The android-webcast from warren-bank

WebCast

Android app to extract video (file/stream) URLs from websites and watch them elsewhere (internal/external video player, Google Chromecast, ExoAirPlayer).

Screenshots..

Tour

BrowserActivity is shown when the app is started, and includes:
- a very basic web browser
  - address bar
  - WebView
- actionbar icons:
  - bookmark toggle
    - add/remove current website URL to/from list of persistently saved Bookmarks
- actionbar menu items:
  - Bookmarks
    - open drawer on left: Bookmarks
  - Videos
    - open drawer on right: Videos
  - Settings
    - open SettingsActivity
  - Exit
    - close all UI and exit the app
- drawer on left: Bookmarks
  - contains a persistent list of:
    - website URLs that have been saved via the bookmark toggle icon
    - video URLs that have been saved via the Videos drawer
  - click a list item to:
    - open website URL in WebView
    - watch video URL
      - SettingsActivity determines the particular action to be performed
  - long click a list item to:
    - rename
    - delete
- drawer on right: Videos
  - contains a transient list of video URLs that have been found on the web page that is currently loaded in the WebView
    - this list is cleared each time the WebView navigates to a new web page
  - click a list item to:
    - add video URL to list of persistently saved Bookmarks
    - watch video URL
      - SettingsActivity determines the particular action to be performed
  - long click a list item to:
    - delete
SettingsActivity is started from the actionbar menu in BrowserActivity, and includes:
- Video Player to select whether to watch videos using..
  - internal w/ Chromecast sender
    - start VideoActivity
  - external
    - start Activity chooser w/ an implicit Intent
      - action
        
        android.intent.action.VIEW
      - data
        
        video URL
      - type
        
        mime-type for format of video
      - extras
        
        referUrl
        
        (String) referer URL
        
        used by ExoAirPlayer
  - ExoAirPlayer sender
    - start ExoAirPlayerSenderActivity
  - HLS-Proxy configuration
    - start Activity chooser w/ an implicit Intent
      - action
        
        android.intent.action.VIEW
      - data
        
        http://webcast-reloaded.surge.sh/proxy.html#/watch/${base64_video}/referer/${base64_referer}
      - type
        
        "text/html"
    - start HlsProxyConfigurationActivity
      - only when there is no Activity having a matching Intent filter
        
        which should never happen, since any standard web browser should offer to handle this Intent
VideoActivity is started when a video URL is watched using the internal video player, and includes:
- ExoPlayer
  - displays an icon in lower right corner of video controls toolbar to toggle fullscreen mode on/off
- Chromecast sender
  - displays an actionbar cast icon when at least one Google Chromecast is detected on LAN
  - when connected to a Chromecast
    - video URLs are communicated to the receiver app running in the Chromecast
    - the Chromecast receiver app loads the video URL in an embedded HTML5 video player
      - transfer of video data occurs directly between the Chromecast and the server that hosts the video URL
      - transfer would not be effected by any of the following events:
        
        VideoActivity stopped
        
        BrowserActivity stopped
        
        WebCast app exited
        
        Android device powered off
- list of video URLs
  - click a list item to:
    - play video URL
      - if connected to a Chromecast:
        
        on Chromecast
      - otherwise:
        
        on Android, in ExoPlayer
        
        all HTTP requests include the referer url
ExoAirPlayerSenderActivity is started when a video URL is watched using the ExoAirPlayer sender, and includes:
- WebView that loads a single web page
  - URL of the web page depends on version of Android
    - Android 5.0 and newer
      - version using ES6+ modern javascript
    - Android 4.x and older
      - version using ES5 compliant javascript
  - URL hash contains:
    - #/watch/${base64_video}/referer/${base64_referer}
- web page reads data from URL hash and pre-populates fields:
  - video url
  - referer url
- web page reads data from cookies and pre-populates fields:
  - host
  - port
  - https
- provides a basic UI to control any ExoAirPlayer receiver app that is reachable through the network
HlsProxyConfigurationActivity is started when a video URL is watched using HLS-Proxy configuration on a device without any available web browser, and includes:
- WebView that loads an ES5 compliant web page
  - URL hash contains:
    - #/watch/${base64_video}/referer/${base64_referer}
- web page reads data from URL hash and pre-populates fields:
  - video url
  - referer url
- web page reads data from cookies and pre-populates fields:
  - host
  - port
  - https
- clicking the Load Player button performs the following tasks:
  - configures a new video URL that redirects the HLS manifest through HLS-Proxy
  - redirects WebView to another ES5 compliant web page that provides optional endpoint destinations for the proxied HLS manifest
    - ES6 web page for ExoAirPlayer sender
    - ES5 web page for Chromecast sender
      - in WebView on Android 4.x and older:
        
        video player functionality does not work
      - in WebView on Android 5.0 and newer:
        
        video player functionality works
        
        Chromecast sender functionality does not work

Important Caveats

some video URLs may play in WebCast and ExoAirPlayer, but cannot play on Chromecast or other external video players
- this can occur when a video URL is hosted by a server that uses the Referer HTTP request header to restrict access, which is a common strategy
  - WebCast and ExoAirPlayer have the functionality to configure the value of this header for each unique video URL
  - Chromecast receiver apps cannot change the value of this header because they are restrained by standard browser security policies
    - the specs for XHR and fetch forbid changing certain HTTP request headers, including Referer
    - the WebCast Chromecast receiver app
      - attempts to change the value of this header
      - reveals in the remote debugger console that this attempt raises the warning:
        
        Refused to set unsafe header "referer"
  - other external video players would need to:
    - read the referUrl extra in the starting Intent
    - configure its HTTP client library to change the value of this header
  - HLS-Proxy provides a convenient general-purpose workaround
    - setup for integration with WebCast:
      1. install HLS-Proxy
        
        npm install --global "@warren-bank/hls-proxy"
      2. install WebMonkey
        
        app to open HLS-Proxy configuration
      3. in WebMonkey
        
        install WebCast-Reloaded userscript
        
        adds enhanced functionality to the ES5 compliant web page that provides HLS-Proxy configuration
        
        enables a button labeled: Start App
        
        when clicked:
        
        start Activity chooser w/ an implicit Intent
        
        action
        
        android.intent.action.VIEW
        
        data
        
        proxied HLS manifest URL
        
        type
        
        "application/x-mpegurl"
      4. in WebCast
        
        Settings > Video Player > HLS-Proxy configuration
    - usage:
      1. run HLS-Proxy
        
        hlsd --port 8080 --req-insecure --useragent "Chrome/90"
      2. in WebCast
        
        navigate internal WebView to a page having the desired HLS video stream
        
        open the Videos drawer (on right)
        
        click on the URL for the desired HLS video stream
        
        click: Watch
        
        an Activity chooser will start
        
        WebMonkey will be included in the list of apps that contain a matching Activity
        
        click: WebMonkey
      3. in WebMonkey
        
        configure the location of your running instance of HLS-Proxy:
        
        host
        
        port
        
        https
        
        click: Start App
        
        an Activity chooser will start
        
        WebCast will be included in the list of apps that contain a matching Activity
        
        click: WebCast Video Player
      4. in WebCast
        
        click the Chromecast sender icon to cast the proxied HLS video stream to a Chromecast device
the Android System WebView component is wholly responsible for the web browser experience
- this component has a complicated history
- without going into detail:
  - on versions of Android < 5.0
    - the WebView component is baked into the firmware
      - cannot be updated
      - does a poor job loading modern webpages, as the javascript language (ES6+) and html spec (HTML5) have changed significantly
  - on versions of Android >= 5.0
    - the WebView component is a standalone application
      - can be updated
  - on versions of Android >= 7.0
    - the WebView component is superseded by a component of the Google Chrome web browser, when it is installed and enabled
      - can be updated

Organization of Git Repo

stale branches
- 01-foundation
  - collection of small apps to develop and test experimental features
- 02-webcast-httpclient
  - used an external HTTP client library: Apache HttpClient
  - used the Content-Type response header to detect video files
- 03-webcast-okhttp
  - used an external HTTP client library: okhttp
  - used the Content-Type response header to detect video files
- 04-webcast-filename
  - uses WebView to download all HTTP requests
  - uses regular expressions to detect file extensions associated with video formats in URL requests
active branches
- 05-webcast-filename-media3
  - uses WebView to download all HTTP requests
  - uses regular expressions to detect file extensions associated with video formats in URL requests
  - builds upon the 04-webcast-filename branch, and migrates from ExoPlayer to AndroidX Media3
- 00-chromecast-receiver-app
  - WebCast Chromecast receiver app
- gh-pages
  - WebCast Chromecast receiver app
    - the HEAD of this branch should always reference/alias the HEAD of the 00-chromecast-receiver-app branch
  - hosted by GitHub Pages

Highlights of Source Code

identification of video URLs in outbound HTTP requests
- BrowserWebViewClient
  - regex to detect video files
same methodology as implemented by a web browser extension
- "WebCast-Reloaded" Chromium extension
  - regex to detect video files

Legal

copyright: Warren Bank
license: GPL-2.0

On Android 6, the default homepage is `null` instead of "about:blank". Clicking the `bookmark` toggle icon causes app to crash.

Expected behavior

I expected that the app would warn or block me when I tried to bookmark a blank page.

Actual behavior

The app crashed when I bookmarked a blank page. After that this crash occurring every time whenever I am trying to open the app.

How to reproduce

Here is every possible detail to reproduce the bug.

Open the app
Click on the bookmark button at the top of your screen.
Notice the crash. After that, whenever you will try to open this app, you have to face the crash. (You can make it workable again after deleting the app data)

App version: 04.07.01
Operating system: Android 6.0.1

Recording Of The Bug

LogCat

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: Process: com.github.warren_bank.webcast, PID: 8984

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'boolean java.lang.String.equals(java.lang.Object)' on a null object reference

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at com.github.warren_bank.webcast.webview.BrowserActivity$DrawerListItem.equal(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at com.github.warren_bank.webcast.webview.BrowserActivity$DrawerListItem.find(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at com.github.warren_bank.webcast.webview.BrowserActivity$DrawerListItem.contains(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at com.github.warren_bank.webcast.webview.BrowserActivity.onCreateOptionsMenu(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.app.Activity.onCreatePanelMenu(Activity.java:3142)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at androidx.f.a.e.onCreatePanelMenu(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at androidx.appcompat.view.i.onCreatePanelMenu(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at androidx.appcompat.app.g$d.onCreatePanelMenu(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at androidx.appcompat.view.i.onCreatePanelMenu(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at androidx.appcompat.app.j.i(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at androidx.appcompat.app.j$1.run(Unknown Source)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:739)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7325)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1230)

05-21 14:35:14.108  8984  8984 E AndroidRuntime: 	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1120)

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