In this article, we will learn how to create android VideoView programmatically in Kotlin. We will go through various steps that explains how to create VideoView and add it in kotlin file, use different attributes to customise it etc. in any android application. For example, how to set text in VideoView programmatically, how to set id of VideoView, how to capitalise text of VideoView dynamically etc. We will get answer to all such questions in this post.

Learn to use Different Attributes of VideoView in XML File to Customize it.

Output

Tutorialwing Android Dynamic VideoView Output

Getting Started

We can define android VideoView widget as below –

VideoView is subclass of View that are used to display a video file.

Now, how do we use VideoView in android application ?

Before we move ahead, we need to setup for viewBinding to access VideoView in Kotlin file without using findViewById() method.

Setup ViewBinding

Add viewBinding true in app/build.gradle file.

 
 android { 
 	// OTHER CODE... 
 	buildFeatures { 
 		viewBinding true 
 	} 
 } 
 

Now, set content in activity using view binding.
Open MainActivity.kt file and write below code in it.

 
 class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() { 
 	
 	private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding 
 	
 	override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { 
 		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) 
 		binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater) 
 		val view = binding.root 
 		setContentView(view) 
 	} 
 } 
 

Now, we can access view in Kotlin file without using findViewById() method.

Since we have a new project, we will modify the xml and class file to use VideoView programmatically in kotlin. Please follow the steps below.

2. Modify Values Folder

Open res/values/strings.xml file. Add below code into it.

<resources>
    <string name="app_name">DynamicVideoView</string>
    <string name="play">Play</string>
    <string name="pause">Pause</string>
    <string name="paused">Paused…</string>
    <string name="playing">Playing…</string>
</resources>

Other values folders have not been changed. So, we are not going to mention it here.

3. Modify Layout Folder

Open res/layout/activity_main.xml file. Add below code into it.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/rootContainer"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:padding="10dp">

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnPlay"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="5dp"
        android:text="@string/play" />

</LinearLayout>

Note that LinearLayout has id rootContainer. In Kotlin file, we will create VideoView Dynamically and add it into this LinearLayout having id rootContainer.

4. Create Android VideoView programmatically in Kotlin

Open src/main/java/com.tutorialwing.dynamicvideoview/MainActivity.kt file. Then, add below code into it.

package com.tutorialwing.dynamicvideoview

import android.net.Uri
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import android.view.ViewGroup
import android.widget.LinearLayout
import android.widget.Toast
import android.widget.VideoView
import com.tutorialwing.dynamicvideoview.databinding.ActivityMainBinding

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

	private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding

	override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
		binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
		val view = binding.root
		setContentView(view)

		setupVideoView()
	}

	private fun setupVideoView() {
		val videoView = VideoView(this)
		val layoutParams = LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
			ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
			ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
		)
		videoView.layoutParams = layoutParams

		val path = "android.resource://" + packageName + "/" + R.raw.sample_video
		videoView.setVideoURI(Uri.parse(path))

		// Add VideoView to LinearLayout
		binding.rootContainer.addView(videoView)

		binding.btnPlay.setOnClickListener {
			val isPlaying = videoView.isPlaying
			binding.btnPlay.setText(if (isPlaying) R.string.play else R.string.pause)

			val msg = getString(if (isPlaying) R.string.paused else R.string.playing)
			Toast.makeText(this@MainActivity, msg, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
			if (isPlaying) {
				videoView.pause()
			} else {
				videoView.start()
			}
		}

		videoView.setOnCompletionListener {
			binding.btnPlay.text = getString(R.string.play)
		}
	}
}

We have created videoView programmatically in kotlin file (i.e. in MainActivity.kt file). Then, we have set it’s layout params, margins. Then, we accessed video resource stored in res/raw folder. After that, we set video resource to videoView. Then, added videoView in linearLayout. At last, We have set click listener to button play/pause video in videoView. If Video is already playing, it will be paused otherwise, it will be played.

Finally, when you run the application, you will get output as shown above.

Tutorialwing Android Dynamic VideoView Output

Now, Let’s check how to use different attributes of VideoView to customize it dynamically –

Set Id of VideoView

Follow steps below to set id of VideoView programmatically –

• Create ids.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code into it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <item type="id" name="videoView_ID" />
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set id of VideoView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  videoView.id = R.id.videoView_ID  // VideoView
  

  Here, we have set id of VideoView using property access syntax – videoView.id

Learn to Set ID of VideoView Using XML Attribute

Set Width and Height of VideoView

We use layoutParams to set width and height of any View programmatically. In this article, we have added VideoView in LinearLayout. So, we will define LayoutParams as below –

videoView.layoutParams = LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
	ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
	ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
)

Here, we have set width and height as WRAP_CONTENT. Some of possible values for width and height are –

• WRAP_CONTENT: Sets value of width or height depending on text inside it.
• MATCH_PARENT: Sets value of width of height depending on width or height of parent layout . i.e. width or height of VideoView will be same as width or height of parent layout.
• Fixed Value: Sets width or height as per value provided.

Learn to Set Width or Height of VideoView Using XML Attribute

Set Padding of VideoView

Follow steps below to set padding of VideoView Dynamically –

• If there is no dimens.xml file, create dimens.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code in it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <dimen name="text_padding">16dp</dimen>
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set padding of VideoView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  val padding = resources.getDimension(R.dimen.text_padding).toInt()
  videoView.setPadding(padding, padding, padding, padding)
  

  Here, we have accessed dimension defined in dimens.xml using getDimension() method. Then, set padding of VideoView using setPadding() method.

Learn to Set Padding of VideoView Using XML Attribute

Set Margin of VideoView

Follow steps below to set margin of VideoView Dynamically –

• If there is no dimens.xml file, create dimens.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code in it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <dimen name="text_margin">16dp</dimen>
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set margin of VideoView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  val margin = resources.getDimension(R.dimen.text_margin).toInt()
  val layoutParams = LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
  	ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
  	ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
  )
  layoutParams.setMargins(margin, margin, margin, margin)
  videoView.layoutParams = layoutParams
  

  Here, we have accessed dimension defined in dimens.xml using getDimension() method. Then, we have defined layoutParams, set margin to layoutParams. After that, set layoutParams to VideoView.

Learn to Set Margin of VideoView Using XML Attribute

Set Background of VideoView

Follow steps below to set background of VideoView programmatically –

• If there is no colors.xml file, create colors.xml file in res/values folder. Then, add below code in it –

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <resources>
      <color name="purple_200">#FFBB86FC</color>
  </resources>
  

• Now, we can set background of VideoView dynamically, in MainActivity.kt file, as –

  val color = ContextCompat.getColor(this, R.color.purple_200)
  videoView.setBackgroundColor(color)
  

  Here, we used setBackgroundColor() method to set background color in videoView.

Learn to Set Background of VideoView Using XML Attribute

Set Visibility of VideoView

We can set visibility of VideoView programmatically as –

videoView.visibility = View.VISIBLE

Here, we have set visibility of VideoView using videoView.visibility attribute. Visibility can be of three types – gone, visible and invisible.
Learn to Set Visibility of VideoView Using XML Attribute

That’s end of tutorial on VideoView Programmatically in Kotlin With Example.