Custom video controls

The VideoView is great for displaying videos with a basic set of controls; however, we may require more flexibility and control over how the video is played.

How to do it...

We can play a video onto a SurfaceView using a MediaPlayer instance if we need fine control over what we can do or if we want custom video controls:

1. First, when using a SurfaceView instance, we need to implement the ISurfaceHolderCallback interface, ensuring that we keep track of the surface:

   public class MainActivity :
     Activity, ISurfaceHolderCallback {
     private ISurfaceHolder surfaceHolder;
     public void SurfaceChanged(
       ISurfaceHolder holder, Format format,
     int width, int height) {
     }
     public void SurfaceCreated(ISurfaceHolder holder) {
       surfaceHolder = holder;
     }
     public void SurfaceDestroyed(ISurfaceHolder holder) {
       surfaceHolder = null;
     }
   }

2. Then, in the OnCreate() method, we want to get hold of the ISurfaceHolder instance using the Holder property of the SurfaceView instance...