Using the Vidyard Player API

The Vidyard Player API allows developers to control the behavior of an embedded player via Javascript.

This document pertains to players that have been embedded using Vidyard's Responsive Embed Code.

The Player API Script

The Vidyard responsive embed code has the Player API script built-in.

You can obtain the embed code from these any of these locations:

1. From a player(s) inside the Vidyard platform
2. Through a GET request to the Vidyard dashboard API 

Place the API script from the embed code in the header of your webpage. Make sure that the api script comes before all instances of the embed code on the page.

The responsive embed also allows for multiple instances of the same player on a given page.

<!-- The script tag should live in the head of your page if at all possible -->
<script type="text/javascript" async src="https://play.vidyard.com/embed/v4.js"></script>

<!-- Put this wherever you would like your player to appear -->
<img
class="vidyard-player-embed"
src="https://play.vidyard.com/"playerUUID".jpg"
data-uuid="playerUUID";
data-v="4"
data-type="inline"
/>

Ensure the API is ready

The API script contains an async attribute. Async ensures that the API becomes available, but does not interfere with other aspects of the page load.

Because the API loads asynchronously, use the onVidyardAPI callback so that any scripts you've added to the page know when the Player API becomes available.

// initApp is the client's function that interacts with the Vidyard API
// this can be defined anywhere in the client code
window.vidyardEmbed
  ? initApp(window.vidyardEmbed)
  : (window.onVidyardAPI = (vyApi) => initApp(vyApi));

Here's an example of how you might use the onVidyardAPI callback:

window.vidyardEmbed
  ? initApp(window.vidyardEmbed)
  : (window.onVidyardAPI = (vyApi) => initApp(vyApi));

function initApp(vyApi){
  console.log('Api is ready ', vyApi);
  var players = VidyardV4.players;
  console.log(players);
}

Querying a player

Players are referenced via their UUID. The UUID can be extracted from the player embed code or sharing page URL.

For example: http://embed.vidyard.com/share/oTDMPlUv--51Th455G5u7Q. The player UUID is oTDMPlUv--51Th455G5u7Q.

// returns a collection of players with the given UUID
var players = VidyardV4.api.getPlayersByUUID(UUID);
players[0].play();

OR

// get all players
var players = VidyardV4.players;

To learn more about readying the API, rendering players, and other advanced implementation options, see our advanced developer documentation.

Methods

const objectOptions = { eventId: 37359, start: 4, duration: 4, chapterIndex: 0 }

GDPR-specific methods

These methods were implemented in order to enable customers to achieve GDPR compliance on webpages where Vidyard players exist.

The methods are used to communicate to players whether a visitor has consented to having identified view data passed to Vidyard. Note that Vidyard.GDPR.consent calls set to true persist in localStorage, so visitors to your webpage do not need to accept tracking on every page load.

When players do not receive consent, only completely anonymized viewing data will be passed to Vidyard.

Example:

VidyardV4.api.GDPR.hasConsentOnReady(function(consent) {
// Your callback logic goes here
});

Return player properties

Use player.metadata to return information about the player (title, length, description, public custom attributes, etc). This data is available after the ready event has fired. null is returned otherwise.

Example Response

{
  "chapters_attributes": [
    {
      "video_attributes": {
        "description": null,
        "name": "nature",
        "tags": [],
        "thumbnail_urls": {},
        "captions": [
          {
            "name": "English",
            "language": "en",
            "is_default": true,
            "vtt_url": "//example.com/example_en.vtt"
          },
          {
            "name": "dansk",
            "language": "da",
            "is_default": false,
            "vtt_url": "//example.com/example_da.vtt"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "custom_attributes": [
    {
      "attribute_type": "String",
      "is_public": true,
      "list_options": null,
      "name": "test_public",
      "value": "Test public"
    },
    {
      "attribute_type": "Number",
      "is_public": true,
      "list_options": null,
      "name": "test_public",
      "value": 10678
    }
  ],
  "description": "",
  "height": 360,
  "length_in_seconds": 123,
  "name": "player name",
  "tags": [],
  "visitorID": "string",
  "width": 640
}

Players Events

Use events to craft responses in reaction to a player's behavior.