Android Question Create Chromecast apps with B4A?

[JohnC]

Now that the Chromecast SDK is open to all developers, what is involved to be able to use B4A to create apps for chromecast?

http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/2014/02/ready-to-cast-chromecast-now-open-to.html

 

[Erel]

It will require wrapping the Android library.

 

[touchsquid]

Anybody interested in doing that? We would pay for such a library.

 

[bluedude]

I just received my Chromecast, yes we need a wrapper because this is awesome!

 

[DSD]

I would not mind paying for a B4A wrapper for Chromecast.
The Chromecast is starting to get widely used, also Google recently released the Cromecast in a lot of European countries.
So the market is rapidly expanding and so is the use for apps having support for Chromecast.

 

[warwound]

I picked up a Chromecast at the local PC World earlier - i thought for £30 it'd be worth seeing what the device is capable of.
I'm hoping to take a look at the Google Cast API over the next week and if i have any luck creating a b4a library i'll update this thread.

Martin.

 

[NJDude]

Just a side note, if that Google Cast lib is wrapped, it will work not only with ChromeCast but also GoogleTV and the upcoming AndroidTV (or NexusTV) which is the rebranding and upgrade of GoogleTV.

 

[Computersmith64]

We use it at work for transmitting to the TV's in our meeting rooms (& a couple of projectors too). Can't say I've been overly impressed with it as we experience frequent dropouts & delays. Often we have to resort to cable connections when ChromeCast becomes unusable. Some of it I am sure is related to network reliability, however I think some of it is probably ChromeCast too. Hopefully they will work out the issues as the product becomes more mature.

 

[DSD]

I picked up a Chromecast at the local PC World earlier - i thought for £30 it'd be worth seeing what the device is capable of.
I'm hoping to take a look at the Google Cast API over the next week and if i have any luck creating a b4a library i'll update this thread.

Martin.

This is really exciting news.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping for a B4A wrapper for the Chromecast API...

 

[Erel]

I picked up a Chromecast at the local PC World earlier - i thought for £30 it'd be worth seeing what the device is capable of.
I'm hoping to take a look at the Google Cast API over the next week and if i have any luck creating a b4a library i'll update this thread.

Martin.

Note that I ordered one too a few days ago...

 

[bluedude]

I would be fine to pay for it too. +1

 

[warwound]

We would pay for such a library.

I would not mind paying for a B4A wrapper for Chromecast.

I would be fine to pay for it too. +1

Sounds good - your donations will cover the cost of my Chromecast .

I'll make an effort over the next couple of days to see what's possible.

Martin.

 

[Mark Read]

Interesting, not knowing what Chromecast was, I looked it up. Samsung already has this system on its TV's. Plug in a WLan stick and the TV senses any other PC/Tablet/phone on the same network. When watching for example YouTube, a small icon appears on the phone (top right, looks like a box with an arrow). Clicking it sends the video, picture etc to the TV. Apps are also available but not Google Play (shame). My kids thought this was great when they interrupted my dvd viewing with a YouTube video! Only a few wlan sticks work and they cost around €50. Maybe I should try an app with a webview and see what happens.

 

[warwound]

When watching for example YouTube, a small icon appears on the phone (top right, looks like a box with an arrow). Clicking it sends the video, picture etc to the TV.

This doesn't seem to be 100% correct...

The android app sends the url of some media content to the Chromecast and the Chromecast itself downloads/streams and plays the media.
I didn't realise this before i purchased my Chromecast - i too thought the android app was streaming the content to the Chromecast.

The Chromecast seems to be more of a wireless connected streaming media device which can be controlled by android apps, iOS apps and Chrome desktop browser.
There's android apps which allow you to display media from the android device (pics, music and video) on the Chromecast and i'm guessing that these apps create their own media server and send the Chromecast a url to the media server within the android app.

If i'm right then you won't be able to create an android/b4a application with say a WebView and simply tell the Chromecast to display that WebView.

This is all guesswork at this stage, i'm working my way through some tutorial documents and will post again...

Martin.

 

[thedesolatesoul]

This doesn't seem to be 100% correct...

I think he is talking about Samsung AllShare.

 

[Mark Read]

Martin, you are 100% correct. There is no streaming, the URL is sent directly with Samsung. I just wondered if the TV was intelligent enough to capture the URL from a webview, thats all (probably not). I will try it and see.

 

[Mark Read]

Not exactly, desolatesoul, as this seems to work with LG and Nokia phones as well.

 

[bluedude]

Somebody has created Autocast to stream lots of stuff to the TV. I think we simply need a wrapper for the official SDK and we are ready. Autocast cast can even put custom screens (probably web content) on the TV and even notifications.

Lots of possibilities.

 

[bluedude]

BTW, Chromecast is not phone specific, it is a full SDK for Android. Sure, some OS versions will not work.

I'm able to stream from my laptop or phone. What I like about it too is that enabling casting also switches on my TV, how cool is that

Cheers,

 

[warwound]

I ordered an MHL adapter for my S3 yesterday - should be delivered tomorrow.
I'm hoping to look at the APIs for external/secondary displays as well as the Chrome Cast API.

Martin.