/Swift-Radio-Pro

Professional Radio Station App, created w/ Swift 2.0

Primary LanguageSwiftMIT LicenseMIT

#Swift Radio

Swift Radio is an open source radio station app with robust and professional features. This is a fully realized Radio App built entirely in Swift 2.

alt text

##Video View this GETTING STARTED VIDEO. It's short & sweet to give you a quick overview.
Give it a quick watch.

##Features

  • LastFM API and iTunes API Integration to automatically download Album Art
  • Parses metadata from streams (Track & Artist information)
  • Ability to update Stations from server or locally. (Update stations anytime without resubmitting to app store!)
  • Displays Artist, Track & Album Art on Lock Screen
  • Custom views optimized for iPhone 4s, 5, 6 and 6+ for backwards compatibility
  • Compiles with Xcode 7 & Swift 2.0
  • Background audio performance
  • Supports local or hosted station images
  • "About" screen with ability to send email & visit website
  • Uses industry standard SwiftyJSON library for easy JSON manipulation
  • Pull to Refresh stations

##Important Notes

  • 10.21.15 Update: Added option to use iTunes API to download album art. (See FAQ below). iTunes art is 100px x 100px. i.e. It is smaller than LastFM artwork. So, if you use this API instead, you will want to adjust the UI of your app.
  • LastFM is working on their API signups. So, you may have trouble signing up for a LastFM key, hopefully they fix that soon. More info in FAQ below.
  • Volume slider works great in devices, not simulator. This is an Xcode simulator issue.
  • Radio stations in demo are for demonstration purposes only.
  • For a production product, you may want to swap out the MPMoviePlayerController for a more robust streaming library/SDK (with stream stitching, interruption handling, etc).
  • Uses Meng To's Spring library for animation, making it easy experiment with different UI/UX animations
  • SwiftyJSON & Spring are included in the repo to get you up & running quickly. It's on the roadmap to utilize CocoaPods in the future.

##Credits Created by Matthew Fecher, Twitter: @goFecher
Thanks to Basel Farag, from Denver Swift Heads for the code review.

##Requirements

  • iOS 8.0+ / Mac OS X 10.9+
  • Xcode 7

##Setup

The "SwiftRadio-Settings.swift" file contains some project settings to get you started. If you use LastFM, please enter your own LastFM Key.
Watch this Getting Started Video to get up & running quickly.

##Integration

Includes full Xcode Project to jumpstart development.

##Stations

Includes an example "stations.json" file. You may upload the JSON file to a server, so that you can update the stations in the app without resubmitting to the app store. The following fields are supported in the app:

  • name: The name of the station as you want it displayed (e.g. "Sub Pop Radio")

  • streamURL: The url of the actual stream

  • imageURL: Station image url. Station images in demo are 350x206. Image can be local or hosted. Leave out the "http" to use a local image (You can use either: "station-subpop" or "http://myurl.com/images/station-subpop.jpg")

  • desc: Short 2 or 3 word description of the station as you want it displayed (e.g. "Outlaw Country")

  • longDesc: Long description of the station to be used on the "info screen". This is optional.

##Contributions

Contributions are very welcome. Please create a separate branch (e.g. features/3dtouch). Please do not commit on master.

##FAQ

Q: Do I have to pay you anything if I make an app with this code?
A: Nope. This is completely open source, you can do whatever you want with it. It's usually cool to thank the project if you use the code. Go build stuff. Enjoy.

Q: How do I use the iTunes API instead of LastFM?
A: In the SwiftRadio-Settings.swift file, set the "useLastFM" key to "false". You do not need an API key to use the iTunes API. It is free.

Q: The LastFM site isn't working properly? I can't create an API key.
A: Official word from LastFM "the team are working to add support as soon as possible". You do not need a LastFM key if you use the iTunes (or other) API.

Q: It looks like your LastFM api key and secret might have been left in the code?
A: Yes, people may use it for small amounts of testing. However, I ask that you change it before submitting to the app store. (Plus, it would be self-defeating for someone to submit it to the app store with the testing keys, as it would quickly throttle out and their album art downloads would stop working!)

Q: Is there another API to get album/track information besides LastFM and iTunes?
A: Rovi has a pretty sweet music API. The Echo Nest has all kinds of APIs that are fun to play with.

Q: I updated the album art size in the Storyboard, and now the sizing is acting funny?
A: There is an albumArt constraint modified in the code. See the "optimizeForDeviceSize()" method in the NowPlayingVC.

Q: My radio station isn't playing?
A: Paste your stream URL into a browser to see if it will play there. The stream may be offline or have a weak connection.

Q: The song names aren't appearing for my station?
A: Check with your stream provider to make sure they are sending Metadata properly. If a station sends data in a unique way, you can modify the way the app parses the metadata in the "metadataUpdated" method in the NowPlayingViewController.

##RadioKit SDK Example

alt text

  • You can use this Swift code as a front-end for a more robust streaming backend.
  • Brian Stormont, creator of RadioKit, has created a branch with the professional RadioKit SDK already integrated. Plus, his branch adds rewind & fast forward stream playback. This is an excellent learning tool for those who are interested in seeing how a streaming library integrates with Swift Radio Pro. View the branch here.

##Get Creative Here's a branch of the code that plays streaming TV Stations instead of radio stations. https://github.com/msahins/myTV

alt text

If you create an app with the code, or interesting project inspired by the code, shoot me an email: matthew.fecher@gmail.com