UWP Access MediaPlayerElement from other page - xaml

Question

In my MainPage.xaml I have
<Grid>
<NavigationView x:Name="navView">
<NavigationView.MenuItems>
<NavigationViewItem x:Name="music" Content="My Music"/>
</NavigationView.MenuItems>
<Frame x:Name="myFrame">
<Frame.ContentTransitions>
<TransitionCollection>
<NavigationThemeTransition/>
</TransitionCollection>
</Frame.ContentTransitions>
</Frame>
</NavigationView>
<Grid Grid.Row="1">
<MediaPlayerElement x:Name="nowPlaying"
AreTransportControlsEnabled="True" x:FieldModifier="public">
<MediaPlayerElement.TransportControls>
...
</MediaPlayerElement.TransportControls>
</MediaPlayerElement>
</Grid>
</Grid>
I want to play music (pass Uri) from other Page (MyMusic) but I can't find a way to access the MediaPlayerElement. The other Page is opened in myFrame. And I want to keep the TransportControls.

Answer 1

You shouldn't rely on a UI element to play your media from another page. Instead, use the MediaPlayer class:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/audio-video-camera/play-audio-and-video-with-mediaplayer#use-mediaplayerelement-to-render-video-in-xaml
So specify your MediaPlayerElement (make sure to set AreTransportControlsEnabled value to what you need it to be):
<MediaPlayerElement x:Name="_mediaPlayerElement" AreTransportControlsEnabled="False" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Grid.Row="0"/>
Then you can link your element to the MediaPlayer object which you can reference in code:
_mediaPlayerElement.SetMediaPlayer(mediaPlayer);
Then play whatever you need:
_mediaPlayerElement.Source = MediaSource.CreateFromUri(new Uri("ms-appx:///Assets/example_video.mkv"));
mediaPlayer = _mediaPlayerElement.MediaPlayer;
mediaPlayer.Play();