Android SDK

This document applies to our SDK version 3 for Android.

Usage

Imports

You will need to import classes from com.system73.polynet.android.sdk and com.system73.polynet.android.sdk.core.metrics packages. For example:

...
import com.system73.polynet.android.sdk.PolyNet;
...

Connecting

The following parameters are needed for a successful integration with our SDK:

Name	Type	Description
manifestUrl	Mandatory	The URL of the manifest video playlist.
apiKey	Mandatory	Api Key provided by System73. Contact us in order to obtain it.
context	Mandatory	Android Context of the Activity where the video player is shown.
channelId	Optional	Custom identifier for the channel.
playerBufferSize	Optional	The video player's buffer size in seconds, if you know it or can get it from the player.
regex	Optional	A regular expression to mask user tokens in the media URLs

Initialise an instance of Edge Intelligence SDK object and use its property localManifestUrl to initialise the player.

try {
    PolyNetConfiguration configuration = PolyNetConfiguration.builder()
       .setManifestUrl(manifestUrl)
       .setChannelId(channelId)
       .setApiKey(apiKey)
       .setBufferSize(playerBufferSize)
       .setContext(context)
       .build();

    PolyNet polyNet = new PolyNet(configuration);

    // Init the player with the local manifest URL.
    //
    // For example:
    // initialisePlayer(polyNet.getLocalManifestUrl())
} catch {
    // The SDK CANNOT be used as there was an initialisation issue.
    // Init the player with the original manifest URL.
    //
    // For example:
    // initialisePlayer(manifesUrl)
    // Where manifestUrl is the original URL of the manifest.
}

Warning

Do not start the player with the original manifest URL unless the SDK object fails to init.

If any required parameter is missing, invalid, or there are other problems during initialisation, an exception of class PolyNetException might be thrown. You should catch it, examine the error message, and check your integration. If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.

List of initialisation errors

This is the list of the possible initialisation errors that may be thrown. You can obtain the error code with the getCode() method of class PolyNetException.

Code	Description
-600	Check your API Key. If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.
-601	Check your API Key. If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.
-602	Check your API Key. Detail: (...). If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.
-603	The PolyNet SDK has failed to build. Detail: (...). If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.

Providing metrics

You MUST provide the SDK instance with some of the video player's metrics. To provide the required metrics to the SDK, you have 2 options, Plugin Integration or Manual Player Integration:

Plugin Integration (Recommended)

Using the plugin integration, you have to pass the player instance to the SDK. The SDK will take care of getting to the required metrics directly from the player.

If the player you are using is not listed in the supported players, use the Manual Player Integration

Supported players:

• ExoPlayer2

...
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.ExoPlayer;
...

// Pass your ExoPlayer instance to the SDK
polynet.setPlayer(new PolyNetExoPlayerWrapper(player));   

• Media3 ExoPlayer

...
import androidx.media3.exoplayer.ExoPlayer;
...

// Pass your ExoPlayer instance to the SDK
polynet.setPlayer(new PolyNetExoPlayerMedia3Wrapper(player));   

Important

If you are using a different version of the player than the one being used by the SDK, gradle by default will select the latest version. If you face any conflicts, try to solve them by upgrading your source code to use the latest version of the player. If not possible, use the Manual Player Integration instead.

Manual Player Integration

If you are not using one of the supported players mentioned above or if you would like to manually listen to the player metrics and pass each metric separately to the SDK, check the following instructions.

Handling events [Optional]

There are different events provided by the SDK that you could listen to. To start listening to the events you can add your listener and override only the methods you are interested in.

polyNet.setAnalyticsListener(new PolyNetAnalyticsListener() {

    // ... methods you are interested in overridiing

});

Error event

When the SDK finds a run-time problem (such as the Internet could not be accessed, etc.), a corresponding PolyNetException can be obtained from the onError() method inside the polyNetAnalyticsListener. Nevertheless, the SDK will keep working as reliably as possible. This method is useful in the debugging of the integration process.

For example in our Sample App using ExoPlayer 2, this source code is added in the PlayerActivity class.

// ... rest of code

@Override
public void onError(PolyNet polyNet, PolyNetException e) {
    Log.e(TAG, "Edge Intelligence SDK error", e);
}

// ... rest of code

You should print it to the logs, examine the error message, and check your integration. If the problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.

List of run-time errors

This is the list of the possible run-time errors that may be thrown. You can obtain the error code with the getCode() method of class PolyNetException.

Code	Description
-700	The PolyNet SDK has failed and raised an exception. Detail: (...). If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.
-701	The PolyNet SDK is not compatible with the tracker provided. Tracker code: (...). This may happen in transitions to newer versions. If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.
-702	Error communicating with tracker. Detail: (...). If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.
-703	Error communicating with tracker metrics endpoint. Detail: (...). If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.
-704	The Api Key is revoked from PolyNet server. Please, contact support at support@system73.com.
-705	PolyNet connection rejected. Detail: (...). If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.
-706	Invalid or revoked CS endpoint. Detail: (...). If problem persists, contact support at support@system73.com.

Metrics event

You can get some of Edge Intelligence SDK metrics from the onMetrics method inside the polyNetAnalyticsListener. For each reported metric, call the specific get method of the PolyNetMetrics instance:

// ... rest of code

@Override
public void onMetrics(PolyNetMetrics polyNetMetrics) {
    // Access metrics
}

// ... rest of code

The reported metrics are as following:

Name	Type	Description
accumulatedCdnDownThroughput	String	The amount of data as payload received from the CDN since the session started. (Kilobits).
accumulatedP2pDownThroughput	String	The amount of data as payload received from P2P since the session started. (Kilobits).
bufferFillingRate	String	The rate at which the content is received versus playing time.
cdnDownThroughput	String	The amount of data as payload received from the CDN during the last reporting period. (Kilobits).
connectionStatus	String	Describes the current connection status of the client.
date	Date	The timestamp on which the metrics object was created.
deviceId	String	Unique identifier for the device running the Edge Intelligence SDK.
downSpeed	String	The last computed download speed. (Kilobits).
inboundNodeId	String	Unique identifier for the inbound connection if connected to other peer or the value “POI” if downloading from CDN.
isConnected	Boolean	A Boolean that identifies if the client is connected to Edge Intelligence.
natType	String	The type of NAT. This depends on the device connection to Internet.
nodeId	String	Unique identifier for the node when connected to the Edge Intelligence service.
outboundMetrics	[PolynetOutboundMetrics]	Metrics for outbound peers. See below Outbound Metrics.
playerBufferHealth	String	The amount of time (playback time) that are left for playing in the player's video read-ahead buffer. (milliseconds).
playerTimeToFirstFrame	String	The amount of time from the start of the SDK until the player starts playback. (milliseconds).
p2pDownThroughput	String	The amount of data as payload received from P2P during the last reporting period. (Kilobits).
primaryManifestUrl	String	HLS: This is the master playlist URL with .m3u or .m3u8 extensions. DASH: This is the manifest URL with .mpd extension.
representationId	String	Unique identifier for the current representation or rendition being displayed.
roundTripTime	String	The amount of time between sending a data packet from a child node to its inbound P2P peer and back. (milliseconds).
secondaryManifestUrl	String	HLS: This is the media playlist URL with .m3u or .m3u8 extensions.
sessionId	String	Unique identifier for the device session running the SDK.
source	String	The source specifies where the content is downloaded from.
streamId	String	Unique identifier for the current stream being displayed.
upSpeed	String	The last computed upload speed. (Kilobits).

Outbound metrics:

Name	Type	Description
bufferFillingRate	Number	The rate at which the content is received in the Edge Intelligence outbound peer versus playing time.
nodeId	String	Unique identifier for the Edge Intelligence outbound peer.
status	String	The status of the connection for the Edge Intelligence outbound peer.

Disconnecting from Edge Intelligence Service

Listeners can be unsubscribed from the SDK instance as shown below.

To disconnect:

polyNet.dispose();

Warning

Once you destroy the SDK instance, you CANNOT use it again. If you want to connect to a new channel or the same channel, go back to the initialisation steps and create a new instance.

Content Steering

To access the optional content steering feature, you'll need to set a valid content steering resource in your SDK. You can obtain the resource URI from the ESP (Edge Services Platform). To accomplish this, follow these steps:

• Access an instance of the PolyNetConfiguration object.
• Access the setContentSteeringEndpoint property of the PolyNetConfiguration object.
• Set the value of setContentSteeringEndpoint to the valid resource obtained from the ESP portal. By setting the content steering resource, you enable the content steering feature in your application.

  // Pass your content steering resource to the SDK
  configuration.setContentSteeringEndpoint("YOUR_CONTENT_STEERING_RESOURCE");   
  

  Remember to replace "YOUR_CONTENT_STEERING_RESOURCE" with the actual valid resource URI you obtained from the ESP portal.

Multi-Features

Content Steering

To control content steering in your application, you can utilize the SDK object. To enable or disable content steering, follow these steps:

• Access an instance of the Edge Intelligence SDK object.
• Access the property named enableContentSteering of the SDK object.
• Set the value of enableContentSteering to true to enable content steering or false to disable it. By default, if you provide a content steering resource, content steering will be enabled. Therefore, if you don't explicitly set the property, content steering will be enabled.

polyNet.enableContentSteering(true);   

Peer to Peer

To control the availability of peer-to-peer in your application, follow these steps:

• Access an instance of the Edge Intelligence SDK object.
• Access the enableP2P property of the SDK object.
• Set the value of enableP2P to true to enable peer-to-peer or false to disable it. By default, peer-to-peer is enabled, so if you don't explicitly modify the property, peer-to-peer functionality will remain enabled.

polyNet.enableP2P(true);   

Extra custom dimensions [Optional]

Using custom dimensions, the System73 Edge Intelligence SDK allows you to report extra data that is not defined in the existing set of metrics.

At the moment, the SDK supports 3 extra custom dimensions. Each custom dimension is a String value, which you can populate with any custom data or metadata suited to your needs. Note this String value is limited to max. 256 characters, and will be trimmed down to this length.

Function	Description
polyNet.setCustomDimension1()	Set value of custom dimension string #1.
polyNet.setCustomDimension2()	Set value of custom dimension string #2.
polyNet.setCustomDimension3()	Set value of custom dimension string #3.

To control the availability of custom dimension in your application, follow these steps:

• Access an instance of the Edge Intelligence SDK object.
• Access, for example, to the setCustomDimension1 property of the SDK object.
• Set the string value for this custom dimension.

polyNet.setCustomDimension1("String");

Other considerations [Optional]

Streams with encryption keys

The optional property manageEncryptionKeys can be used to initialise the SDK instance. You may call the corresponding manageEncryptionKeys method in the PolyNetConfiguration.Builder to set or unset it:

PolyNetConfiguration configuration = PolyNetConfiguration.builder()
   .setManifestUrl(manifestUrl)
   .setChannelId(channelId)
   // ... rest of code
   .manageEncryptionKeys(false) // true by default
   .build();

PolyNet polyNet = new PolyNet(configuration);

Setting or re-setting this property is relevant on some scenarios where the stream is encrypted:

• when the media segments need to be decrypted, the player usually needs to retrieve specific Key files. With the manageEncryptionKeys property you can choose whether these Key files are handled by the SDK (true) or by the player (false). This is relevant depending on the authentication scheme required to access the license servers and Key files.

• When this property is set to false, Our SDK delegates to the player all requests related to Key files. This is useful when authentication is managed with cookies that need to be handled externally or before the initialisation of the player.

This property is set to true by default on the PolyNetConfiguration.

Sharing content

The optional property sharingContent controls whether the SDK shares the video content with other peers. This property is used after initialising the SDK instance.

Accepts values from the SharingContent enum which are the following:

Option	Description
NEVER	The video content will never be shared with other peers.
ONLY_ON_LAN	The video content will be shared only if connected via WIFI or ETHERNET.
ALWAYS	The video content will be shared with other peers whenever possible.

This property is set to ONLY_ON_LAN by default.

You will need to import the following class from com.system73.polynet.android.sdk package.

import com.system73.polynet.android.sdk.SharingContent;

After this, you may call the corresponding sharingContent method to set or unset it. For example:

PolyNet polyNet = new PolyNet(configuration);

// ... rest of code

polyNet.sharingContent(SharingContent.ONLY_ON_LAN);

Using cookies containing authentication tokens

Some content providers implement authentication with cookies containing the access tokens. Properly handling those cookies is necessary to grant access to the content.

To support content streams with cookies, the SDK instance needs access to an Android CookieHandler. Video players (like ExoPlayer) should be able to access one, in order to properly handle cookies themselves. You should share the same CookieHandler instance between the video player and the SDK instance. If you don't explicitly provide the SDK with a CookieHandler, it will try to access the system-wide default CookieHandler instead.

The method to set the cookie handler is setCookieHandler in PolyNetConfiguration.Builder.

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This section was last updated 2024-12-19