How to use an absolute path for a local video on the device when using react-native-video?

Question

I'm developing an App that should automatically play a video stored on a specific path of the device (currently, i'm trying to access the DCIM folder) without any user interaction needed.

The react-native-video documentation states that I can do something like this "source={{ uri: 'file:///sdcard/Movies/sintel.mp4' }}", I'm already using the needed permission 'android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE' but i can't make it work.

I'm always tracking the paths I test with the RNFS library, and the output says that the file does exist.

Here is my code:

import React, { useEffect } from 'react';
import Video from 'react-native-video';
import { StyleSheet, View } from 'react-native';
import ImmersiveMode from 'react-native-immersive-mode';

var RNFS = require('react-native-fs');

async function fileExist(path) {
  let exists = await RNFS.exists(path);
  return exists; //This one returns true
}

export default function App() {

  useEffect(() => {
    fileExist('file:///storage/emulated/0/DCIM/video/video.m4v')
      .then((result) => console.log('Path exists:', result));

    ImmersiveMode.fullLayout(true);
    ImmersiveMode.setBarMode('BottomSticky');   

    return () => {
      ImmersiveMode.fullLayout(false);
      ImmersiveMode.setBarMode('Normal');  
    }

  }, []);



  return (
      <View style = { styles.background }>
        <Video  style = { styles.video }
                volume = { 1.0 }
                play = {true}  
                replay = {true} 
                muted = { false }
                resizeMode = { 'stretch' }
                source = {{ uri: 'file:///storage/emulated/0/DCIM/video/video.m4v' }}/>
      </View>
  );
}

Notes:

• I already tried an online video and it plays just fine: source = {{ uri: 'https://file-examples-com.github.io/uploads/2017/04/file_example_MP4_1920_18MG.mp4' }}

• A file inside the project also works fine: source = { require('./video/video.m4v') }

• I also tried a path from the SD card, this one doesn't work: source = {{ uri: 'file:///sdcard/DCIM/video/video.m4v' }}

Am I doing something wrong? is this a bug or something like that? I really appreciate your help.

Answer 1

bro try removing file:// from the uri string