Integrate the IVS Broadcast SDK

IVS provides a broadcast SDK for web, Android, and iOS that you can integrate into your application. The broadcast SDK is used for both sending and receiving video. In this section, we write a simple application that enables two or more participants to interact in real time. The steps below guide you through creating an app called BasicRealTime. The full app code is on CodePen and GitHub:

• Web: https://codepen.io/amazon-ivs/pen/ZEqgrpo

• Android: https://github.com/aws-samples/amazon-ivs-real-time-streaming-android-samples

• iOS: https://github.com/aws-samples/amazon-ivs-real-time-streaming-ios-samples

Web

Set Up Files

To start, set up your files by creating a folder and an initial HTML and JS file:

mkdir realtime-web-example
cd realtime-web-example
touch index.html
touch app.js

You can install the broadcast SDK using a script tag or npm. Our example uses the script tag for simplicity but is easy to modify if you choose to use npm later.

Using a Script Tag

The Web broadcast SDK is distributed as a JavaScript library and can be retrieved at https://web-broadcast.live-video.net/1.14.0/amazon-ivs-web-broadcast.js.

When loaded via <script> tag, the library exposes a global variable in the window scope named IVSBroadcastClient.

Using npm

To install the npm package:

npm install amazon-ivs-web-broadcast

You can now access the IVSBroadcastClient object:

const { Stage } = IVSBroadcastClient;

Android

Create the Android Project

1. In Android Studio, create a New Project.

2. Choose Empty Views Activity.

   Note: In some older versions of Android Studio, the View-based activity is called Empty Activity. If your Android Studio window shows Empty Activity and does not show Empty Views Activity, select Empty Activity. Otherwise, don't select Empty Activity, since we'll be using View APIs (not Jetpack Compose).

3. Give your project a Name, then select Finish.

Install the Broadcast SDK

To add the Amazon IVS Android broadcast library to your Android development environment, add the library to your module’s build.gradle file, as shown here (for the latest version of the Amazon IVS broadcast SDK). In newer projects the mavenCentral repository may already be included in your settings.gradle file, if that is the case you can omit the repositories block. For our sample, we’ll also need to enable data binding in the android block.

android {
    dataBinding.enabled true
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}
 
dependencies {
     implementation 'com.amazonaws:ivs-broadcast:1.20.0:stages@aar'
}

Alternately, to install the SDK manually, download the latest version from this location:

https://search.maven.org/artifact/com.amazonaws/ivs-broadcast

iOS

Create the iOS Project

1. Create a new Xcode project.

2. For Platform, select iOS.

3. For Application, select App.

4. Enter the Product Name of your app, then select Next.

5. Choose (navigate to) a directory in which to save the project, then select Create.

Next you need to bring in the SDK. We recommend that you integrate the broadcast SDK via CocoaPods. Alternatively, you can manually add the framework to your project. Both methods are described below.

Recommended: Install the Broadcast SDK (CocoaPods)

Assuming your project name is BasicRealTime, create a Podfile in the project folder with the following contents and then run pod install:

target 'BasicRealTime' do
  # Comment the next line if you don't want to use dynamic frameworks
  use_frameworks!

  # Pods for BasicRealTime
  pod 'AmazonIVSBroadcast/Stages'
end

Alternate Approach: Install the Framework Manually

1. Download the latest version from https://broadcast.live-video.net/1.20.0/AmazonIVSBroadcast-Stages.xcframework.zip.

2. Extract the contents of the archive. AmazonIVSBroadcast.xcframework contains the SDK for both device and simulator.

3. Embed AmazonIVSBroadcast.xcframework by dragging it into the Frameworks, Libraries, and Embedded Content section of the General tab for your application target:

   

Configure Permissions

You need to update your project’s Info.plist to add two new entries for NSCameraUsageDescription and NSMicrophoneUsageDescription. For the values, provide user-facing explanations of why your app is asking for camera and microphone access.