Brightcove Player Sample: Display Related Link

Product(s)
Video Cloud
Brightcove Player
Role(s)
Player Developer
Task(s)
Create & Configure Players
Type
Support Doc

In this sample, you will learn to use the Related Link Text and Related Link URL associated with your video to create a link in your HTML document. The link will be shown that the person who is watching the video can click, and in this case, a new window/tab opens with a different web page visible.

Player example

For this sample you see the text associated with the video displayed below the player. You use Studio's MEDIA > VIDEO INFORMATION section to supply the text and associated link. The video need not be playing to see the sample's functionality.

See the Pen Display Related Links by Brightcove Learning Services (@bcls1969) on CodePen.

View the source code.

Using the CodePen

Here are some tips to effectively use the above CodePen:

  • Toggle the actual display of the player by clicking the Result button.
  • Click the HTML/CSS/JS buttons to display ONE of the code types.
  • Later in this document the logic, flow and styling used in the application will be discussed in the Player/HTML configuration, Application flow and Application styling sections. The best way to follow along with the information in those sections is to:
    1. Click the EDIT ON CODEPEN button in the CodePen and have the code available in one browser/browser tab.
    2. In CodePen, adjust what code you want displayed. You can change the width of different code sections within CodePen.
    3. View the Player/HTML configuration, Application flow and/or Application styling sections in another browser/browser tab. You will now be able to follow the code explanations and at the same time view the code.

Development sequence

Here is the recommended development sequence:

  1. Use the In-Page embed player implementation to test the functionality of your player, plugin and CSS (if CSS is needed)
  2. Put the plugin's JavaScript and CSS into separate files for local testing
  3. Deploy the plugin code and CSS to your server once you have worked out any errors
  4. Use Studio to add the plugin and CSS to your player
  5. Replace the In-Page embed player implementation if you determine that the iframe implementation is a better fit (detailed in next section)

For details about these steps, review the Quick Start: Plugin Development guide.

iframe or In-Page embed

When developing enhancements for the Brightcove player you will need to decide if the code is a best fit for the iframe or In-Page embed implementation. The best practice recommendation is to build a plugin for use with an iframe implementation. The advantages of using the iframe player are:

  • No collisions with existing JavaScript and/or CSS
  • Automatically responsive
  • The iframe eases use in social media apps (or whenever the video will need to "travel" into other apps)

Although integrating the In-Page embed player can be more complex, there are times when you will plan your code around that implementation. To generalize, this approach is best when the containing page needs to communicate to the player. Specifically, here are some examples:

  • Code in the containing page needs to listen for and act on player events
  • The player uses styles from the containing page
  • The iframe will cause app logic to fail, like a redirect from the containing page

Even if your final implementation does not use the iframe code, you can still use the In-Page embed code with a plugin for your JavaScript and a separate file for your CSS. This encapsulates your logic so that you can easily use it in multiple players.

API/Plugin resources used

API Methods API Properties
on() myPlayer.mediainfo

Player/HTML configuration

This section details any special configuration needed during player creation. In addition, other HTML elements that must be added to the page, beyond the in-page embed player implementation code, are described.

Player configuration

No special configuration is required for the Brightcove Player you create for this sample.

Other HTML

An HTML <p> element is used as a target for the text extracted from the video's metatdata:

<p id="linkHere" style='color:red; font-weight: bold; font-size: 20px'></p>

Associate data with the video

For every video with which you want use the related link you will need to enter the Related Link URL and Related Link Text in Studio. You do this in the MEDIA > VIDEO INFORMATION section, as shown here:

Related link in studio
Related link in studio

Application flow

The basic logic behind this application is:

  • Populate the mediainfo property in Studio.
  • Dynamically build an HTML anchor tag with a link.
  • Inject the dynamically built HMTL in the HTML page.

Wait for loadstart to read video information

Find the code which is labeled:

// ###  // +++ Wait for loadstart to read video information +++ ###

Often you see the player's ready() method used to start JavaScript processing. This does not work in this instance as you have to wait for the video to be loaded in the player and have the metadata ready to read. The event to listen for is loadstart.

Read data and build anchor tag

Find the code which is labeled:

// +++ Read test and link from video info and build anchor tag +++

Once the loadstart event is dispatched, you can read properties from the mediainfo object. In this case the properties link.text and link.url are read. An anchor tag is then dynamically built using the extracted data.

Inject anchor tag into HTML page

Find the code which is labeled:

// ### Inject anchor tag into HTML ###

A reference to the location for the anchor is obtained using the getElementById() method, and the anchor tag is placed in the HTML page.

Application styling

The only CSS is used to size the player, which can be done in various ways.

Plugin code

Normally when converting the JavaScript into a Brightcove Player plugin nominal changes are needed. One required change is to replace the standard use of the ready() method with the code that defines a plugin.

Here is the very commonly used start to JavaScript code that will work with the player:

videojs.getPlayer('myPlayerID').ready(function() {
  var myPlayer = this;
  ...
});

You will change the first line to use the standard syntax to start a Brightcove Player plugin:

videojs.registerPlugin('pluginName', function(options) {
  var myPlayer = this;
  ...
});

As mentioned earlier, you can see the plugin's JavaScript code in this document's corresponding GitHub repo: display-related-link.js.

Using the plugin with a player

Once you have the plugin's CSS and JavaScript files stored in an Internet accessible location, you can use the plugin with a player. In Studio's PLAYERS module you can choose a player, then in the PLUGINS section add the URLs to the CSS and JavaScript files, and also add the Name and Options, if options are needed.

Related content