iOS App #3 — Leverage the iOS SDK to Play Musics & Videos, Show Web Pages, Maps as well as the Time, and Speak Sentences
Published in
3 min readMar 23, 2023
By utilizing the iOS SDK, programmers can swiftly implement features in Apps, such as playing musics, playing videos, showing web pages, showing maps, showing the time, and speaking sentences.
1. Play musics by AVPlayer
import AVFoundation
let url = URL(string: "https://audio-ssl.itunes.apple.com/apple-assets-us-std-000001/AudioPreview118/v4/69/0e/98/690e98db-440d-cb0c-2bff-91b00a05bdda/mzaf_1674062311671795807.plus.aac.p.m4a")
let player = AVPlayer(url: url!)
player.play()2. Play videos by AVPlayerViewController in the Playground
import AVKit
import PlaygroundSupport
let url2 = URL(string: "https://video-ssl.itunes.apple.com/apple-assets-us-std-000001/Video128/v4/ac/7c/62/ac7c6274-60ea-5b7c-4c99-f08d78bfe574/mzvf_484000410198456586.640x352.h264lc.U.p.m4v")
let player2 = AVPlayer(url: url2!) // music
let controller = AVPlayerViewController() // view
controller.player = player2
PlaygroundPage.current.liveView = controller
player2.play()
3. Show web pages by SFSafariViewController in the Playground
import SafariServices
import PlaygroundSupport
let url3 = URL(string: "https://magnifier.cmoney.tw/2023/03/16/cs_big_news/")
let controller2 = SFSafariViewController(url: url3!)
PlaygroundPage.current.liveView = controller2
4. Show maps by MKMapView in the Playground
import MapKit
import PlaygroundSupport
// (1) Show the map & Specify the region of the view
let mapView = MKMapView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 400, height: 400)) // location and size of the view
mapView.region = MKCoordinateRegion(center: CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: 29.717343, longitude: -95.403063), latitudinalMeters: 2500, longitudinalMeters: 2500) // region of the view
// (2) Mark sites by MKPointAnnotation
let duncanHallAnnotation = MKPointAnnotation()
duncanHallAnnotation.coordinate = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: 29.720628031984976, longitude: -95.39861334465334)
duncanHallAnnotation.title = "Duncan Hall"
duncanHallAnnotation.subtitle = "computer science"
mapView.addAnnotation(duncanHallAnnotation)
let riceGraduateApartmentAnnotation = MKPointAnnotation()
riceGraduateApartmentAnnotation.coordinate = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: 29.72572416901241, longitude: -95.39830381347149)
riceGraduateApartmentAnnotation.title = "Rice Graduate Apartment"
riceGraduateApartmentAnnotation.subtitle = "dormitory"
mapView.addAnnotation(riceGraduateApartmentAnnotation)
// (3) Set up the mapeType
// default: .standard
mapView.mapType = .mutedStandard
// (4) Set up points of interest
mapView.pointOfInterestFilter = MKPointOfInterestFilter(including: [.university, .library, .restaurant, .bakery, .cafe, .foodMarket, .store, .bank, .atm, .airport, .postOffice, .hospital, .pharmacy])
// (5) Show the map in the Playground
PlaygroundPage.current.liveView = mapView
5. Show the time by Date or Calendar
import Foundation
// (1) Current Time
var currentTime = Date()
print(currentTime) // GMT + 0
// (2) Add time interval
var laterTime = currentTime.addingTimeInterval(61) // sec
print(laterTime)
// (3) Print formatted time in string
let formatter = DateFormatter()
formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm"
let currentTimeString = formatter.string(from: currentTime)
// (4) Print current date
let dateComponents = Calendar.current.dateComponents(in: TimeZone.current, from: currentTime)
let currentYear = dateComponents.year
let currentMonth = dateComponents.month
let currentDay = dateComponents.day
6. Speak sentences by AVSpeechSynthesizer
import AVFAudio
let utterance = AVSpeechUtterance(string: "魔鏡呀魔鏡")
utterance.voice = AVSpeechSynthesisVoice(language: "zh-TW") // language
utterance.rate = 0.7 // rate
utterance.pitchMultiplier = 1 // pitch
let synthesizer = AVSpeechSynthesizer()
synthesizer.speak(utterance)
