JavaScript - Multimedia

The JavaScript navigator object includes a child object called plugins. This object is an array, with one entry for each plug-in installed on the browser. The navigator.plugins object is supported only by Netscape, Firefox, and Mozilla only.

Example

Here is an example that shows how to list down all the plug-on installed in your browser −

<html>
   <head>
      <title>List of Plug-Ins</title>
   </head>
   
   <body>
      <table border = "1">
         <tr>
            <th>Plug-in Name</th>
            <th>Filename</th>
            <th>Description</th>
         </tr>
         
         <script language = "JavaScript" type = "text/javascript">
            for (i = 0; i<navigator.plugins.length; i++) {
               document.write("<tr><td>");
               document.write(navigator.plugins[i].name);
               document.write("</td><td>");
               document.write(navigator.plugins[i].filename);
               document.write("</td><td>");
               document.write(navigator.plugins[i].description);
               document.write("</td></tr>");
            }
         </script>
      </table>      
   </body>
</html>

Checking for Plug-Ins

Each plug-in has an entry in the array. Each entry has the following properties −

name − is the name of the plug-in.
filename − is the executable file that was loaded to install the plug-in.
description − is a description of the plug-in, supplied by the developer.
mimeTypes − is an array with one entry for each MIME type supported by the plug-in.

You can use these properties in a script to find out the installed plug-ins, and then using JavaScript, you can play appropriate multimedia file. Take a look at the following example.

<html>   
   <head>
      <title>Using Plug-Ins</title>
   </head>
   
   <body>   
      <script language = "JavaScript" type = "text/javascript">
         media = navigator.mimeTypes["video/quicktime"];
         
         if (media) {
            document.write("<embed src = 'quick.mov' height = 100 width = 100>");
         } else {
            document.write("<img src = 'quick.gif' height = 100 width = 100>");
         }
      </script>      
   </body>
</html>

NOTE − Here we are using HTML <embed> tag to embed a multimedia file.

Controlling Multimedia

Let us take one real example which works in almost all the browsers −

<html>   
   <head>
      <title>Using Embeded Object</title>
      
      <script type = "text/javascript">
         function play() {
            if (!document.demo.IsPlaying()) {
               document.demo.Play();
            }
         }
         function stop() {
            if (document.demo.IsPlaying()) {
               document.demo.StopPlay();
            }
         }
         function rewind() {
            if (document.demo.IsPlaying()) {
               document.demo.StopPlay();
            }
            document.demo.Rewind();
         }
      </script>
   </head>
   
   <body>      
      <embed id = "demo" name = "demo"
         src = "http://www.amrood.com/games/kumite.swf"
         width = "318" height = "300" play = "false" loop = "false"
         pluginspage = "http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
         swliveconnect = "true">
      
      <form name = "form" id = "form" action = "#" method = "get">
         <input type = "button" value = "Start" onclick = "play();" />
         <input type = "button" value = "Stop" onclick = "stop();" />
         <input type = "button" value = "Rewind" onclick = "rewind();" />
      </form>      
   </body>
</html>

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