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CDN Load Balancer plugin for AVPlayer on iOS, iPadOS & tvOS

CDN Load Balancer can be easily integrated into your iOS app in just a few simple steps using our AVPlayer plugin for iOS. In this guide, we will show you how to integrate our AVPlayer plugin.

Not into tutorials?

Code Example

Framework installation

CDN Load Balancer plugin for AVPlayer is delivered as an Xcode framework and is available on Cocoapods.

CocoaPods

Note: Cocoapods 1.6.0 + is recommended

To get the plugin into your Xcode project using CocoaPods, specify this in your Podfile:

                            target 'MyApp' do
  use_frameworks!
  pod 'LumenCDNLoadBalancerAVPlayerPlugin'
end
            
        

Then, run the following command:

                pod install

Configuration

Disable app transport security

In the Project Navigator, right click on "Info.plist", and "Open as" → "Source Code". Add the following lines with the right parameters values.

                            <key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
  <key>NSAllowsArbitraryLoads</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
            
        

Set the client delivery key

In the Project Navigator, right click on the main target "Info.plist", and "Open as" → "Source Code".

Add the following lines with the values of the right parameters:

                            <key>DeliveryClient</key>
<dict>
  <key>Key</key>
  <string><delivery-client-key></string>
</dict>
            
        

Here, the key element contained in DeliveryClient refers to the deliveryClientKey that you will find in the Account section of the CDN Load Balancer Dashboard. If you don't have a DeliveryClientKey, you can register for a free trial account on our website.

We strongly recommend to set the delivery client key in Info.plist. However, if not possible, it is also possible to pass your delivieryClientKey during the initialization step.

Code integration

First, import the Plugin.

                import LumenCDNLoadBalancerAVPlayerPlugin

Plugin initialization

Initialize the CDN Load Balancer plugin from the AppDelegate.

                            @main
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
  func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
    /*
     * If you can not add your Delivery Client Key in Info.plist
     * Call instead: LMDeliveryClientPlugin.initializeApp(withDeliveryKey: "<delivery-client-key>")
     */
    LMDeliveryClientPlugin.initializeApp()
    ...
  }

  ...
}
            
        

Instantiate a `LMDeliveryClientPlugin` and start it

Now that the plugin is initialized, you are able to create `LMDeliveryClientPlugin` instances. It can be easily configured as such:

                            plugin = LMDeliveryClientPlugin.newBuilder(uri: manifestUrl)
      .createAVPlayer()
      .start()
            
        

Set AVPlayer and play the stream

Unless you gave your own, the plugin created an AVPlayer, and it also automatically set the correct AVPlayerItem.

Set player to AVPController then play

                            avpController.player = plugin.avPlayer
plugin.avPlayer.play()

The video should now be playing as expected.

Stop the SDK

Make sure to stop the plugin once you are done with the video. We recommend to put it in the `viewDidDisappear(:bool)` or any callback terminating the player lifecycle.

                plugin?.stop()

Additional options

You can pass additional options during the creation of a LMDeliveryClientPlugin

                            func createPlugin() -> LMDeliveryClientPlugin {
  return LMDeliveryClientPlugin.newBuilder(uri: manifestUrl)
      .createAVPlayer()
      .orchestratorOptions({ o in
         /*
          * Set Orchestrator property
          *
          * param: String
          */
         o.orchestratorProperty("MY_PROPERTY")
         /*
          * Set the Delivery Client Key
          * Is only required if it was not set in Info.plist
          * Will override the Info.plist DeliveryClientKey value
          *
          * param: String
          */
         o.deliveryClientKey("<delivery-client-key>")
         /*
          * Set the log level
          * See the "How to investigate?" to know more
          *
          * param: LumenLogLevel
          */
         o.logLevel(.info)
          /*
           * Set latency in seconds
           *
           * param: Int
           */
         o.latency(3)
         /*
          * Set a proxy server
          * Allows the use of a proxy server in the middle
          * Format is host:port
          *
          * params: String
          */
         o.proxyServer("MY_PROXY_HOST:PORT")
         /*
          * Build a LumenDeliveryClient instance
          *
          * param: String. The video stream url
          */
      })
      .start()
}
            
        

Troubleshooting

Enable logs

By default the log level is set to `OFF`. it can be overridden during a `LMDeliveryClientPlugin` Creation:

                            plugin = LMDeliveryClientPlugin.newBuilder(uri: manifestUrl)
      .createAVPlayer()
      .orchestratorOptions({ o in
        o.logLevel(.warning)
      })
      .start()
            
        

You can also use LumenStatsView, a utils library that allows the display of CDN Load Balancer information on the device. For more information, please follow the Monitoring Tools documentation.

Learn how you can configure CDN Load Balancer for iOS to best suit your needs

Learn more about Monitoring tools for CDN Load Balancer

Explore CDN services