Custom headers when streaming

[AndreasLymalmMTM]

Request

When streaming a publication, use any custom headers when making HTTP requests.

Use Example

We could e.g. use a Map<String, String> when opening a publication. Headers could be different for different publications or the publications could come from different servers, so entering the headers on this level makes sense:

await _flutterReadium.openPublication(
    publicationUrl,
    headers: {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer $accessToken',
    },
);

What to Think About

• In Kotlin
  • AssetRetriever should take a custom DefaultHttpClient.
  • ExoPlayer also makes HTTP requests, check how to add the headers there.
  • Somthing else?

[ddfreiling]

This has been implemented for publication resource fetching, but it needs testing and more work to also add the headers to native audio-players.

[AndreasLymalmMTM]

It seems to be working somewhat ok on Android.

[AndreasLymalmMTM]

Streaming with headers works seemingly well on Android, but not yet on iOS. We are investigating if it's because of the headers or something else. Playing a fully downloaded book works fine, so it's related to streaming at least.

[ddfreiling]

Streaming with headers works seemingly well on Android, but not yet on iOS. We are investigating if it's because of the headers or something else. Playing a fully downloaded book works fine, so it's related to streaming at least.

So it's the fetching of individual resources while streaming a book via manifest URL on iOS right? If so we may need to PR upstream to swift-toolkit, for the headers to be sent along.

[AndreasLymalmMTM]

Streaming with headers works seemingly well on Android, but not yet on iOS. We are investigating if it's because of the headers or something else. Playing a fully downloaded book works fine, so it's related to streaming at least.

So it's the fetching of individual resources while streaming a book via manifest URL on iOS right? If so we may need to PR upstream to swift-toolkit, for the headers to be sent along.

Maybe, we haven't yet pinpointed to where it goes wrong. Have you tried streaming on iOS, and have you tried with an audiobook? We tried with the WebPubAudioOnly format, but will try other formats as well and see if that's the cause, and also try without headers.

[ddfreiling]

Streaming with headers works seemingly well on Android, but not yet on iOS. We are investigating if it's because of the headers or something else. Playing a fully downloaded book works fine, so it's related to streaming at least.

So it's the fetching of individual resources while streaming a book via manifest URL on iOS right? If so we may need to PR upstream to swift-toolkit, for the headers to be sent along.

Maybe, we haven't yet pinpointed to where it goes wrong. Have you tried streaming on iOS, and have you tried with an audiobook? We tried with the WebPubAudioOnly format, but will try other formats as well and see if that's the cause, and also try without headers.

I think we need to insert the custom headers for audio-player requests here:
https://github.com/readium/swift-toolkit/blob/develop/Sources/Navigator/Audiobook/PublicationMediaLoader.swift#L44

Using the method described here:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/54068128/382830

[AndreasLymalmMTM]

We have started testing the ReadiumReaderWidget now and noticed that when streaming a publication with custom authentication headers, audio plays like it should (both with audioEnable and ttsEnable), but the ReadiumReaderWidget just displays a JSON like below (zoomed in version in the second image):

The expectation is that ReadiumReaderWidget should show the publication's content, just like when playing locally from the device, like in the image below:

[ddfreiling]

Looks like the correct Authentication: Bearer x header is not sent along with the HTML content request, and your OPDS server is responding with a 401 challenge and the OPDS Authentication document.

Will investigate when I'm back from winter holidays next week.

[AndreasLymalmMTM]

Forgot to say this was on Android. Continue enjoying your holiday!