YouTube allows you set the start and end time of a video by specifiying the parameters “start” and “end” in the video URL.

For instance, take a look at this URL:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/BmOpD46eZoA?start=36&end=65" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/BmOpD46eZoA?start=36&end=65</a>

If you open the video click, you will notice that the video starts playing from the 36th second and stops at the 65th second.

I’m not sure if there exists any direct method that gives this kind of functionality with the YouTube Android Player API. However, if there is/are any such direct implementation/s, please feel free to comment below and I will update the post.

The Workaround

To implement a similar functionality with YouTube Android Player API there needs a little workaround to be done. In my example, I’ve used a Handler and the Runnable interface to keep a track of the video’s current time (in milliseconds). Every second, a condition is checked to see if the video’s (current) time has reached the user specified end time.

Note: This was a question posted on StackOverflow and this was my answer to it.

Let’s take a look at the implementation:

final Handler handler = new Handler();
handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
//For every 1 second, check the current time and endTime
if(MyActivity.player.getCurrentTimeMillis() <= endTime) {
text.setText("Video Playing at " + MyActivity.player.getCurrentTimeMillis());
handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
} else {
handler.removeCallbacks(this); //no longer required
text.setText(" Reached " + endTime);
MyActivity.player.pause(); //and Pause the video
}
}
}, 1000);

Here’s the complete Activity code:

public class MyActivity extends YouTubeBaseActivity implements YouTubePlayer.OnInitializedListener{

public static final String API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE";
public static final String VIDEO_ID = "yeF_b8EQcK0";
private static YouTubePlayer player;

TextView text;

//this is the end time in milliseconds (65th second)
public int endTime = 65000;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.my_activity);
text = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.text);
YouTubePlayerView youTubePlayerView = (YouTubePlayerView)findViewById(R.id.youtubeplayerview);
youTubePlayerView.initialize(API_KEY, this);
}

@Override
public void onInitializationFailure(Provider provider,
YouTubeInitializationResult result) {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),
"onInitializationFailure()",
Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}

@Override
public void onInitializationSuccess(Provider provider, YouTubePlayer player, boolean wasRestored) {

MyActivity.player = player; //necessary to access inside Runnable

//start the video at 36th second
player.loadVideo(VIDEO_ID, 36000);

final Handler handler = new Handler();
handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
//For every 1 second, check the current time and endTime
if(MyActivity.player.getCurrentTimeMillis() <= endTime) {
text.setText("Video Playing at " + MyActivity.player.getCurrentTimeMillis());
handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
} else {
handler.removeCallbacks(this); //no longer required
text.setText(" Reached " + endTime);
MyActivity.player.pause(); //and Pause the video
}
}
}, 1000);
}
}