FrameGrabbingControl returns null

Question

In my code i want to grab a frame from a video and displey it in another window.But the problem is that " FrameGrabbingControl fgc =(FrameGrabbingControl) player.getControl("javax.media.control.FrameGrabbingControl");" returns null.Please help me by pionting out the error. Thanks in advance.
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.lang.Thread;
import java.util.*;
import java.lang.*;
import java.lang.String;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Properties;
import javax.media.*;
import java.applet.*;
import javax.swing. *;
import javax.swing.border. *;
import javax.media.datasink. *;
import javax.media.format. *;
import javax.media.protocol. *;
import javax.media.util. *;
import javax.media.control. *;
import java.awt.image. *;
import com.sun.image.codec.jpeg. *;
import com.sun.media.protocol.vfw.VFWCapture;
import java.io.*;
import javax.media.control.FrameGrabbingControl;
//import com.sun.media.util.JMFSecurity;
* This is a Java Applet that demonstrates how to create a simple
* media player with a media event listener. It will play the
* media clip right away and continuously loop.
* <!-- Sample HTML
* <applet code=SimplePlayerApplet width=320 height=300>
* <param name=file value="sun.avi">
* </applet>
* -->
public class grabframe extends Applet implements ControllerListener,ActionListener
static int shotCounter = 1;
Button button;
// media Player
Player player = null;
// component in which video is playing
Component visualComponent = null;
// controls gain, position, start, stop
Component controlComponent = null;
// displays progress during download
Component progressBar = null;
boolean firstTime = true;
long CachingSize = 0L;
Panel panel = null;
int controlPanelHeight = 0;
int videoWidth = 0;
int videoHeight = 0;
* Read the applet file parameter and create the media
* player.
public void init()
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
     setBackground(Color.white);
     panel = new Panel();
     //panel.setLayout( null );
     add(panel,BorderLayout.SOUTH);
     panel.setBounds(0, 0, 320, 240);
button=new Button("GRAB FRAME");
          panel.add(button);
          button.addActionListener(this);
     // input file name from html param
     String mediaFile = null;
     // URL for our media file
     MediaLocator mrl = null;//MediaLocator describes the location of the media content while
     URL url = null;//URL specify the location of the media
     // Get the media filename info.
     // The applet tag should contain the path to the
     // source media file, relative to the html page.
     if ((mediaFile = getParameter("file")) == null)
     Fatal("Invalid media file parameter");
//System.out.println("mediafile :"+mediaFile);
     try
     url = new URL(getDocumentBase(), mediaFile);//return a new URL using an existing URL as reference
//     System.out.println("url :"+url);
               mediaFile = url.toExternalForm();//return a string representation of the URL
//     System.out.println("mediafile :"+mediaFile);
          catch (MalformedURLException mue)
     try
     // Create a media locator from the file name
     if ((mrl = new MediaLocator(mediaFile)) == null)
          Fatal("Can't build URL for " + mediaFile);
     // Create an instance of a player for this media
     try
          player = Manager.createPlayer(mrl);
               catch (NoPlayerException e)
          System.out.println(e);
          Fatal("Could not create player for " + mrl);
/* catch (CannotRealizeException e)
          System.out.println(e);
          Fatal("Could not create player for " + mrl);
     // Add ourselves as a listener for a player's events
     player.addControllerListener(this);
          catch (MalformedURLException e)
     Fatal("Invalid media file URL!");
          catch (IOException e)
     Fatal("IO exception creating player for " + mrl);
     // This applet assumes that its start() calls
     // player.start(). This causes the player to become
     // realized. Once realized, the applet will get
     // the visual and control panel components and add
     // them to the Applet. These components are not added
     // during init() because they are long operations that
     // would make us appear unresposive to the user.
}//end of init
* Start media file playback. This function is called the
* first time that the Applet runs and every
* time the user re-enters the page.
public void start()
     //$ System.out.println("Applet.start() is called");
// Call start() to prefetch and start the player.
if (player != null)
     player.start();
* Stop media file playback and release resource before
* leaving the page.
public void stop()
     //$ System.out.println("Applet.stop() is called");
if (player != null)
player.stop();
player.deallocate();
public void destroy()
     //$ System.out.println("Applet.destroy() is called");
     player.close();
* This controllerUpdate function must be defined in order to
* implement a ControllerListener interface. This
* function will be called whenever there is a media event
public synchronized void controllerUpdate(ControllerEvent event)
     // If we're getting messages from a dead player,
     // just leave
     if (player == null)
     return;
     // When the player is Realized, get the visual
     // and control components and add them to the Applet
     if (event instanceof RealizeCompleteEvent)
     if (progressBar != null)
          panel.remove(progressBar);
          progressBar = null;
     int width = 320;
     int height = 0;
     if (controlComponent == null)
          if (( controlComponent = player.getControlPanelComponent()) != null)
                    //controlPanelComponent provides the default user interface for controlling the player
          controlPanelHeight = controlComponent.getPreferredSize().height;
          panel.add(controlComponent);
          height += controlPanelHeight;
     if (visualComponent == null)
          if (( visualComponent = player.getVisualComponent())!= null)
                    //visualComponent provides display component(where the visual media is recorded) of the player
          panel.add(visualComponent,BorderLayout.CENTER);
          Dimension videoSize = visualComponent.getPreferredSize();
          videoWidth = videoSize.width;
          videoHeight = videoSize.height;
          width = videoWidth;
          height += videoHeight;
          visualComponent.setBounds(0, 0, videoWidth, videoHeight);
     panel.setBounds(0, 0, width, height);
     if (controlComponent != null)
          controlComponent.setBounds(0, videoHeight,width, controlPanelHeight);
          controlComponent.invalidate();
     } //end of RearizedCompleteEvent
          else if (event instanceof CachingControlEvent)
     if (player.getState() > Controller.Realizing)
          return;
     // Put a progress bar up when downloading starts,
     // take it down when downloading ends.
     CachingControlEvent e = (CachingControlEvent) event;
     CachingControl cc = e.getCachingControl();
     // Add the bar if not already there ...
     if (progressBar == null)
     if ((progressBar = cc.getControlComponent()) != null)
          panel.add(progressBar);
          panel.setSize(progressBar.getPreferredSize());
          validate();
     } //end of CashingControlEvent
               else if (event instanceof EndOfMediaEvent)
     // We've reached the end of the media; rewind and
     // start over
     player.setMediaTime(new Time(0));
     player.start();
     } //end of EndOfMediaEvent
               else if (event instanceof ControllerErrorEvent)
     // Tell TypicalPlayerApplet.start() to call it a day
     player = null;
     Fatal(((ControllerErrorEvent)event).getMessage());
}//end of ControllerErrorEvent
               else if (event instanceof ControllerClosedEvent)
     panel.removeAll();
     }//end of ControllerClosedEnent
}//end of controller update
void Fatal (String s)
     // Applications will make various choices about what
     // to do here. We print a message
     System.err.println("FATAL ERROR: " + s);
     throw new Error(s); // Invoke the uncaught exception
               // handler System.exit() is another
               // choice.
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
Dimension imageSize = null;
String str=ae.getActionCommand();
if(str.equals ("GRAB FRAME"))
Image photo = grabFrameImage();
     if (photo != null)
MySnapshot snapshot = new MySnapshot(photo, new Dimension(imageSize));
     else
System.err.println("Errore : Impossibile grabbare il frame");
repaint();
* Grabba un frame dalla webcam @restituisce il frame in un buffer
public Buffer grabFrameBuffer()
if (player != null)
     FrameGrabbingControl fgc =(FrameGrabbingControl) player.getControl("javax.media.control.FrameGrabbingControl");
System.out.println(fgc );
     if (fgc != null)
return (fgc.grabFrame());
     else
System.err.println("Errore : FrameGrabbingControl non disponibile");
return (null);
else
     System.err.println("Errore nel Player");
return (null);
* Converte il buffer frame in un'immagine
public Image grabFrameImage()
Buffer buffer = grabFrameBuffer();
if (buffer != null)
BufferToImage btoi = new BufferToImage((VideoFormat) buffer.getFormat());
if (btoi != null)
Image image = btoi.createImage(buffer);
if (image != null)
return (image);
          else
System.err.println("Errore di conversione Buffer - BufferToImage");
return (null);
     else
System.err.println("Errore nella creazione di BufferToImage");
return (null);
     else
System.out.println("Errore: buffer vuoto");
return (null);
class MySnapshot extends JFrame
protected Image photo = null;
protected int shotNumber;
     public MySnapshot(Image grabbedFrame, Dimension imageSize)
super();
shotNumber = shotCounter++;
setTitle("Immagine" + shotNumber);
photo = grabbedFrame;
setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
int imageHeight = photo.getWidth(this);
int imageWidth = photo.getHeight(this);
setSize(imageSize.width, imageSize.height);
final FileDialog saveDialog = new FileDialog(this,"Salva immagine", FileDialog.SAVE);
final JFrame thisCopy = this;
saveDialog.setFile("Immagine" + shotNumber);
addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {
saveDialog.show();
String filename = saveDialog.getFile();
if (filename != null)
if (saveJPEG(filename))
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(thisCopy,"Salvata immagine " + filename);
setVisible(false);
dispose();
                         else
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(thisCopy,"Errore nel salvataggio di " + filename);
                         else
setVisible(false);
dispose();
setVisible(true);
public void paint(Graphics g)
g.drawImage(photo, 0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight(), this);
public boolean saveJPEG(String filename)
boolean saved = false;
BufferedImage bi = new BufferedImage(photo.getWidth(null), photo.getHeight(null), BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
Graphics2D g2 = bi.createGraphics();
g2.drawImage(photo, null, null);
FileOutputStream out = null;
try
out = new FileOutputStream(filename);
JPEGImageEncoder encoder = JPEGCodec.createJPEGEncoder(out);
JPEGEncodeParam param = encoder.getDefaultJPEGEncodeParam(bi);
param.setQuality(1.0f, false);
encoder.setJPEGEncodeParam(param);
encoder.encode(bi);
out.close();
saved = true;
     catch (Exception ex)
System.out.println("Errore salvataggio JPEG: "+ ex.getMessage());
return (saved);
}//end of class SimplePlayerApplet

Answer 1

Hmm....
some of that looks very familiar to me :-)
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=28&threadID=570463
1. post your code wrapped in code tags and it'll display it nicely.
2. post to the Java Media Framework topic,
I haven't tried JMF within an applet.
Have you tried getting it working in an application first ?
That should simplify your debugging to start with.
I suspect the Player hasn't started yet, or isn't in a realised state.
regards,
Owen