Stuck with tvOS and Focus Guides - objective-c

Question

I'm really stuck with this issue. I'm trying to add a button on top of an AVPlayerViewController that says "Skip Intro" (similar to the button that Netflix has on their content).
I've added 4 or 5 buttons horizontally starting just above the left side of the seek bar and each button are spaced about 10 points apart. I only need 1 button, but at this point I cannot figure out why I can't click any of these buttons at all:
I've declared the button and the focus guide variables as private:
Here's the viewDidLoad method:
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
self.avPlayerViewController = [[AVPlayerViewController alloc] init];
[self addChildViewController:self.avPlayerViewController];
[self.view addSubview:self.avPlayerViewController.view];
self.avPlayerViewController.showsPlaybackControls = YES;
self.avPlayerViewController.view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
NSLayoutConstraint *height = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:self.avPlayerViewController.view
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeHeight
relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual
toItem:self.view
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeHeight
multiplier:1.0
constant:0];
NSLayoutConstraint *width = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:self.avPlayerViewController.view
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeWidth
relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual
toItem:self.view
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeWidth
multiplier:1.0
constant:0.0];
NSLayoutConstraint *top = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:self.avPlayerViewController.view
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeTop
relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual
toItem:self.view
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeTop
multiplier:1.0
constant:0.0];
NSLayoutConstraint *leading = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:self.avPlayerViewController.view
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeLeading
relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual
toItem:self.view
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeLeading
multiplier:1.0
constant:0.0];
[self.view addConstraint:height];
[self.view addConstraint:width];
[self.view addConstraint:top];
[self.view addConstraint:leading];
[self.avPlayerViewController didMoveToParentViewController:self];
[self setupBreakButtonWithWidth:225 height:50 xCoordinate:100 yCoordinate:850];
[self setupBreakButtonWithWidth:225 height:50 xCoordinate:335 yCoordinate:850];
[self setupBreakButtonWithWidth:225 height:50 xCoordinate:570 yCoordinate:850];
[self setupBreakButtonWithWidth:225 height:50 xCoordinate:805 yCoordinate:850];
[self setupFocusGuide];
[self createBannerAdView];
[self resetUpNextState];
}
As you can see, I'm just adding buttons to the bottom of the screen (above the seek bar) and then I setup the focus guide and the preferredFocusEnvironments:
- (NSArray<id<UIFocusEnvironment>> *)preferredFocusEnvironments {
NSLog(#"**** BMNativeVideoPlayerViewController -> preferredFocusEnvironments");
return #[self.skipBreakButton];
}
- (void)setupFocusGuide
{
NSLog(#"**** BMNativeVideoPlayerViewController -> setupFocusGuide");
// allocate focus guide and add it to the view
self.focusGuide = [[UIFocusGuide alloc] init];
[self.view addLayoutGuide:self.focusGuide];
// define constraints
[self.focusGuide.leftAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.view.leftAnchor].active = YES;
[self.focusGuide.rightAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.view.rightAnchor].active = YES;
[self.focusGuide.topAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:_skipBreakButton.topAnchor].active = YES;
[self.focusGuide.bottomAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:_skipBreakButton.bottomAnchor].active = YES;
// select the default focusable view
self.focusGuide.preferredFocusEnvironments = #[self.skipBreakButton];
}
Here is the method where the button is configured, along with the button handler method and the didUpdateFocusInContext method (although I don't know if it's doing what it's supposed to):
- (void)didUpdateFocusInContext:(UIFocusUpdateContext *)context withAnimationCoordinator:(UIFocusAnimationCoordinator *)coordinator
{
self.focusGuide.preferredFocusEnvironments = #[self.skipBreakButton];
}
- (void)setupBreakButtonWithWidth:(CGFloat)width height:(CGFloat)height xCoordinate:(CGFloat)x yCoordinate:(CGFloat)y
{
NSLog(#"**** BMNativeVideoPlayerViewController -> setupBreakButton");
_skipBreakButton = [[UIButton alloc] init];
_skipBreakButton.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
[self.skipBreakButton setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
_skipBreakButton.alpha = 1.0f;
_skipBreakButton.layer.cornerRadius = 3;
_skipBreakButton.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
[self.avPlayerViewController.contentOverlayView addSubview:_skipBreakButton];
[self.avPlayerViewController.contentOverlayView bringSubviewToFront:_skipBreakButton];
NSLayoutConstraint *xConstraint = [NSLayoutConstraint
constraintWithItem:_skipBreakButton attribute:NSLayoutAttributeLeading
relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:self.view attribute:
NSLayoutAttributeLeading multiplier:1.0 constant:x];
NSLayoutConstraint *yConstraint = [NSLayoutConstraint
constraintWithItem:_skipBreakButton attribute:NSLayoutAttributeTop
relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem:self.view attribute:
NSLayoutAttributeTop multiplier:1.0f constant:y];
NSLayoutConstraint *widthConstraint = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:_skipBreakButton
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeWidth
relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual
toItem:nil
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeNotAnAttribute
multiplier:1.0
constant:width];
NSLayoutConstraint *heightConstraint = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:_skipBreakButton
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeHeight
relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual
toItem:nil
attribute:NSLayoutAttributeNotAnAttribute
multiplier:1.0
constant:height];
[self.view addConstraints:#[xConstraint, yConstraint, widthConstraint, heightConstraint]];
[self.skipBreakButton setUserInteractionEnabled:YES];
[self.skipBreakButton setTitle:#"Skip Intro" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[self.skipBreakButton.titleLabel setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:#"Helvetica-Bold" size:26.0]];
NSLog(#"**** Can the skip break button be focused? %d", self.skipBreakButton.canBecomeFocused);
[self.skipBreakButton addTarget:self action:#selector(skipBreakButtonClicked:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventPrimaryActionTriggered];
}
- (void)skipBreakButtonClicked:(UIButton *) sender {
NSLog(#"**** BMNativeVideoPlayerViewController -> skipBreakButtonClicked");
}
I cannot click on any of these buttons. I need help to figure out how to get it to work.
It seems that a view is on top of this button but I'm not sure how to fix it:
(lldb) po [UIFocusDebugger checkFocusabilityForItem: 0x7ff86fe60510]
The following issues were found that would prevent this item from being focusable:
- ISSUE: One or more ancestors have issues that may be preventing this item from being focusable. Details:
<_AVPlayerViewControllerContainerView 0x7ff86fc29eb0>:
- ISSUE: This view returns YES from -canBecomeFocused, which will prevent its subviews from being focusable.
Please advise?

Answer 1

AVPlayer view controller steals all of the view inputs when it is full screen. In my experience what you have to do is keep the player 1 pixel smaller than the full screen when you have your custom elements and then when your custom elements aren't on the screen you can make it full size. If you set breakpoints in your focus override code you will see that it doesn't hit and this is because Apple is controlling the inputs on their AVPlayerViewController.
If you try the above it should resolve the issue.

Answer 2

You could achieve this behaviour by presenting a modal view controller (with a skip button on it) as overlay over the context of the player.
You can then dismiss the modal view controller after a few seconds (as done in the example below), or programatically if you know when the intro actually finishes.
import UIKit
import AVFoundation
import AVKit
class ThePlayerViewController: AVPlayerViewController {
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewDidAppear(animated)
play(stream: URL(string: "https://devstreaming-cdn.apple.com/videos/streaming/examples/img_bipbop_adv_example_ts/master.m3u8")!)
presentSkipOverlay()
}
// MARK: - Private
private func play(stream: URL) {
let asset = AVAsset(url: stream)
let playetItem = AVPlayerItem(asset: asset)
player = AVPlayer(playerItem: playetItem)
player?.play()
}
private func presentSkipOverlay() {
let skipOverlayViewController = SkipOverlayViewController()
skipOverlayViewController.onSkip = {
[weak self] in
// Skip the intro here
self?.player?.seek(to: CMTime(seconds: 60.0, preferredTimescale: 1))
}
skipOverlayViewController.modalPresentationStyle = .overCurrentContext
skipOverlayViewController.accessibilityViewIsModal = true
present(skipOverlayViewController, animated: true, completion: {
// Dismiss the overlay automatically after 3 seconds
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 3) {
skipOverlayViewController.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
}
})
}
}
And this would be a naive implementation of the Overlay view controller:
final class SkipOverlayViewController: UIViewController {
var onSkip: (() -> Void)?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
setUpView()
}
// MARK: - Private
private lazy var skipButton: UIButton = {
let skipButton = UIButton()
skipButton.backgroundColor = .white
skipButton.setTitleColor(.black, for: .normal)
skipButton.setTitle("Skip Intro", for: .normal)
skipButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(skipButtonWasPressed), for: .primaryActionTriggered)
return skipButton
}()
private func setUpView() {
view.addSubview(skipButton)
skipButton.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
skipButton.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
skipButton.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.bottomAnchor, constant: -200).isActive = true
skipButton.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 225).isActive = true
}
// MARK: - Actions
#objc
func skipButtonWasPressed() {
print("Skip button was Pressed")
onSkip?()
}
}
And this is the result: