play radiostream in the background

Question

Hello i'm building a app for a radio station. Now i can the music in the app but when i go to the homescreen the audio stops. Does someone have some tips suggestions on how to use my code to keep on the audio playing in the background?

My code:

package com.wemait.rtvhardenberg;

import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLConnection;

import com.wemait.rtvhardenberg.Nieuws.GetJSONData;
import com.wemait.rtvhardenberg.helper.AlertDialogManager;
import com.wemait.rtvhardenberg.helper.BackgroundSoundService;
import com.wemait.rtvhardenberg.helper.ConnectionDetector;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.ProgressDialog;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.drawable.AnimationDrawable;
import android.media.MediaPlayer;
import android.media.MediaPlayer.OnBufferingUpdateListener;
import android.media.MediaPlayer.OnPreparedListener;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.ProgressBar;

public class Muziek extends Activity implements OnClickListener {

    private final static String RADIO_STATION_URL = "http://stream.intronic.nl/rtvhardenberg";

    private ProgressBar playSeekBar;

    private Button buttonPlay;

    private Button buttonStopPlay;

    private MediaPlayer player;

    /**
     * Reference to the ImageView which will display the animation.
     */
    ImageView animation;

    // Connection detector
    ConnectionDetector cd;

    // Alert dialog manager
    AlertDialogManager alert = new AlertDialogManager();

    // Progress Dialog
    private ProgressDialog pDialog;

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.muziek);

        cd = new ConnectionDetector(getApplicationContext());

        // Check for internet connection
        if (!cd.isConnectingToInternet()) {
            // Internet Connection is not present
            alert.showAlertDialog(Muziek.this, "Internet Connectie Error", "Zorg voor een werkende internet connectie", false);
            // stop executing code by return
            return;
        }

        animation = (ImageView)findViewById(R.id.imageAnimation);

        animation.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.animation);

        //Intent svc=new Intent(this, BackgroundSoundService.class);
        //startService(svc);

        initializeUIElements();

        initializeMediaPlayer();
    }

    private void initializeUIElements() {

        playSeekBar = (ProgressBar) findViewById(R.id.progressBar1);
        playSeekBar.setMax(100);
        playSeekBar.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);


        animation.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);

        buttonPlay = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button_play);
        buttonPlay.setOnClickListener(this);

        buttonStopPlay = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button_stop);
        buttonStopPlay.setEnabled(false);
        buttonStopPlay.setOnClickListener(this);
    }

    public void onClick(View v) {
        if (v == buttonPlay) {
            startPlaying();
        } else if (v == buttonStopPlay) {
            stopPlaying();
        }
    }

    private void startPlaying() {
        //I tried this but didn't work thats why i've commented it away
        //new BackgroundSound().execute();
        //Intent svc=new Intent(this, BackgroundSoundService.class);
       // startService(svc);
        pDialog = new ProgressDialog(Muziek.this);
            pDialog.setMessage("Live radio laden ...");
            pDialog.setIndeterminate(false);
            pDialog.setCancelable(false);
            pDialog.show(); 

        buttonStopPlay.setEnabled(true);
        buttonPlay.setEnabled(false);


        playSeekBar.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE); // plaatje

        AnimationDrawable frameAnimation = 
                (AnimationDrawable) animation.getBackground();
        animation.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
        frameAnimation.start();

        player.prepareAsync();
        frameAnimation.start();
        player.setOnPreparedListener(new OnPreparedListener() {
            public void onPrepared(MediaPlayer mp) {
                player.start();
               // buttonRecord.setEnabled(true);
                //new BackgroundSound().execute();

            }
        });
    }

    private void stopPlaying() {
        if (player.isPlaying()) {
            player.stop();
            player.release();
            initializeMediaPlayer();
        }

        buttonPlay.setEnabled(true);
        buttonStopPlay.setEnabled(false);
        playSeekBar.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
        animation.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
        //buttonRecord.setEnabled(false);
        //buttonStopRecord.setEnabled(false);
        //stopRecording();
    }


    private void initializeMediaPlayer() {
        player = new MediaPlayer();
        try {
            player.setDataSource(RADIO_STATION_URL);
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        Intent svc=new Intent(this, BackgroundSoundService.class);
        startService(svc);

        player.setOnBufferingUpdateListener(new OnBufferingUpdateListener() {

            public void onBufferingUpdate(MediaPlayer mp, int percent) {
                playSeekBar.setSecondaryProgress(percent);
                pDialog.dismiss();
                animation.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
                Log.i("Buffering", "" + percent);
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();
        if (player.isPlaying()) {
            player.stop();
        }
    }

}

Answer 1

It looks like you're already using a Service for portion of your app, which is the correct approach for long-running background activity.

To keep things running in the background, you should should initialize the MediaPlayer inside of the Service rather than inside of your Activity. You can communicate with the Service once it's running by sending it additional Intents or by binding to it (see Bound Services).