How to Pass Video Using Intent Between Activities in Android?

In android, An Intent provides a facility for performing late runtime binding between the code in different applications. Its most significant use is in the launching of activities, where it can be thought of as the glue between activities. It is basically a passive data structure holding an abstract description of an action to be performed.

What we are going to build in this article?

In this article, we will learn that how we can pass Video using Intent between two activities and then play that video in the second activity. Here is a sample video of what we are going to build in this application. Note that we are going to implement this application using Java language.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project

• Open a new project.
• We will be working on Empty Activity with language as Java. Leave all other options unchanged.
• You can change the name of the project at your convenience.
• There will be two default files named activity_main.xml and MainActivity.java.

If you don’t know how to create a new project in Android Studio then you can refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio? 

Step 2: Adding storage permission

Follow the path app > manifests > AndroidManifest.xml and paste the following piece of code in it.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

Step 3: Working on XML files

Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file.

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

   <Button
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:id="@+id/bt_select"
       android:text="Select Video"
       android:layout_centerInParent="true"
       />

</RelativeLayout>

Follow the path app > right click > new > activity > Empty Activity > name it as “MainActvity2”. Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main2.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main2.xml file.

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity2">

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:clipToPadding="false"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true">

        <VideoView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:id="@+id/video_view"/>

    </RelativeLayout>

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Step 4: Working on java files

Go to the MainActivity.java file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.java file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Java

package com.example.videointent;

import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
import androidx.annotation.Nullable;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.core.app.ActivityCompat;
import androidx.core.content.ContextCompat;

import android.Manifest;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    // Initialize variables
    Button btSelect;


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

        // Assign variable
        btSelect=findViewById(R.id.bt_select);

        btSelect.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {
                // Check condition
                if(ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(MainActivity.this, Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
                != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED)
                {
                    // When permission is not granted
                    // Request permission
                    ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(MainActivity.this,new String[]{Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE}
                    ,1);
                }
                else
                {
                    // When permission is granted
                    // Create method
                    selectVideo();
                }
            }
        });

    }

    private void selectVideo() {
        // Initialize intent
        Intent intent=new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK);
        // set type
        intent.setType("video/*");
        // start activity result
        startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent,"Select Video"),100);
    }

    @Override
    public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode,  String[] permissions,  int[] grantResults) {
        super.onRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
        // Check condition
        if(requestCode==1 && grantResults.length > 0 && grantResults[0]
        == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED)
        {
            // When permission is granted
            // Call method
            selectVideo();
        }
        else
        {
            // When permission is denied
            // Display toast
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext()
            ,"Permission denied",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
        // Check condition
        if(requestCode==100 && resultCode==RESULT_OK && data!=null)
        {
            // When result code is okay
            // Initialize uri
            Uri uri=data.getData();
            // Initialize intent
            Intent intent=new Intent(this,MainActivity2.class);
            // Put extra
            intent.putExtra("uri",uri.toString());
            // Start activity
            startActivity(intent);
        }
    }
}

Go to the MainActivity2.java file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity2.java file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Java

package com.example.videointent;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.VideoView;

public class MainActivity2 extends AppCompatActivity {

    // Initialize variables
    VideoView videoView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main2);

        // Assign variables
        videoView=findViewById(R.id.video_view);
        // Get data from main activity
        Bundle bundle=getIntent().getExtras();
        // Check condition
        if(bundle!=null)
        {
            // When bundle not equal to null
            // Initialize uri
            Uri uri=Uri.parse(bundle.getString("uri"));
            // Set video uri
            videoView.setVideoURI(uri);
            // Start video
            videoView.start();
        }

    }
}

Here is the final output of our application.

Output: