Silvermine VideoJS Chromecast Plugin


What is it?

A plugin for videojs versions 6+ that adds a button to the control
bar which will cast videos to a Chromecast.

How do I use it?

The @silvermine/videojs-chromecast plugin includes 3 types of assets: JavaScript, CSS,
and images.

You can either build the plugin locally and use the assets that are output from the build
process directly, or you can install the plugin as an NPM module, include the
JavaScript and SCSS source in your project using a Common-JS module loader and SASS build
process, and copy the images from the image source folder to your project.

Note that regardless of whether you are using this plugin via the pre-built JS or as a
module, the Chromecast framework will need to be included after the plugin. For example:

``html



`

$3

1. Either clone this repository or install the @silvermine/videojs-chromecast module
using npm install @silvermine/videojs-chromecast.
2. Ensure that @silvermine/videojs-chromecast's devDependencies are installed by
running npm install from within the videojs-chromecast folder.
3. Run grunt build to build and copy the JavaScript, CSS and image files to the
videojs-chromecast/dist folder.
4. Copy the plugin's files from the dist folder into your project as needed.
5. Ensure that the images in the dist/images folder are accessible at ./images/,
relative to where the plugin's CSS is located. If, for example, your CSS is located
at https://example.com/plugins/silvermine-videojs-chromecast.css, then the
plugin's images should be located at https://example.com/plugins/images/.
6. Follow the steps in the "Configuration" section below.

Note: when adding the plugin's JavaScript to your web page, include the
silvermine-videojs-chromecast.min.js JavaScript file in your HTML after loading
Video.js. The plugin's built JavaScript file expects there to be a reference to Video.js
at window.videojs and will throw an error if it does not exist.

$3

* preloadWebComponents (default: false) - The Chromecast framework relies on
the webcomponents.js polyfill when a browser does not have
document.registerElement in order to create the custom
component (which is not used by this plugin). If you are using jQuery, this polyfill
must be loaded and initialized before jQuery is initialized. Unfortunately, the
Chromecast framework loads the webcomponents.js polyfill via a dynamically created


`

$3

Once the plugin has been loaded and registered, configure it and add it to your Video.js
player using Video.js' plugin configuration option (see the section under the heading
"Setting up a Plugin" on [Video.js' plugin documentation page][videojs-docs].

**Important: In addition to defining plugin configuration, you are required to define the
player's techOrder option, setting 'chromecast' as the first Tech in the list.** Below
is an example of the minimum required configuration for the Chromecast plugin to function:

`js
var options;

options = {
controls: true,
techOrder: [ 'chromecast', 'html5' ], // You may have more Tech, such as Flash or HLS
plugins: {
chromecast: {}
}
};

videojs(document.getElementById('myVideoElement'), options);
`

Please note that even if you choose not to use any of the configuration options, you must
either provide a chromecast entry in the plugins option for Video.js to initialize the
plugin for you:

`js
options = {
plugins: {
chromecast: {}
}
};
`

or you must initialize the plugin manually:

`js
var player = videojs(document.getElementById('myVideoElement'));

player.chromecast(); // initializes the Chromecast plugin
`

#### Configuration options

##### Plugin configuration

* plugins.chromecast.receiverAppID - the string ID of a custom [Chromecast
receiver app][cast-receiver] to use. Defaults to the [default Media Receiver
ID][def-cast-id].
* plugins.chromecast.addButtonToControlBar - a boolean flag that tells the
plugin whether or not it should automatically add the Chromecast button to the
Video.js player's control bar component. Defaults to true.
* plugins.chromecast.buttonPositionIndex - a zero-based number specifying the
index of the Chromecast button among the control bar's child components (if
addButtonToControlBar is set to true). By default the Chromecast Button is added
as the last child of the control bar. A value less than 0 puts the button at the
specified position from the end of the control bar. Note that it's likely not all
child components of the control bar are visible.
* plugins.chromecast.addCastLabelToButton (default: false) - by default, the
Chromecast button component will display only an icon. Setting addCastLabelToButton
to true will display a label titled "Cast" alongside the default icon.

##### Chromecast Tech configuration

* chromecast.requestTitleFn - a function that this plugin calls when it needs a
string that will be the title shown in the UI that is shown when a Chromecast session
is active and connected. When the this plugin calls the requestTitleFn, it passes
it the [current source object][player-source] and expects a string in return. If
nothing is returned or if this option is not defined, no title will be shown.
* chromecast.requestSubtitleFn - a function that this plugin calls when it needs
a string that will be the sub-title shown in the UI that is shown when a Chromecast
session is active and connected. When the this plugin calls the requestSubtitleFn,
it passes it the [current source object][player-source] and expects a string in
return. If nothing is returned or if this option is not defined, no sub-title will be
shown.
* chromecast.requestCustomDataFn - a function that this plugin calls when it
needs an object that contains custom information necessary for a Chromecast receiver
app when a session is active and connected. When the this plugin calls the
requestCustomDataFn, it passes it the [current source object][player-source] and
expects an object in return. If nothing is returned or if this option is not defined,
no custom data will be sent. This option is intended to be used with a [custom
receiver][custom-receiver] application to extend its default capabilities.
* chromecast.modifyLoadRequestFn - a function that this plugin calls before doing
the request to [load media][chromecast-load-media]. The function gets called with
the [LoadRequest][chromecast-load-request] object as argument and expects it in
return.

Here is an example configuration object that makes full use of all required and optional
configuration:

`js
var titles, subtitles, customData, options;

titles = {
'https://example.com/videos/video-1.mp4': 'Example Title',
'https://example.com/videos/video-2.mp4': 'Example Title2',
};

subtitles = {
'https://example.com/videos/video-1.mp4': 'Subtitle',
'https://example.com/videos/video-2.mp4': 'Subtitle2',
};

customData = {
'https://example.com/videos/video-1.mp4': { 'customColor': '#0099ee' },
'https://example.com/videos/video-2.mp4': { 'customColor': '#000080' },
};

options = {
// Must specify the 'chromecast' Tech first
techOrder: [ 'chromecast', 'html5' ], // Required
// Configuration for the Chromecast Tech
chromecast: {
requestTitleFn: function(source) { // Not required
return titles[source.url];
},
requestSubtitleFn: function(source) { // Not required
return subtitles[source.url];
},
requestCustomDataFn: function(source) { // Not required
return customData[source.url];
},
modifyLoadRequestFn: function (loadRequest) { // HLS support
loadRequest.media.hlsSegmentFormat = 'fmp4';
loadRequest.media.hlsVideoSegmentFormat = 'fmp4';
return loadRequest;
}
},
plugins: {
chromecast: {
receiverAppID: '1234' // Not required
addButtonToControlBar: false, // Defaults to true
},
}
};
`

##### Localization

The ChromecastButton component has two translated strings: "Open Chromecast menu" and
"Cast".

* The "Open Chromecast menu" string appears in both of the standard places for Button
component accessibility text: inside the .vjs-control-text span and as the
element's title attribute.
* The "Cast" string appears in an optional label within the Button component: inside
the .vjs-chromecast-button-label span.

To localize the Chromecast button strings, follow the steps in the [Video.js Languages
tutorial][videojs-translation] to add "Open Chromecast menu" and "Cast" keys to the
map of translation strings.

$3

If you are using a module loader such as Browserify or Webpack, first install
@silvermine/videojs-chromecast using npm install. Then, use
require('@silvermine/videojs-chromecast') to require @silvermine/videojs-chromecast
into your project's source code. require('@silvermine/videojs-chromecast') returns a
function that you can use to register the plugin with Video.js by passing in a reference
to videojs:

`js
var videojs = require('video.js');

// Initialize the Chromecast plugin
require('@silvermine/videojs-chromecast')(videojs);
`

Then, follow the steps in the "Configuration" section above.

This plugin's source code uses ES6+ syntax and keywords, such as class and static. If
you need to support browsers that do not support newer JavaScript
syntax, you will need to use a tool like
Babel to transpile and polyfill your code.

Alternatively, you can
require('@silvermine/videojs-chromecast/dist/silvermine-videojs-chromecast.js') to use a
JavaScript file that has already been polyfilled/transpiled down to ES5 compatibility.

$3

If you are using SCSS in your project, you can simply reference the plugin's main SCSS
file in your project's SCSS:

`scss
@import "path/to/node_modules/@silvermine/videojs-chromecast/src/scss/videojs-chromecast";
`

Optionally, you can override the SCSS variables that contain the paths to the icon image
files:

* $icon-chromecast--default - the path to the icon image that is displayed when
the Chromecast button is in its normal, default state. Defaults to
"images/ic_cast_white_24dp.png".
* $icon-chromecast--hover - the path to the icon image that is displayed when the
user hovers over the Chromecast button when it is in its normal, default state.
Defaults to "images/ic_cast_white_24dp.png".
* $icon-chromecast-casting - the path to the icon image that is displayed when
the Chromecast button is in the "casting" state (when a Chromecast session is active
and connected). Defaults to "images/ic_cast_connected_white_24dp.png".
* $icon-chromecast-casting--hover - the path to the icon image that is displayed
when the user hovers over the Chromecast button when it is in the "casting" state
(when a Chromecast session is active and connected). Defaults to
"images/ic_cast_connected_white_24dp.png".
* $chromecast-icon-size - the width and height of the icon (the button and icon
is a square). Defaults to 12px.
* $chromecast-title-font-size - the font size of the title on the screen that is
shown while a Chromecast session is active and connected. Defaults to 22px.
* $chromecast-subtitle-font-size - the font size of the sub-title on the screen
that is shown while a Chromecast session is active and connected. Defaults to 18px.
* $chromecast-poster-width - the width of the poster image on the screen that
that is shown while a Chromecast session is active and connected. Defaults to
100px.
* $chromecast-poster-max-height - the maximum height of the poster image on the
screen that is shown while a Chromecast session is active and connected. Defaults to
180px.

#### Images

The plugin's images are located at videojs-chromecast/src/images. If you have
not overridden the icon image path variables in the SCSS, then copy the images from the
src/images folder to a folder that is accessible at ./images/, relative to where the
plugin's CSS is located. If, for example, your CSS is located at
https://example.com/plugins/silvermine-videojs-chromecast.css, then the plugin's images
should be located at https://example.com/plugins/images/.

In addition, the ic_cast_white_24dp.png icon image that is used as the default icon for
all four button states ("default", "default + hover", "casting", "casting + hover"), the
images folder contains grey, black, and blue versions of the icons.

$3

* chromecastConnected - Triggers when Chromecast connected
* chromecastDisconnected - Triggers when Chromecast disconnected
* chromecastDevicesAvailable - Triggers on state change when Chromecast devices are
available
* chromecastDevicesUnavailable - Triggers on state change when Chromecast devices are
unavailable
* chromecastRequested`: Triggers when the user has requested Chromecast playback using
this plugin's Chromecast button

How do I contribute?

We genuinely appreciate external contributions. See [our extensive
documentation][contributing] on how to contribute.

License

This software is released under the MIT license. See the license file for more
details.

[videojs-docs]: http://docs.videojs.com/tutorial-plugins.html
[videojs-translation]: http://docs.videojs.com/tutorial-languages.html
[cast-receiver]: https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/receiver_apps
[def-cast-id]: https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/receiver_apps#default
[player-source]: http://docs.videojs.com/Player.html#currentSource
[custom-receiver]: https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/custom_receiver
[contributing]: https://github.com/silvermine/silvermine-info#contributing
[chromecast-load-media]: https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/reference/web_sender/cast.framework.CastSession#loadMedia
[chromecast-load-request]: https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/reference/web_sender/chrome.cast.media.LoadRequest