Develop Reference

JavaScript/ HTML video tag in Safari. Block now playing controls [duplicate]

Safari on iOS puts a scrubber on its lock screen for simple HTMLAudioElements. For example:
const a = new Audio();
a.src = 'https://example.com/audio.m4a'
a.play();
JSFiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/0seckLfd/
The lock screen will allow me to choose a position in the currently playing audio file.
How can I disable the ability for the user to scrub the file on the lock screen? The metadata showing is fine, and being able to pause/play is also acceptable, but I'm also fine with disabling it all if I need to.

DISABLE Player on lock screen completely
if you want to completely remove the lock screen player you could do something like
const a = new Audio();
document.querySelector('button').addEventListener('click', (e) => {
a.src = 'http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/wop/sounds/Bicycle%20Race-Full.m4a'
a.play();
});
document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', () => {
if (document.hidden) a.src = undefined
})
https://jsfiddle.net/5s8c9eL0/3/
that is stoping the player when changing tab or locking screen
(code to be cleaned improved depending on your needs)

From my understanding you can't block/hide the scrubbing commands unless you can tag the audio as a live stream. That being said, you can use js to refuse scrubbing server-side. Reference the answer here. Although that answer speaks of video, it also works with audio.

The lock screen / control center scrubber can also be avoided by using Web Audio API.
This is an example of preloading a sound and playing it, with commentary and error handling:
try {
// <audio> element is simpler for sound effects,
// but in iOS/iPad it shows up in the Control Center, as if it's music you'd want to play/pause/etc.
// Also, on subsequent plays, it only plays part of the sound.
// And Web Audio API is better for playing sound effects anyway because it can play a sound overlapping with itself, without maintaining a pool of <audio> elements.
window.audioContext = window.audioContext || new AudioContext(); // Interoperate with other things using Web Audio API, assuming they use the same global & pattern.
const audio_buffer_promise =
fetch("audio/sound.wav")
.then(response => response.arrayBuffer())
.then(array_buffer => audioContext.decodeAudioData(array_buffer))
var play_sound = async function () {
audioContext.resume(); // in case it was not allowed to start until a user interaction
// Note that this should be before waiting for the audio buffer,
// so that it works the first time (it would no longer be "within a user gesture")
// This only works if play_sound is called during a user gesture (at least once), otherwise audioContext.resume(); needs to be called externally.
const audio_buffer = await audio_buffer_promise; // Promises can be awaited any number of times. This waits for the fetch the first time, and is instant the next time.
// Note that if the fetch failed, it will not retry. One could instead rely on HTTP caching and just fetch() each time, but that would be a little less efficient as it would need to decode the audio file each time, so the best option might be custom caching with request error handling.
const source = audioContext.createBufferSource();
source.buffer = audio_buffer;
source.connect(audioContext.destination);
source.start();
};
} catch (error) {
console.log("AudioContext not supported", error);
play_sound = function() {
// no-op
// console.log("SFX disabled because AudioContext setup failed.");
};
}

I did a search, in search of a way to help you, but I did not find an effective way to disable the commands, however, I found a way to customize them, it may help you, follow the apple tutorial link
I think what's left to do now is wait, see if ios 13 will bring some option that will do what you want.

PhoneGap Media Plugin - can you detect when url stream has loaded?

I been having some issues getting my audio player to work correctly in iOS and Android using the PhoneGap Media plugin through Build 3.1
I have play and stop buttons that work fine but when you hit play there is a slight delay as the audio url loads and it freezes the OS. I can kind of cope with that as its a short delay so I thought I'd pop up a loading icon onscreen.
Ive posted a few time here trying to get the JS to work as im no expert but just now I've realised that there is nothing in my code to check if the audio is actually PLAYING!
The playAudio function loads in the audio and then sets the play button to a stop button. I thought function success() {meant it was playing but it actually means it FINISHED playing.
In my code when the link to the audio is clicked the loader function makes a spinner appear on screen and I thought 'success' would turn the loader off because its loaded when in fact whats happening is the laoder stays on and goes away after the track has finished!
I've realized I need a way of detecting if the track is actually PLAYING!
How do I do that?!?!!
Heres the function:
function loadPlay(src, trackName) {
loader();
playAudio(src, trackName);
}
function loader() {
// make a loader spinner appear as track loads
$(".loading").addClass("loadingnow");
}
function playAudio(src,trackname) {
// for Android
if (audioPlaying === false) {
if (device.platform == 'Android') {
src = '/android_asset/www/' + src;
}
media = new Media(src, success, error_error);
media.play();
//add playing class so play button is replaced with stop button
document.getElementById(trackname).parentNode.className="playing";
audioPlaying = true;
} else {
//audio is already playing
}
}
function success() {
// track isplaying so remove the stop button put play button back
$(".playing").removeClass("playing");
// now track is playing remove the loader spinner
$(".loading").removeClass("loadingnow");
audioPlaying = false;
}
function error_error(e) {
//alert('great error');
//alert(e.message);
}
function stopAudio() {
// stop playing track
if (media) {
media.stop();
audioPlaying = false;
}
}
Heres a link to the PhoneGap Media plugin API:
http://docs.phonegap.com/en/3.1.0/cordova_media_media.md.html#Media
Do I need to use this bit?
Media.MEDIA_STARTING = 1;
Media.MEDIA_RUNNING = 2;
Media.MEDIA_PAUSED = 3;
Media.MEDIA_STOPPED = 4;

From the docs:
The following constants are reported as the only parameter to the mediaStatus callback function.
Media.MEDIA_NONE = 0;
Media.MEDIA_STARTING = 1;
Media.MEDIA_RUNNING = 2;
Media.MEDIA_PAUSED = 3;
Media.MEDIA_STOPPED = 4;
The mediaStatus callback is an optional 3rd callback supplied in your Media constructor...
media = new Media(src, success, error_error, status_change);
function status_change(code) {
switch (code) :
case Media.MEDIA_STOPPED : doSomething(); break;
}

From what I can tell, ilovett's answer might not work for you, because the doSomething() function will get called in two other cases:
When someone stops the music with a media.stop()
When the media gets released (media.release()) on android (not sure about others, but iOS wont call it).
the way I'm doing it is setting a variable to make sure that the function is not getting called accidentally.

Adding event callback for YouTube JS Player API when related video clicked

YouTube's iFrame embed JS player API allows you to add callbacks to certain events. I want to add a callback for when a related video at the end of a video is selected.
To be more specific, when viewing a video in an embed, at the end it displays related videos within the embed. I want to run some code when one of those is selected. How can this be accomplished? I see that there is an onStateChange but none of the states are related to related videos. Do I need to add an onStateChange for YT.PlayerState.PLAYING and then compare the playing video to the original video to see if they're different somehow?

That seems like a reasonable solution to me.
The only point worth mentioning (which you've noted) is that you will be not able to tell if the change in the video is due to the user clicking on a related video, but if you're not interacting with the player dynamically, comparing the previous VideoID should suffice.
Just a heads up, if you're interested in a jQuery plugin that simplifies some of the callback/event handling work check out: https://github.com/nirvanatikku/jQuery-TubePlayer-Plugin

I ended up doing it basically the way I described. Here's the code I used:
started = false;
var onYouTubeIframeAPIReady = function(id) {
var player = new YT.Player('player', {
videoId: id,
events: {
'onStateChange': function (event) {
if (event.data == 1) { // The video started playing
started = true;
}
if (started && event.data == -1) {
// Video had already started playing before and is now in
// "unstarted" state so it must be a new video.
var video_url = event.target.i.videoUrl;
var video_id = video_url.replace('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=', '').replace('&feature=player_embedded', '');
window.location = '#/view/' + video_id;
}
}
}
});
}
So basically, when a video starts playing, you set a "started" variable to true. Then, if/when the video enters the "unstarted" state, if "started" is true, then you know that it's a new video that just started playing. In that case, grab its video ID from the event.target object and do whatever you want with it.
My full commit is here if anyone wants to see the context and you can see it in action on http://toogl.es.

Playing HTML5 Video on IPad and seeking

Very strange bug I can't seems to figure out.
I am trying to get an HTML5 video to play from a certain position when a user hits play. I am trying to have it seek right when the video starts to play.
On my play event I do this.currentTime = X
On the browser it works fine. But on the IPad, when I play the video, the video doesn't seek to the right position (it starts from zero).
Even more oddly, if I do the this.currentTime = X call in a setTimeout of let's say 1 second, it works on the IPad (sometimes).

On iOS, videos load at play time (see item #2), not at page load time. My guess is that the video is not loaded when you run this.currentTime = X, so it has no effect. This also explains why delaying the operation can sometimes fix the problem: sometimes it has loaded after a second, sometimes not.
I don't have an iOS device to test, but I'd suggest binding a loadeddata listener to the video so that your currentTime manipulation only happens after the video begins loading:
// within the play event handler...
if(!isIOSDevice) {
this.currentTime = X;
} else {
function trackTo(evt) {
evt.target.currentTime = X;
evt.target.removeEventListener("loadeddata", trackTo)
});
this.addEventListener("loadeddata", trackTo);
}
You'll need to set isIOSDevice elsewhere in your code, based on whether the current visit comes from an iOS device.

While this question is quite old the issue remains open. I discovered a solution that works on multiple tested iPads (1+2+3) for iOS 5 and 6 (iOS3+4 not tested):
Basically you first have to wait for the initial playing event, then add a one-time binder for canplaythrough and then for progress - only then can you actually change the the currentTime value. Any tries before that will fail!
The video has to start playing at first, which makes a black layer on top of the video element kinda handy. Unfortunately, sounds within the video canNOT be deactivated via JavaScript --> not a perfect UX
// https://github.com/JoernBerkefeld/iOSvideoSeekOnLoad / MIT License
// requires jQuery 1.8+
// seekToInitially (float) : video-time in seconds
function loadingSeek(seekToInitially, callback) {
if("undefined"==typeof callback) {
callback = function() {};
}
var video = $("video"),
video0 = video[0],
isiOS = navigator.userAgent.match(/(iPad|iPhone|iPod)/) !== null,
test;
if(isiOS) { // get the iOS Version
test =navigator.userAgent.match("OS ([0-9]{1})_([0-9]{1})");
// you could add a loading spinner and a black layer onPlay HERE to hide the video as it starts at 0:00 before seeking
// don't add it before or ppl will not click on the play button, thinking the player still needs to load
}
video.one("playing",function() {
if(seekToInitially > 0) {
//log("seekToInitially: "+seekToInitially);
if(isiOS) {
// iOS devices fire an error if currentTime is set before the video started playing
// this will only set the time on the first timeupdate after canplaythrough... everything else fails
video.one("canplaythrough",function() {
video.one("progress",function() {
video0.currentTime = seekToInitially;
video.one("seeked",function() {
// hide the loading spinner and the black layer HERE if you added one before
// optionally execute a callback function once seeking is done
callback();
});
});
});
} else {
// seek directly after play was executed for all other devices
video0.currentTime = seekToInitially;
// optionally execute a callback function once seeking is done
callback();
}
} else {
// seek not necessary
// optionally execute a callback function once seeking is done
callback();
}
});
}
the whole thing can be downloaded from my GitHub repo

apsillers is right. Once the video starts playing, the Quicktime player will come up and the video will not be seekable until the first 'progress' event is triggered. If you try to seek before then, you'll get an invalid state error. Here's my code:
cueVideo = function (video, pos) {
try {
video.currentTime = pos;
// Mobile Safari's quicktime player will error if this doesn't work.
} catch(error) {
if (error.code === 11) { // Invalid State Error
// once 'progress' happens, the video will be seekable.
$(video).one('progress', cueVideo.bind(this, video, pos));
}
}
}

Appreciate the attempts for answers below. Unfortunately, had to resort to just checking inside timeupdate if the currenttime was > 0 and < 1, if it was then went to that part of the video and removed the listener to timeupdate.

try to limit your X to 1 decimal
X.toFixed(1);
As you mentioned it works sometimes after a time of 1 second. Have you tried to set the position after the playing event fires? or maybe even the canplaythrough event
Take a look at the source of this page to see a whole list of events that can be used (in the javascript file)

Problems preloading audio in Javascript

I'm trying to make a cross-device/browser image and audio preloading scheme for a GameAPI I'm working on. An audio file will preload, and issue a callback once it completes.
The problem is, audio will not start to load on slow page loads, but will usually work on the second try, probably because it cached it and knows it exists.
I've narrowed it down to the audio.load() function. Getting rid of it solves the problem, but interestingly, my motorola droid needs that function.
What are some experiences you've had with HTML5 audio preloading?
Here's my code. Yes, I know loading images in a separate function could cause a race condition :)
var resourcesLoading = 0;
function loadImage(imgSrc) {
//alert("Starting to load an image");
resourcesLoading++;
var image = new Image();
image.src = imgSrc;
image.onload = function() {
//CODE GOES HERE
//alert("A image has been loaded");
resourcesLoading--;
onResourceLoad();
}
}
function loadSound(soundSrc) {
//alert("Starting to load a sound");
resourcesLoading++;
var loaded = false;
//var soundFile = document.createElement("audio");
var soundFile = document.createElement("audio");
console.log(soundFile);
soundFile.autoplay = false;
soundFile.preload = false;
var src = document.createElement("source");
src.src = soundSrc + ".mp3";
soundFile.appendChild(src);
function onLoad() {
loaded = true;
soundFile.removeEventListener("canplaythrough", onLoad, true);
soundFile.removeEventListener("error", onError, true);
//CODE GOES HERE
//alert("A sound has been loaded");
resourcesLoading--;
onResourceLoad();
}
//Attempt to reload the resource 5 times
var retrys = 4;
function onError(e) {
retrys--;
if(retrys > 0) {
soundFile.load();
} else {
loaded = true;
soundFile.removeEventListener("canplaythrough", onLoad, true);
soundFile.removeEventListener("error", onError, true);
alert("A sound has failed to loaded");
resourcesLoading--;
onResourceLoad();
}
}
soundFile.addEventListener("canplaythrough", onLoad, true);
soundFile.addEventListener("error", onError, true);
}
function onResourceLoad() {
if(resourcesLoading == 0)
onLoaded();
}
It's hard to diagnose the problem because it shows no errors and only fails occasionally.

I got it working. The solution was fairly simple actually:
Basically, it works like this:
channel.load();
channel.volume = 0.00000001;
channel.play();
If it isn't obvious, the load function tells browsers and devices that support it to start loading, and then the sound immediately tries to play with the volume virtually at zero. So, if the load function isn't enough, the fact that the sound 'needs' to be played is enough to trigger a load on all the devices I tested.
The load function may actually be redundant now, but based off the inconsistiency with audio implementation, it probably doesn't hurt to have it.
Edit: After testing this on Opera, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, it looks like setting the volume to 0 will still preload the resource.

canplaythrough fires when enough data has buffered that it probably could play non-stop to the end if you started playing on that event. The HTML Audio element is designed for streaming, so the file may not have completely finished downloading by the time this event fires.
Contrast this to images which only fire their event once they are completely downloaded.
If you navigate away from the page and the audio has not finished completely downloading, the browser probably doesn't cache it at all. However, if it has finished completely downloading, it probably gets cached, which explains the behavior you've seen.
I'd recommend the HTML5 AppCache to make sure the images and audio are certainly cached.

The AppCache, as suggested above, might be your only solution to keep the audio cached from one browser-session to another (that's not what you asked for, right?). but keep in mind the limited amount of space, some browsers offer. Safari for instance allows the user to change this value in the settings but the default is 5MB - hardly enough to save a bunch of songs, especially if other websites that are frequented by your users use AppCache as well. Also IE <10 does not support AppCache.

Alright so I ran into the same problem recently, and my trick was to use a simple ajax request to load the file entirely once (which end into the cache), and then by loading the sound again directly from the cache and use the event binding canplaythrough.
Using Buzz.js as my HTML5 audio library, my code is basically something like that:
var self = this;
$.get(this.file_name+".mp3", function(data) {
self.sound = new buzz.sound(self.file_name, {formats: [ "mp3" ], preload: true});
self.sound.bind("error", function(e) {
console.log("Music Error: " + this.getErrorMessage());
});
self.sound.decreaseVolume(20);
self.sound.bind("canplaythrough",function(){ self.onSoundLoaded(self); });
});