[FIXED] How do I Add A GIF/Video To Landing Screen Background In Xcode 6 using swift?

Issue

what is the most efficient way to add a GIF/Video to the background of the landing screen ( home screen or first view controller) of my app in Xcode? i.e apps like spotify, uber, insagram etc. Being that my app is universal, how would i make it fit accordingly?

Solution

Do you mean the first screen that is displayed after your app is launched? If so: unfortunately you can't have dynamic content; you won't be able to use a gif/video.

That said, what you can do if you have some app-setup on background threads that will take some time anyway, or if you simply want the user to wait longer before interaction so that you can display the gif/video, you can make the static image match the first frame of the gif/video, and have your your entry point be a ViewController that displays the actual gif/video. Because this would delay the time to interaction, though, this would never be recommended.

As for making it fit: as of iOS 8 Apple recommends using LaunchScreen.xib. With it you can use Auto Layout to achieve universality.

To add a video you can use MPMoviePlayerController, AVPlayer, or if you're using SPritekit you can use an SKVideoNode.

EDIT (in response to follow-up comments):

An NSURL is a reference to a local or remote file. This link will give you a decent overview. Just copy the movie in and follow that guide.

In addition to the MPMoviePlayerController solution Saqib Omer suggested, here's an alternative method that uses a UIView with an AVPlayerLayer. It has a button on top of the video as an example, since that's what you're looking for.

import AVKit
import AVFoundation
import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        // Start with a generic UIView and add it to the ViewController view
        let myPlayerView = UIView(frame: self.view.bounds)
        myPlayerView.backgroundColor = UIColor.blackColor()
        view.addSubview(myPlayerView)

        // Use a local or remote URL
        let url = NSURL(string: "http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/76000/76740/iss030-e-6082_sdtv.mov") // See the note on NSURL above.

        // Make a player
        let myPlayer = AVPlayer(URL: url)
        myPlayer.play()

        // Make the AVPlayerLayer and add it to myPlayerView's layer
        let avLayer = AVPlayerLayer(player: myPlayer)
        avLayer.frame = myPlayerView.bounds
        myPlayerView.layer.addSublayer(avLayer)

        // Make a button and add it to myPlayerView (you'd need to add an action, of course)
        let myButtonOrigin = CGPoint(x: myPlayerView.bounds.size.width / 3, y: myPlayerView.bounds.size.height / 2)
        let myButtonSize = CGSize(width: myPlayerView.bounds.size.width / 3, height: myPlayerView.bounds.size.height / 10)
        let myButton = UIButton(frame: CGRect(origin: myButtonOrigin, size: myButtonSize))
        myButton.setTitle("Press Me!", forState: .Normal)
        myButton.setTitleColor(UIColor.whiteColor(), forState: .Normal)
        myPlayerView.addSubview(myButton)
    }
}

Answered By - Ian McKay

Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (PHPFixing Admin)