Movie's Length in Double without Plugin

How can I get a movie’s time length in a double value without using a plugin? What would the approach look like?

  1. Determine the file type the movie is saved in (as you didn’t feel like giving us that info :))
  2. Read copious amounts of documentation on the file format of said video format, some of which could be locked behind NDA’s, patents or paywalls depending on the file format
  3. Work out where the movie length info is stored in that file format
  4. Read it and convert it into a double (if its not already)

Platform ?
there may be an API on the respective OS that you could tap into that doesnt require the use of a plugin

Have you tried http://documentation.xojo.com/api/deprecated/movieplayer.html#movieplayer-duration ?

Without a plugin, well load it in a MoviePlayer and ask it for the length.
Be careful as loading may be asynchronously!

If you use MBS Xojo Plugins and here is an example for AVAssetMBS class:

[code] dim f as FolderItem = SpecialFolder.Desktop.Child(“test.m4v”)
dim a as AVAssetMBS = AVAssetmbs.assetWithFile(f)

if a = nil then
MsgBox “failed to read file at all”
Return
end if

// request duration property
a.loadValuesAsynchronouslyForKeys array(“duration”)

dim e as NSErrorMBS
dim Status as Integer = a.statusOfValueForKey(“duration”, e)
while status < a.AVKeyValueStatusLoaded
// wait for loading in background
status = a.statusOfValueForKey(“duration”, e)
wend

// got it?
if status <> a.AVKeyValueStatusLoaded then
MsgBox “Failed to load duration.”
if e <> nil then
MsgBox e.LocalizedDescription
end if

else
MsgBox str(a.duration.Seconds)+" seconds long."
end if[/code]

As you see we also wait for the duration to be loaded asynchronously before we report it.