Brightcove Player Sample: Vertical Volume Control

In this topic, you will learn how to change the volume control button to display a vertical volume slider instead of the default horizontal layout.

Player example

Start video playback and move your mouse over the volume button in the controlbar. You should see a vertical volume slider instead of the default horizontal slider.

See the Pen vertical volume by Brightcove Learning Services (@bcls1969) on CodePen.

Source code

View the complete solution on GitHub.

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 Step-by-Step: 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
bc() method

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

Because we want to modify the controlbar before the player is created, we will delay instantiation of the Brightcove Player by removing some of the attributes from the <video> tag. For more information about this, see the Delaying Player Instantiation document.

Modify your player embed code as follows:

  1. Add the id attribute to the video tag in the player embed code
  2. Remove the following attributes from the video tag:
    • data-account
    • data-player
    • data-video-id

Your player embed code should now look similar to this:

<video-js id="myPlayerID"
  data-embed="default"
  data-application-id
  width="640" height="360"
  controls></video-js>
<script src="https://players.brightcove.net/1752604059001/default_default/index.min.js"></script>

Application flow

The basic logic behind this application is:

  • Define the player options
  • Add the player attributes
  • Create the player

Define the player options

Find the code which is labeled:

// +++ Define the player options +++

Define the volumePanel so that it is vertical and not inline with the controlbar.

Add the player attributes

Find the code which is labeled:

// +++ Add the player attributes +++

Add the following player attributes with your values to the <video> tag.

  • data-account
  • data-player
  • data-video-id

Create the player

Find the code which is labeled:

// +++ Create the player +++

Instantiate the player by passing the controlbar options into the bc() method.

Application styling

There are no additional styles for this sample.

Updating multiple players

To update all of the players on your HTML page, you can use a videojs.hook() function.

Hook functions

Hooks allow you to add functionality or change the player appearance at certain Video.js lifecycle moments. With a hook function, all of the players on your HTML page are updated by passing in the player options into the videojs.hook() function.

For details, see Video.js hooks documentation.

Player example

This sample changes the volume control button to display a vertical volume slider for all of the players on the page.

Start video playback and move your mouse over the volume button in the controlbar. You should see a vertical volume slider for both players, instead of the default horizontal slider.

See the Pen Vertical volume using Hook by Brightcove Learning Services (@bcls1969) on CodePen.

Player configuration

You will delay the creation of the players in your HTML page, just like you did in the first example in this document.

Application flow

The basic logic behind this application is:

  • Define the hook function with player options
  • Add the player attributes
  • Execute the hook function
  • Create the players

Define the hook function with player options

Find the code which is labeled:

// +++ Define the hook function with player options +++

Define the hook function for the beforeSetup lifecycle moment, which contains the player options. For the player options, set the volumePanel to appear vertical and not inline with the controlbar.

Add the player attributes

Find the code which is labeled:

// +++ Add the player attributes +++

Add the following player attributes with your values to the <video> tag for each player.

  • data-account
  • data-player
  • data-video-id

Execute the hook function

Find the code which is labeled:

// +++ Execute the hook function +++

Modify the options passed to the players, using the beforeSetup lifecycle moment with the Video.js hook function.

Create the players

Find the code which is labeled:

// +++ Create the players +++

Instantiate each player using the bc() method.