VideoView on top of SurfaceView

Question

I am trying to show VideoView on top of SurfaceView . But this is not visible, but responds to clicks (MediaController appears and sound is played). It seems that the video is playing behind SurfaceView , so I also tried using setZOrderMediaOverlay() and / or setZOrderOnTop() , but nothing changed

When I go to the main screen, I see the VideoView for a second in the fading animation, so it really is present.

I tried it with xml layout as well as fully software, but nothing works.

Here is my activity:

 public class VideoTest extends Activity { private RelativeLayout mLayout; private VideoView mVideo; private Handler mHandler; private FrameLayout mFrameLayout; private SurfaceView mSurfaceView; /** Called when the activity is first created. */ @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); mFrameLayout = new FrameLayout(this); mFrameLayout.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT)); mLayout = new RelativeLayout(this); mLayout.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT)); mVideo = new VideoView(this); mVideo.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT)); mSurfaceView = new SurfaceView(this); mSurfaceView.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT)); mSurfaceView.setZOrderMediaOverlay(false); mSurfaceView.setZOrderOnTop(false); mFrameLayout.addView(mSurfaceView); mLayout.addView(mVideo); mFrameLayout.addView(mLayout); setContentView(mFrameLayout); // with xml // setContentView(R.layout.main); // mFrameLayout = (FrameLayout) findViewById(R.id.activity_reader); // mLayout = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.videoview); // mVideo = (VideoView) findViewById(R.id.video_view); // mSurfaceView = (SurfaceView) findViewById(R.id.surface_view); // Set the handler to me messaged from the threads mHandler = new Handler() { @Override public void handleMessage(Message msg) { if (msg != null) { mVideo.setMediaController(new MediaController(mVideo.getContext())); mVideo.setVideoPath("/mnt/sdcard/myvideo.mp4"); if (mLayout.getVisibility() == View.VISIBLE) { mLayout.setVisibility(View.GONE); } else { mLayout.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE); } // mFrameLayout.bringChildToFront(mLayout); // mFrameLayout.bringChildToFront(mVideo); // mFrameLayout.requestLayout(); // mFrameLayout.invalidate(); // mFrameLayout.postInvalidate(); // mVideo.requestFocus(); } super.handleMessage(msg); } }; } /** Inflate the menu */ @Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater(); inflater.inflate(R.menu.activity_reader_menu, menu); return true; } /** Handle menu items events */ @Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) { switch (item.getItemId()) { case R.id.toggle_video: new Thread() { public void run() { mHandler.sendEmptyMessage(0); }; }.start(); return true; default: return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item); } } } 

My xml:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:id="@+id/activity_reader" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"> <SurfaceView android:id="@+id/surface_view" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" /> <RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/videoview" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:visibility="gone"> <VideoView android:id="@+id/video_view" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" /> </RelativeLayout> </FrameLayout> 

One hint: since this is just a test to find out why it doesn’t work, I tried to minimize the code from my real application, where the visibility of the VideoView controlled by a handler that receives a message from drawing the SurfaceView thread. That is why I implemented a thread sending a message when the menu was used.

Answer 1

I don't think you can overlap SurfaceViews, according to this thread answered by an Android engineer:

Sorry, you cannot do this because the surface views are very special and not really looks (the surface is a separate Z-order window with your own), their Z-order does not match your views. The surface view is a large, heavy object; You are not intended to treat SurfaceView as a normal view in this way.