Manage Roles - Android

Roles with VideoSDK

When doing interactive live streaming maintaining the role of users is quite important. To help manage these roles better, VideoSDK allows a participant with two types of modes:

1. CONFERENCE When a participant is joining with mode set to CONFERENCE, we will be able to publish and consume the media of other participants and also interact with them using the features like chat, poll etc.

2. VIEWER When a participant is joining with mode set to VIEWER, that participant is not allowed to publish or consume any media from other participants. Although they can interact with other participants using chat, polls etc.

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When to use the Roles?

1. Simple Adaptive Streaming

• Simple Adaptive Streaming (SAS) is a type of livestreaming that requires minimal interaction between the host and viewers.

• It is particularly useful for events with a large number of viewers who prefer not to engage with the host.

• In SAS, each speaker attends a VideoSDK meeting in CONFERENCE mode, while viewers can simply watch the livestream using the playbackHlsUrl or livestreamUrl. Unlike the speakers, viewers do not need to join the meeting in CONFERENCE or VIEWER mode. This allows for a seamless streaming experience without any unnecessary interruptions or distractions.

  • playbackHlsUrl - Live HLS with playback support
  • livestreamUrl - Live HLS without playback support

note

downstreamUrl is now depecated. Use playbackHlsUrl or livestreamUrl in place of downstreamUrl

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2. Adaptive Streaming with increased engagement

• If you're looking to increase engagement with your audience during a live streaming event, consider using Adaptive Streaming technology. With this approach, you can incorporate interactive features such as polls and conversations, and give viewers the ability to join and leave the livestream as the host decides.

• To set this up, have all speakers join as CONFERENCE mode participants, while the audience joins as VIEWER mode participants. This way, everyone can participate in the interactive elements of the live stream and create a more dynamic and engaging experience for all.

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Using roles

When you initialize the meeting, you can set the mode of Participant.

Kotlin

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

  fun getToken(): String? {
    ...
  }

  fun getMeetingId(token: String?): String? {
    ...
  }

 override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

    //We will fetch token and meetingId and store it in local variables
    val token: String = getToken()
    val meetingId = getMeetingId(token)

    // initialize the VideoSDK
    VideoSDK.initialize(this@MainActivity)

    // set token property of VideoSDK
    VideoSDK.config(token)

    // create a new meeting instance
    val meeting: Meeting = VideoSDK.initMeeting(
        this@MainActivity, meetingId, "NAME HERE",
        true, true, null,
        "CONFERENCE", // allowed: CONFERENCE | VIEWER
        false,
        null,
        null
    )

    Log.d("VideoSDK", "onCreate: $meetingId")
  }
}

Java

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

  public String getToken()
  {
    ...
  }

  public String getMeetingId(String token) {
    ...
  }

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    //We will fetch token and meetingId and store it in local variables
    String token = getToken();
    String meetingId = getMeetingId(token);

    // initialize the VideoSDK
    VideoSDK.initialize(MainActivity.this);

    // set token property of VideoSDK
    VideoSDK.config(token);

    // create a new meeting instance
    Meeting meeting = VideoSDK.initMeeting(
            MainActivity.this, meetingId, "NAME HERE",
            true, true, null,
            "CONFERENCE", // allowed: CONFERENCE | VIEWER
            false,
            null,
            null
    );

    Log.d("VideoSDK", "onCreate: " + meetingId);
  }
}

Getting Participant Mode

You can identify the participants role by using mode property from Participant class.

Kotlin

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
  //...

  val localParticipant = meeting!!.localParticipant
  Log.d("VideoSDK", "Participant mode : " + localParticipant.mode)
}

Java

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  //...

  Participant localParticipant = meeting.getLocalParticipant();
  Log.d("VideoSDK", "Participant mode : " + participant.getMode());
}

Changing Participant's Mode

Let's say you are hosting a livestream and you want one of your viewer to join the livestream with you. In this case you can change the mode of the participant using the changeMode() of the Meeting class.

Kotlin

findViewById<View>(R.id.btnConferenceMode).setOnClickListener { view: View? ->
    // change mode to CONFERENCE
    meeting!!.changeMode("CONFERENCE")
}

findViewById<View>(R.id.btnViewerMode).setOnClickListener { view: View? ->
    // change mode to VIEWER
    meeting!!.changeMode("VIEWER")
}

Java

findViewById(R.id.btnConferenceMode).setOnClickListener(view -> {
    // change mode to CONFERENCE
    meeting.changeMode("CONFERENCE");
});

findViewById(R.id.btnViewerMode).setOnClickListener(view -> {
    // change mode to VIEWER
   meeting.changeMode("VIEWER");
});

API Reference

The API references for all the methods utilized in this guide are provided below.

• Meeting
• Participant
• changeMode()