AVAudioPlayer blocking and iOS 5 issues

Question

I'm currently downloading an .mp3 file from a remote server and once the file has loaded, I store it in the Caches directory. Then I create an instance of AVAudioPlayer and load the data into it:

- (void)playAudio:(NSString *)path
{
    NSLog(@"start playing audio at path %@", path);
    NSError *error = nil;
    NSData *audioData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:path];
    _audioPlayer = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithData:audioData error:&error];
    if (error == nil)
    {
        [_audioPlayer play];    
    }
}

During the time that this file starts to play, some animation is also happening. If I allow the AVAudioPlayer to start playing, it seems to block the UI and the animation is frozen until the song has played for a second or two. This is on the simulator, FYI. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the (possible) bugs/logs that AVAudio spits out when you start playing? Is there any way to play an audio file without affecting the UI/animation?

If I comment out [_audioPlayer play], the animation runs fine, so the problem doesn't seem to be in the initWithData: call.

Here are the iOS 5 logged issues as well:

2012-01-05 14:32:27.427 Lovebind[53526:207] Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/AudioIPCDriver.kext/Contents/Resources/AudioIPCPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AudioIPCPlugIn:  dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/AudioIPCDriver.kext/Contents/Resources/AudioIPCPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AudioIPCPlugIn, 262): Symbol not found: _CFXMLNodeGetInfoPtr
  Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
  Expected in: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation
 in /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
2012-01-05 14:32:27.433 Lovebind[53526:207] Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/AudioIPCDriver.kext/Contents/Resources/AudioIPCPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AudioIPCPlugIn:  dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/AudioIPCDriver.kext/Contents/Resources/AudioIPCPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AudioIPCPlugIn, 262): Symbol not found: _CFXMLNodeGetInfoPtr
  Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
  Expected in: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation
 in /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
2012-01-05 14:32:27.556 Lovebind[53526:207] Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn:  dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn, 262): Symbol not found: _CFXMLNodeGetInfoPtr
  Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
  Expected in: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation
 in /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
2012-01-05 14:32:27.562 Lovebind[53526:207] Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn:  dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn, 262): Symbol not found: _CFXMLNodeGetInfoPtr
  Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
  Expected in: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation
 in /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
2012-01-05 14:32:27.572 Lovebind[53526:207] Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn:  dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn, 262): Symbol not found: _CFXMLNodeGetInfoPtr
  Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
  Expected in: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation
 in /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
2012-01-05 14:32:27.578 Lovebind[53526:207] Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn:  dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn, 262): Symbol not found: _CFXMLNodeGetInfoPtr
  Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
  Expected in: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation
 in /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
2012-01-05 14:32:27.589 Lovebind[53526:207] Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn:  dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn, 262): Symbol not found: _CFXMLNodeGetInfoPtr
  Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
  Expected in: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation
 in /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
2012-01-05 14:32:27.595 Lovebind[53526:207] Error loading /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn:  dlopen(/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAHALPlugIn.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleHDAHALPlugIn, 262): Symbol not found: _CFXMLNodeGetInfoPtr
  Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
  Expected in: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation
 in /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security

Michael Dautermann · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-05T23:30:57.290

9

Actually, I'll turn my comments (now deleted) into an official answer:

1) your "Error loading" lines should go away when you add CoreFoundation.framework to your project.

and

2) play your sound on a separate thread and I suspect your blocking issues will go away.

The easiest way to make this happen is to do:

- (void)playingAudioOnSeparateThread: (NSString *) path
{
    if(_audioPlayer)
    {
       [_audioPlayer release];
       _audioPlayer = nil; // doing this while a sound is playing might crash... 
    }

    NSLog(@"start playing audio at path %@", path);
    NSError *error = nil;
    NSData *audioData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:path];
    _audioPlayer = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithData:audioData error:&error];
    if (error == nil)
    {
        [_audioPlayer play];    
    }
}

- (void)playAudio:(NSString *)path
{
   [NSThread detachNewThreadSelector: @selector(playingAudioOnSeparateThread:) toTarget: self withObject: path];
}

I have not checked this code for sanity or error checking. That's your job. :-)

edited Jan 05 '12 at 23:30

answered Jan 05 '12 at 22:53

Michael Dautermann

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How do I play the sound on a separate thread? Is there a simple method for that or do I have to manually create a new thread or something? Thanks, Michael, I'll try adding CoreFoundation too and see if that helps. – typeoneerror Jan 05 '12 at 23:19
I edited my answer to give you a code snippet. I am not certain which frameworks you are already including in your project, so try adding a few additional audio frameworks to see if that resolves the goofy missing symbol error. – Michael Dautermann Jan 05 '12 at 23:32
2

Was hopeful, but isn't working in my case... iOS 6... Have tried compressed and non-compressed caf files... (I'm playing on top of the iPod music player, using ducking.. totally killing framerate) – James Boutcher Jan 17 '13 at 23:17

AVAudioPlayer blocking and iOS 5 issues

1 Answers1