ALAssetsLibrary getting the path of a video and pl

Question

Using below code I am able to get the video files in tableview. But I am unable to get the path to the video so that I would save it and use it later to play.

    - (void)viewDidLoad {

    [super viewDidLoad];
    [activity startAnimating];

    assets = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];

    UIImage *viewImage;

    [library writeImageToSavedPhotosAlbum:[viewImage CGImage] orientation:(ALAssetOrientation)[viewImage imageOrientation] completionBlock:^(NSURL *assetURL, NSError *error){  
        if (error) {  
            NSLog(@"error");  
        } else {  
            NSLog(@"url %@", assetURL);


        }  
    }];  


    [library enumerateGroupsWithTypes:ALAssetsGroupAll  usingBlock:^(ALAssetsGroup *group, BOOL *stop){

        if (group != NULL) {

            [group enumerateAssetsUsingBlock:^(ALAsset *result, NSUInteger index, BOOL *stop){


                if ([[result valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyType] isEqualToString:ALAssetTypeVideo]) {
                    NSLog(@"asset: %@", result);
                    [assets addObject:result];
                }

            }];
        }

        [self.tableview reloadData];
        [self.activity stopAnimating];
        [self.activity setHidden:YES];

    }
           failureBlock:^(NSError *error){

                NSLog(@"failure"); }];

}


// Customize the number of sections in the table view.
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
    return 1;
}

// Customize the number of rows in the table view.
- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return [assets count];
}

// Customize the appearance of table view cells.
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"Cell";

    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    if (cell == nil) {
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
    }

    ALAsset *asset = [assets objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    [cell.imageView setImage:[UIImage imageWithCGImage:[asset thumbnail]]];
    [cell.textLabel setText:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Video %d", indexPath.row+1]];

    return cell;
}

This is my output:

2012-07-19 12:37:42.135 mptest[17310:707] asset: ALAsset - Type:Video, URLs:{
    "com.apple.quicktime-movie" = "assets-library://asset/asset.MOV?id=336068EA-C1B1-481C-82DA-F2419561A91A&ext=MOV";
}
2012-07-19 12:37:42.147 mptest[17310:707] asset: ALAsset - Type:Video, URLs:{
    "com.apple.quicktime-movie" = "assets-library://asset/asset.MOV?id=A1CBDDE4-4BC1-48F2-84E0-028D7B7F4879&ext=MOV";
}
2012-07-19 12:37:42.156 mptest[17310:707] asset: ALAsset - Type:Video, URLs:{
    "com.apple.quicktime-movie" = "assets-library://asset/asset.MOV?id=3D76ABC7-515C-42E7-A940-B149C78FBAB6&ext=MOV";
}
2012-07-19 12:37:42.262 mptest[17310:707] error

Can anyone help me wih this issue?

Answer 1

You can't get the actual file-path from the AssetsLibrary because of sandboxing. However, you have various options to access/play the video file.

1) Query the URL of the Asset using the url method of ALAssetRepresentation and pass it to an instance of MPMoviePlayerController to play the video. This url starts with assets-library:// and is not a file-system url, but MPMoviePlayerController knows how to handle such an URL.

2) Get the video contents by using the getBytes:fromOffset:length:error: of ALAssetsRepresentation to save the video to your own app sandbox to play/edit/share it or use getBytes:fromOffset:length:error: to stream the video contents.