marked as a draft and hasn't been updated in several months I'm going to close it to clean out our review queue. Please don't hesitate to submit a new PR if you decide to revisit this. Thanks!