No AVPlayer Delegate? How to track when song finished playing? Objective C iPhone development

Question

I've looked around but I can't find a delegate protocol for the AVPlayer class. What gives?

I'm using its subclass, AVQueuePlayer, to play an array of AVPlayerItems, each loaded from a URL. Is there any way I can call a method when a song finishes playing? Notably at the end of the queue?

And if that's not possible, is there any way I could call a method when the song STARTS playing, after buffering? I'm trying to get a loading icon in there but it turns the icon off before the music actually begins, even though it's after the [audioPlayer play] action.

Answer 1

Yes, the AVPlayer class does not have a delegate protocol like the AVAudioPlayer. You need to subscribe to notifications on an AVPlayerItem. You can create an AVPlayerItem using the same URL that you would otherwise pass to -initWithURL: on AVPlayer.

-(void)startPlaybackForItemWithURL:(NSURL*)url {

    // First create an AVPlayerItem
    AVPlayerItem* playerItem = [AVPlayerItem playerItemWithURL:url];

    // Subscribe to the AVPlayerItem's DidPlayToEndTime notification.
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(itemDidFinishPlaying:) name:AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTimeNotification object:playerItem];

    // Pass the AVPlayerItem to a new player
    AVPlayer* player = [[[AVPlayer alloc] initWithPlayerItem:playerItem] autorelease];

    // Begin playback
    [player play]

} 

-(void)itemDidFinishPlaying:(NSNotification *) notification {
    // Will be called when AVPlayer finishes playing playerItem
}