Webcam conflict with other apps

[BARRYC16]

Is there any way for LCCS to check for a webcam conflict with other apps and to display a message to the user?

I see a problem with users quite often where they will only see the top bar of the webcam in their webcam pod. I believe this happens when they have been using another app (most likely skype) and this app has failed to release the webcam properly.

I can reproduce this 100% of the time with the Webcamera sample app if I open yahoo messenger and click on Messenger/My Webcam.

If I then start the WebCamera sample app I see the top bar of the webcam subscriber for my own camera (See Image).

Is there any way to:

a) Detect if the webcam is available before publishing? or

b) Force taking control of the camera from the other application that has not released it?

Thanks,

Barry

[BARRYC16]

Here is a link to a reported Skype bug that I believe is causing users to see this error even when Skype is not using the webcam. It would be nice if there was a way for LCCS to detect that the webcam is not released.

https://jira.skype.com/browse/SCM-721

[aponnusa · Accepted solution]

hi Barry,

Although there is no fix, there is hack or workaround for this problem.

Test this code and check if it suits your needs. So I have set flag not to display userDisplay bar, and its displayed only when we recieve a stream. Also I instantiate a timer and see if the camera is busy. If its busy then the method detects it and you might have to handle it.

Also I am assuming multiplexing of a single webcamera ie sharing a webcamera across apps is not possible.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
                  xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
                  xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" minWidth="955" minHeight="600"
                  xmlns:rtc="http://ns.adobe.com/rtc"
                  >
     
     <fx:Script>
          <![CDATA[
               import com.adobe.rtc.events.StreamEvent;
               
               import mx.controls.Alert;
               private var video:Video;
               private var timer:Timer;
               
               protected function cam_clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
               {
                    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                    //var camNames:Array = Camera.names;
                    
                    //for (var i:int = 0; i < camNames.length; i++)
                    //{
                    webCamPub.addEventListener(StreamEvent.STREAM_RECEIVE,onStreamRecieve);
                    webCamPub.publish();
                    //}
               }
               
               protected function onCamActive(p_evt:Event):void
               {
                    timer.stop();
                    timer.removeEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER,onTimer);
                    webCamSub.displayUserBars = true;
                    trace(p_evt.toString());
               }
               
               protected function onTimer(p_evt:TimerEvent):void
               {
                    Alert.show("Camera is busy");
                    //Set a different camera here
                    //webCamPub.cameraNameIndex = index
               }
               
               protected function onStreamRecieve(p_evt:StreamEvent):void
               {
                    var cam:Camera = webCamPub.camera;
                    cam.addEventListener(ActivityEvent.ACTIVITY,onCamActive);
                    timer = new Timer(2000,1);
                    timer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER,onTimer);
                    timer.start();
               }
               
          ]]>
     </fx:Script>
     
     <fx:Declarations>
          <!-- Place non-visual elements (e.g., services, value objects) here -->
     </fx:Declarations>
     <rtc:ConnectSessionContainer roomURL="http://connectnow.acrobat.com/xxx000xxx/xxx000xxx" width="100%" height="100%">
          <rtc:authenticator>
               <rtc:AdobeHSAuthenticator userName="xxx000xxx.com"/>
          </rtc:authenticator>
          
          <mx:Panel id="panel" title="Chat Scroll Example"
                      width="80%" height="80%"
                      horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0">
               <mx:VBox id="grp" width="100%" height="100%">
                    <rtc:WebcamPublisher width="1" height="1" id="webCamPub" />
                    <rtc:WebcamSubscriber width="300" height="300" id="webCamSub" webcamPublisher="{webCamPub}" displayUserBars="false"/>
                    <s:Button id="cam" label="startCam" click="cam_clickHandler(event)" />
               </mx:VBox>     
          </mx:Panel>
     </rtc:ConnectSessionContainer>
</s:Application>

Thanks

Arun

[BARRYC16]

Hi Arun,

Just wanted to check back with you and verify that this bug has been fixed with Skype update 5.0.0.7994. I just tested on the machine that was having the problem.

I'll probably use your fix for now and hopefully there will be something in the API that detects a busy webcam in a future release.

Thanks,

Barry

[Raff_]

Arum will be unavailable for a few days but we can have Julian check if the latest version of Skype fixes the problem.

Sent from my iPhone

[BARRYC16]

Thanks Raff,

Sorry, my answer was a little unclear. I verified that that the latest version of Skype fixes it.

Barry

[BARRYC16]

Hi Arun,

One other thing I wanted to let you know.

I tried using your but I found that there is a problem with the latest version of IE. After the Adobe dialog box appears and I click ok, the method 'onStreamRecieve' is called, but IE pops up an additional dialog box to confirm permissions. If I allow this dialog box to sit there for a few seconds the timeout is reached and even if the webcam appears I get the "Busy" dialog box.

Do you know of an event I can look for to trap that IE dialog box confirmation?

Attaching screenshot.

Thanks,

Barry