Develop Reference

Android Notification Sound Causes Media Volume to Duck (Lower) & It Never Comes Back

I just converted one of my apps to target Android API 9 (was targeting API 8); now when notifications are sent out, the volume of media is lowered and never comes back to full volume.
The app uses WebView to play media files. This was not happening prior to targeting API 9. I had to convert the app into level 9 so that I could upload to the Google Play Store. I am running a Samsung S7 which was originally designed for API level 6 (with the OS upgraded to 8.0), not sure if that has something to do with the issue. Another detail is that I use Xamarin.Android for development, not sure if that matters either.
Additionally, I forced the notifications to play a blank sound (a very short[couple ms] blank mp3) in the same build that I converted the app to target API 9:
var channelSilent = new Android.App.NotificationChannel(CHANNEL_ID, name + " Silent", Android.App.NotificationImportance.High)
{
Description = description
};
var alarmAttributes = new Android.Media.AudioAttributes.Builder()
.SetContentType(Android.Media.AudioContentType.Sonification)
.SetUsage(Android.Media.AudioUsageKind.Notification).Build()
//blank is blank mp3 file with nothing in it, a few ms in duration
var uri = Android.Net.Uri.Parse("file:///Assets/blank.mp3")
channelSilent.SetSound(uri, alarmAttributes);
...so it could also be the blank sound that is causing the ducking to malfunction, not the API change. Is there something to do with notification sound ducking that could be causing the issue? Is there any other way to mute a notification with Xamarin.Android other than playing a blank sound? That is one route I think would be worth trying to fix this issue.
Here is the code I am using to generate notifications:
private static List<CustomNotification> _sentNotificationList = new List<CustomNotification>();
private static NotificationManagerCompat _notificationManager;
public async void SendNotifications(List<CustomNotification> notificationList)
{
await Task.Run(() =>
{
try
{
var _ctx = Android.App.Application.Context;
if (_notificationManager == null)
{
_notificationManager = Android.Support.V4.App.NotificationManagerCompat.From(_ctx);
}
if (notificationList.Count == 0)
{
return;
}
int notePos = 0;
foreach (var note in notificationList)
{
var resultIntent = new Intent(_ctx, typeof(MainActivity));
var valuesForActivity = new Bundle();
valuesForActivity.PutInt(MainActivity.COUNT_KEY, _count);
valuesForActivity.PutString("URL", note._noteLink);
resultIntent.PutExtras(valuesForActivity);
var resultPendingIntent = PendingIntent.GetActivity(_ctx, MainActivity.NOTIFICATION_ID, resultIntent, PendingIntentFlags.UpdateCurrent);
resultIntent.AddFlags(ActivityFlags.SingleTop);
var alarmAttributes = new Android.Media.AudioAttributes.Builder()
.SetContentType(Android.Media.AudioContentType.Sonification)
.SetUsage(Android.Media.AudioUsageKind.Notification).Build();
//I am playing this blank sound to prevent android from spamming sounds as the notifications get sent out
var uri = Android.Net.Uri.Parse("file:///Assets/blank.mp3");
//if the notification is the first in our batch then use this
//code block to send the notifications with sound
if (!_sentNotificationList.Contains(note) && notePos == 0)
{
var builder = new Android.Support.V4.App.NotificationCompat.Builder(_ctx, MainActivity.CHANNEL_ID + 1)
.SetAutoCancel(true)
.SetContentIntent(resultPendingIntent) // Start up this activity when the user clicks the intent.
.SetContentTitle(note._noteText) // Set the title
.SetNumber(1) // Display the count in the Content Info
.SetSmallIcon(Resource.Drawable.bitchute_notification2)
.SetContentText(note._noteType)
.SetPriority(NotificationCompat.PriorityMin);
MainActivity.NOTIFICATION_ID++;
_notificationManager.Notify(MainActivity.NOTIFICATION_ID, builder.Build());
_sentNotificationList.Add(note);
notePos++;
}
//if the notification isn't the first in our batch, then use this
//code block to send the notifications without sound
else if (!_sentNotificationList.Contains(note))
{
var builder = new Android.Support.V4.App.NotificationCompat.Builder(_ctx, MainActivity.CHANNEL_ID)
.SetAutoCancel(true) // Dismiss the notification from the notification area when the user clicks on it
.SetContentIntent(resultPendingIntent) // Start up this activity when the user clicks the intent.
.SetContentTitle(note._noteText) // Set the title
.SetNumber(1) // Display the count in the Content Info
.SetSmallIcon(Resource.Drawable.bitchute_notification2)
.SetContentText(note._noteType)
.SetPriority(NotificationCompat.PriorityHigh);
MainActivity.NOTIFICATION_ID++;
_notificationManager.Notify(MainActivity.NOTIFICATION_ID, builder.Build());
_sentNotificationList.Add(note);
notePos++;
}
ExtStickyService._notificationsHaveBeenSent = true;
}
}
catch
{
}
});
}
In my MainActivity I've created two different notification channels: one is silent; the other uses default notification setting for the device:
void CreateNotificationChannel()
{
var alarmAttributes = new Android.Media.AudioAttributes.Builder()
.SetContentType(Android.Media.AudioContentType.Sonification)
.SetUsage(Android.Media.AudioUsageKind.Notification).Build();
var uri = Android.Net.Uri.Parse("file:///Assets/blank.mp3");
if (Build.VERSION.SdkInt < BuildVersionCodes.O)
{
// Notification channels are new in API 26 (and not a part of the
// support library). There is no need to create a notification
// channel on older versions of Android.
return;
}
var name = "BitChute";
var description = "BitChute for Android";
var channelSilent = new Android.App.NotificationChannel(CHANNEL_ID, name + " Silent", Android.App.NotificationImportance.High)
{
Description = description
};
var channel = new Android.App.NotificationChannel(CHANNEL_ID + 1, name, Android.App.NotificationImportance.High)
{
Description = description
};
channel.LockscreenVisibility = NotificationVisibility.Private;
//here is where I set the sound for the silent channel... this could be the issue?
var notificationManager = (Android.App.NotificationManager)GetSystemService(NotificationService);
channelSilent.SetSound(uri, alarmAttributes);
notificationManager.CreateNotificationChannel(channel);
notificationManager.CreateNotificationChannel(channelSilent);
}
Full source: https://github.com/hexag0d/BitChute_Mobile_Android_BottomNav/tree/APILevel9
EDIT: something really interesting is that if I pulldown the system ui bar, the volume goes back to normal. Very strange workaround but it might help diagnose the cause.
DOUBLE EDIT: I used .SetSound(null, null) instead of using the blank .mp3 and the ducking works fine now. See comments

Dropbox.Api failing to upload large files

I am uploading files to dropbox using the following code.
I am using the nuget package Dropbox.Api and getting the exception System.Threading.Tasks.TaskCanceledException("A task was canceled.")
From this SO Question it appears to be a timeout issue.
So how do I modify the following code to set the timeout.
public async Task<FileMetadata> UploadFileToDropBox(string fileToUpload, string folder)
{
DropboxClient client = new DropboxClient(GetAccessToken());
using (var mem = new MemoryStream(File.ReadAllBytes(fileToUpload)))
{
string filename = Path.GetFileName(fileToUpload);
try
{
string megapath = GetFullFolderPath(folder);
string megapathWithFile = Path.Combine(megapath, Path.GetFileName(Path.GetFileName(filename))).Replace("\\", "/");
var updated = client.Files.UploadAsync(megapathWithFile, WriteMode.Overwrite.Instance, body: mem);
await updated;
return updated.Result;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return null;
}
}
}

Try creating and initializing the client like this:
var config = new DropboxClientConfig();
config.HttpClient.Timeout = new TimeSpan(hr, min, sec); // choose values
var client = DropboxClient(GetAccessToken(), config);
Reference:
http://dropbox.github.io/dropbox-sdk-dotnet/html/M_Dropbox_Api_DropboxClient__ctor_1.htm

One more thing to keep in mind is UploadAsync will not work for files larger than 150MB as per documentation. One will have to use UploadSessionStartAsync based implementation for it. I was making the mistake without realizing it and it took ages for me to fish the problem out.

Cannot post a video to Twitter using Tweetinvi

I am trying to post a video to Twitter using Tweetinvi library:
byte[] video = DownloadBlobFromUrl(parameters.VideoUrl);
IMedia media = Upload.ChunkUploadBinary(new UploadQueryParameters { Binaries = new List<byte[]> { video }, MediaType = "video/mp4", MediaCategory = "tweet_video", MaxChunkSize = VIDEO_MB_CHUNK_SIZE * 1024 * 1024 });
publishParameters.Medias = new List<IMedia> { media };
ITweet tweet = Tweet.PublishTweet(message, publishParameters);
The problem is that publishing fails, unless I add, before publishing, some sort of sleep, like:
await Task.Delay(25000);
With delay it works. Interesting is the fact that IMedia's member HasBeenUploaded is set to true. I also tried using chunk upload, but with the same result. How can I wait until video is fully uploaded to Twitter, assuming this is the issue?

I am the developer of Tweetinvi.
The problem you are encountering is a problem of the Twitter UPLOAD API. The problem is that when an upload completes it takes between few milliseconds up to 1 second for their upload service to process it and make it available to you.
From there you have 2 solutions.
Solution 1 (simplicity)
Don't specify the MediaCategory and use the classical Upload as followed:
var videoBinary = File.ReadAllBytes("file_path");
var videoMedia = Upload.UploadVideo(videoBinary);
Tweet.PublishTweet("test", new PublishTweetOptionalParameters()
{
Medias = { videoMedia }
});
This video should be available straight away. But I have experienced times when a delay is required. Therefore I usually add a delay of 500ms for Twitter servers to be ready for the incoming Tweet.
Solution 2 (amplify_video)
amplify_video is a more robust solution as it is the solution provided by Twitter to solve the delay problem.
var videoBinary = File.ReadAllBytes(#"C:\Users\linvi\Pictures\mov_bbb.mp4");
var videoMedia = Upload.UploadVideo(videoBinary, "video/mp4", "amplify_video");
var isProcessed = videoMedia.UploadedMediaInfo.ProcessingInfo.State == "succeeded";
var timeToWait = videoMedia.UploadedMediaInfo.ProcessingInfo.CheckAfterInMilliseconds;
while (!isProcessed)
{
Thread.Sleep(timeToWait);
// The second parameter (false) informs Tweetinvi that you are manually awaiting the media to be ready
var mediaStatus = Upload.GetMediaStatus(videoMedia, false);
isProcessed = mediaStatus.ProcessingInfo.State == "succeeded";
timeToWait = mediaStatus.ProcessingInfo.CheckAfterInMilliseconds;
}
I realize that this is complicated but few people uses amplify_video.
In the next release I will add a new method that will do all this logic automatically for you.
If you want to be informed when this feature is released you can find the work item here : https://github.com/linvi/tweetinvi/issues/347.
I will also provide a new enum for ProcessingInfo.State (https://github.com/linvi/tweetinvi/issues/348).
I hope this answer helps you.
Have a great day.

Found an answer, not so elegant, but it works. You have to set the media category to amplify_video. For anyone else with this issue:
byte[] video = DownloadBlobFromUrl(parameters.VideoUrl);
IMedia media = Upload.ChunkUploadBinary(new UploadQueryParameters { Binaries = new List<byte[]> { video }, MediaType = "video/mp4", MediaCategory = "amplify_video", MaxChunkSize = VIDEO_MB_CHUNK_SIZE * 1024 * 1024 });
publishParameters.Medias = new List<IMedia> { media };
IUploadedMediaInfo status = Upload.GetMediaStatus(media);
int numberOfTries = 1;
while (status.ProcessingInfo.State != "succeeded" && numberOfTries < VIDEO_UPLOAD_TRY_COUNT)
{
numberOfTries++;
await Task.Delay(VIDEO_UPLOAD_WAIT_SECONDS * 1000);
status = Upload.GetMediaStatus(media);
}
if (status.ProcessingInfo.State == "succeeded")
{
tweet = Tweet.PublishTweet(message, publishParameters);
return tweet.IdStr;
}

Uploading Any File To Google Docs Using GData

I'm trying to use the Google Docs GData API (.NET) to upload a file to my docs, but I keep getting errors thrown. I can't find any example that uses this method, so I'm not even sure that I am usign it correctly.
DocumentsService docService = new DocumentsService("MyDocsTest");
docService.setUserCredentials("w****", "*****");
DocumentsListQuery docQuery = new DocumentsListQuery();
DocumentsFeed docFeed = docService.Query(docQuery);
foreach (DocumentEntry entry in docFeed.Entries)
{
Console.WriteLine(entry.Title.Text);
}
Console.ReadKey();
Console.WriteLine();
if (File.Exists(#"testDoc.txt") == false)
{
File.WriteAllText(#"testDoc.txt", "test");
}
docService.UploadDocument(#"testDoc.txt", null); // Works Fine
docService.UploadFile(#"testDoc.txt", null, #"text/plain", false); // Throws Error
The above code will throw a GDataRequestException:
Execution of request failed: https://docs.google.com/feeds/default/private/full?convert=false
This is kind of aggrivating, seeing as this API could be so insanely helpful. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?

After a lot of experimentation and research, I got it to work. Gonna leave this here for others in my predicament. I will leave in the using shorthands for reference.
// Start the service and set credentials
Docs.DocumentsService service = new Docs.DocumentsService("GoogleApiTest");
service.setUserCredentials("username", "password");
// Initialize the DocumentEntry
Docs.DocumentEntry newEntry = new Docs.DocumentEntry();
newEntry.Title = new Client.AtomTextConstruct(Client.AtomTextConstructElementType.Title, "Test Upload"); // Set the title
newEntry.Summary = new Client.AtomTextConstruct(Client.AtomTextConstructElementType.Summary ,"A summary goes here."); // Set the summary
newEntry.Authors.Add(new Client.AtomPerson(Client.AtomPersonType.Author, "A Person")); // Add a main author
newEntry.Contributors.Add(new Client.AtomPerson(Client.AtomPersonType.Contributor, "Another Person")); // Add a contributor
newEntry.MediaSource = new Client.MediaFileSource("testDoc.txt", "text/plain"); // The actual file to be uploading
// Create an authenticator
Client.ClientLoginAuthenticator authenticator = new Client.ClientLoginAuthenticator("GoogleApiTest", Client.ServiceNames.Documents, service.Credentials);
// Setup the uploader
Client.ResumableUpload.ResumableUploader uploader = new Client.ResumableUpload.ResumableUploader(512);
uploader.AsyncOperationProgress += (object sender, Client.AsyncOperationProgressEventArgs e) =>
{
Console.WriteLine(e.ProgressPercentage + "%"); // Progress updates
};
uploader.AsyncOperationCompleted += (object sender, Client.AsyncOperationCompletedEventArgs e) =>
{
Console.WriteLine("Upload Complete!"); // Progress Completion Notification
};
Uri uploadUri = new Uri("https://docs.google.com/feeds/upload/create-session/default/private/full?convert=false"); // "?convert=false" makes the doc be just a file
Client.AtomLink link = new Client.AtomLink(uploadUri.AbsoluteUri);
link.Rel = Client.ResumableUpload.ResumableUploader.CreateMediaRelation;
newEntry.Links.Add(link);
uploader.InsertAsync(authenticator, newEntry, new object()); // Finally upload the bloody thing

Can you check the ResponseString property of the GDataRequestException that is being thrown in order to get a detailed error message?
Capturing your requests with a tool like Fiddler will also help you a lot when trying to debug this kind of issues.

Youtube C# .NET API : Uploading video and getting events when finished

This is the code to upload a video to Youtube using the C# .NET API from a Windows Forms desktop application:
YouTubeRequestSettings settings = new YouTubeRequestSettings("whatwill come here ?",
"my api key",
"my youtube login email", "my youtube login password");
YouTubeRequest request = new YouTubeRequest(settings);
Video newVideo = new Video();
newVideo.Title = "test 1";
newVideo.Tags.Add(new MediaCategory("Gaming", YouTubeNameTable.CategorySchema));
newVideo.Keywords = "test 1 , test 2";
newVideo.Description = "test 3 test 4";
newVideo.YouTubeEntry.Private = false;
newVideo.Tags.Add(new MediaCategory("tag 1, tag 2",
YouTubeNameTable.DeveloperTagSchema));
newVideo.YouTubeEntry.Location = new GeoRssWhere(37, -122);
newVideo.YouTubeEntry.MediaSource = new MediaFileSource("C:\\test.avi", "video/quicktime");
Video createdVideo = request.Upload(newVideo);
This works. What I'm looking for is the events that get me back the upload progress, so I can show the progress in a progressbar. Ich can register the following events:
request.Service.AsyncOperationProgress +=
new AsyncOperationProgressEventHandler(Service_AsyncOperationProgress);
request.Service.AsyncOperationCompleted +=
new AsyncOperationCompletedEventHandler(Service_AsyncOperationCompleted);
... but they never get fired while uploading. Also, I cannot find any documentation about the .NET api that goes much further than the small video upload example above. So: Are those the wrong events to look for? Just for reference, I'm starting the seemingly synchonous upload in the following code in a background thread:
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(
delegate
{
try
{
createdVideo = request.Upload(newVideo);
} catch (Exception ex){
Invoke((ThreadStart) delegate{uploadingFailedWithException(ex);});
}
});
Invoke((ThreadStart)readyUploading);
This way I know when the synchonous operation ended, but I'd like to have events for progress updates to the user. Any ideas?

The Upload method you are using is synchronous and, as such, the execution of your program will stop on that line of code and only move on when the upload is complete.
What you are trying to do requires using asynchronous upload. A complete example showing how to use the ResumableUploader component and the AsyncOperationCompleted/AsyncOperationProgress events is included in the .NET client library and available at http://code.google.com/p/google-gdata/source/browse/#svn%2Ftrunk%2Fclients%2Fcs%2Fsamples%2FYouTubeUploader%2FYouTubeUploader