Why is the MediaElement not playing audio files stored on my Google Drive?

[Riffy135]

@

I have Audio Files (MP3/MP4) files that are stored on my Google Drive not being played when using the MediaElement of the MAUI Community Toolkit.

I am implementing the MediaElement functionality as follows:

In my XAML I have the following:
<toolkit:MediaElement x:Name="mediaElement" Grid.Row="0" Source="{Binding MediaFile}" ShouldAutoPlay="True" /\>

The MediaElement is defined as follows in my xaml.cs code:
`

public partial class Level3Page : ContentPage
{
readonly Level3ViewModel _viewModel;

public static MediaElement MediaControlA { get; private set; }

public Level3Page()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    
    MediaControlA = mediaElement;
   
    BindingContext = _viewModel = new Level3ViewModel(this);
} 

}`

I am using a Google Service Account for connecting my App to the Google Drive folder. This all works fine and also the File to play is located correctly. But MediaElement does not play the audio and I get the following error:

0:] MediaManager: Error: Error codename: ERROR_CODE_PARSING_CONTAINER_UNSUPPORTED, Error message: Source error

The following is my C# code in my ViewModel to get the file details from Google Drive and using the MediaElement Play method: Level3Page.MediaControlA.Play():

`

       request = Services.Files.List();
        request.Q = $"mimeType!='application/vnd.google-apps.folder' and name='{fileName}' and '{folder.Id}' in parents";

        request.Fields = "files(id,name)";
        result = await request.ExecuteAsync();
        if (result.Files != null && result.Files.Any())
        {
            var FName1 = result.Files.First().Name;
            MediaFile = "https://drive.google.com/file/d/" + result.Files[0].Id;
            Level3Page.MediaControlA.Play();
        }`

I know that the value of result.Files[0].Id is correct, because when I copy and paste the MediaFile URL contents into my web browser (have to login to google drive), the audio file plays without any issue.

The url example is:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/MY FILE ID

Can someone please suggest what the issue could be?

Thanks

[VladislavAntonyuk]

You should provide a direct link to file. Assume you are in a private mode and pass the url. Google asks you to sign in. The same happens with media element. You should either specify a direct link to file or download it and play locally

[pictos]

@Riffy135 can you try to format your url to match this scheme?
https://stackoverflow.com/a/69817790

[Riffy135]

I still get [0:] MediaManager: Error: Error codename: ERROR_CODE_PARSING_CONTAINER_UNSUPPORTED, Error message: Source error, when now setting MediaFile to

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1bpRH1OVmz8tke5l-reagePDQG-cesMRB

or

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1bpRH1OVmz8tke5l-reagePDQG-cesMRB&export=download.

Eg Level3Page.MediaControlA.Source.Uri.AbsoluteUri.AbsoluteUri = https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1bpRH1OVmz8tke5l-reagePDQG-cesMRB&export=download.

[VladislavAntonyuk]

All these urls require authentication, that is why media element can't play them.

[Riffy135]

The app is already authenticating when getting the file id from Google Drive, so why can MediaElement not use that same connection to retrieve the url?

[pictos]

@Riffy135 you probably need to add some info on the request, like some token or header. I would say to look into android samples on how to do that, then you just need to translate the solution to C#

[CliffAgius]

Closed and answered