VideoJS-Dynamically Change Sources

Question

I'm looking to change the video source of my VideoJS player dynamically. I tried one method of changing the source directly via the DOM and it did change it, but the player needs to reload. So looking at the official API here: http://docs.videojs.com/docs/api/player.html#Methodssrc

There's a method to change the source but when running the following code, it throws an error.

    var source = dropdown.options[dropdown.selectedIndex].value;

	var myVideo = videojs.getPlayers();
	console.log(myVideo);
	if (source == "Source2"){
		myVideo.src([
			{type: "application/x-mpegURL", src: "http://mycdn/playlist.m3u8"},
			{type: "rtmp/mp4", src: "rtmp://mycdn"}
		]);
	}

Although the console does verify that myVideo is an object, calling the .src(source) function throws "TypeError: myVideo.src is not a function. (In 'myVideo.src', 'myVideo.src' is undefined)"

I've also found tutorials like this where the apparent more "official" way is to dispose of the player completely and reinitialize with new sources, but I can't seem to understand what he's doing. https://ineed.coffee/3201/how-to-dynamically-change-video-js-videos-and-captions-with-javascript/

Any help would be appreciated.

---

Solution: For testing purposes I just have a nice little drop down and added a click event to that, so it changes the channel to whatever the user wants.

var dropdown = document.getElementById('sel1');
var source = dropdown.options[dropdown.selectedIndex].value;

dropdown.addEventListener("click", function(){
source = dropdown.options[dropdown.selectedIndex].value;
console.log(source)

var myVideo = videojs('my-video');
console.log(myVideo);   
if (source == "Public Access"){
    myVideo.src([
        {type: "application/x-mpegURL", src: "http://mycdns/playlist.m3u8"},
        {type: "rtmp/mp4", src: "rtmp://mycdn"}
    ]);
}
else if (source == "Government"){
    myVideo.src([
        {type: "application/x-mpegURL", src: "http://mycdn/playlist.m3u8"},
        {type: "rtmp/mp4", src: "rtmp://mycdn"}
    ]);
}
else if (source == "Regional"){
    myVideo.src([
        {type: "application/x-mpegURL", src: "http://mycdn/playlist.m3u8"},
        {type: "rtmp/mp4", src: "rtmp://mysource"}
    ]);
}
});

Solution 1

getPlayers() returns an object containing all players, not a player.

You'd normally get a particular player with videojs('my_player_id').

Solution 2

The way I do it is by using the suggested dispose method of the player object.

I have a function which creates a new player with an ID, which was different from the ID of the previous player (for some reason you can't instantiate a player with the same ID, even after it was disposed).

The full process is as follows:

1. Create a parent element for your player.

       <div id="player-parent"></div>
   

2. Create a function responsible for generating an initial player element on which you'll call the videojs constructor.

   function getPlayerInstance(curPlayerNumber, playerSource) {
       // curPlayerNumber is simply a counter number which must be different from any previous one passed to this function
       return $("<video id=\"video\ " + curPlayerNumber + "\" class=\"video-js vjs-default-skin\" controls data-setup='{\"plugins\" : { \"resolutionSelector\" : { \"default_res\" : \"360\" } } }'><source src=\"" + playerSource + "\" type=\"application/x-mpegURL\" data-res=\"360\"></video>");
   }
   

3. Select your parent element

   $('#player-parent').append(getPlayerInstance(++playerCounter, someSourceHere));
   

   4. Instantiate your player, disposing any old players you might have.

This is pseudo code, for simplicity I assign the player to a global variable for easier access. You should do that differently.

    if (window.playerElement) {
        window.playerElement.dispose();
    }

    // the playerCounter variable is different for each function call
    videojs("video" + playerCounter).ready(function(){
        window.playerElement = this;
    });

Hope this was helpful, I wasted 3 days on this.