Implementing Custom Buttons

In this topic, you will learn how to implement custom buttons using a plugin in your Brightcove Beacon web apps.

Introduction

Custom buttons can be added to your app's details page. For example, you can add a Download button and/or a Location button. You are responsible for programming the button functionality.

Custom buttons
Custom buttons

Use cases

Here are some use cases for custom buttons:

  • A Download button to allow users to download a copy of the video
  • A Location button to allow users to tag their location on videos

Event flow

This diagram shows the event flow for a custom button:

Custom button event flow
Custom button event flow

Triggering events

The following events can be used in your plugin code to control custom buttons:

Event Description
detailsPageAddCustomButton Adds a button to the details page buttons list, at the end of the list
detailsPageRemoveCustomButton Removes the button with the defined ID from the buttons list

Event data

The following data can be passed with the button event:

Data element Type Description
title string The button title displayed in your Beacon Classic app
font_awesome_icon string The Font Awesome ID for the icon displayed in your custom button; leave blank if no icon is to be applied
element_id string The HTML ID to be applied to your custom button; when calling the remove event, this is the only required field

Data notes:

  • When calling detailsPageRemoveCustomButton

Code example

Here is the JavaScript code syntax used for creating a custom button:

window.postMessage({
  event: 'detailsPageAddCustomButton',
  data: {
    title: 'Test Button',
    font_awesome_icon: 'fa fa-info-circle',
    element_id: 'TEST_BTN_ID'
  }
}, window.location.origin);

Listening for events

The following events are listened for by the player when button events are dispatched in your OTT plugin code:

Event Description
detailsPageExternalButtonWasClicked Called when a user clicks on one of the externally added buttons

Event data

The following data is returned when the button clicked event is triggered:

Data element Type Description
asset_id integer The ID for the asset (episode/movie/event) associated with the current details page in your Beacon Classic app
element_id string The HTML ID of the button that was clicked

Code example

Here is the JavaScript code syntax used to listen for a button click event:

switch (event.data.event) {
      
  case 'detailsPageExternalButtonWasClicked':
    if (event.data.data.element_id == 'download-button') {
      handleButtonClick('Download button'); 
    };
    if (event.data.data.element_id == 'location-button') {
      handleButtonClick('Location button');
    };
    break;

}

Example

Here is an example of the data object for a button clicked event:

detailsPageExternalButtonWasClicked

Data object for button clicked event
Data object for button clicked event

Module implementation

The following shows how functions using the side panel are implemented using JavaScript modules. Of course, you may implement your JavaScript in the manner of your choice. Further details on this module implementation can be found in the Implementing OTT Plugin Code Using Modules document.

index.js

Here is our example code:

import { addCustomButtonDetails, addCustomButtonDetailsParams, handleButtonClick } from './button-module.js';

window.addEventListener("message", (event) => {
  const originsAllowed = [
    'your Beacon Classic app URL'
  ];
  if (originsAllowed.includes(event.origin)) {
    switch (event.data.event) {
      
      case 'detailsPageExternalButtonWasClicked':
        if (event.data.data.element_id == 'download-button') {
          handleButtonClick('Download button'); 
        };
        if (event.data.data.element_id == 'location-button') {
          handleButtonClick('Location button');
        };
        break;
        
      case 'onBeaconPageLoad':
        addCustomButtonDetailsParams('Download', 'fa fa-info-circle', 'download-button');
        addCustomButtonDetailsParams('Location', 'fa fa-info-circle', 'location-button');
      break;

    }
  }
},
  false
);
Event Description
detailsPageExternalButtonWasClicked Listen for this event. When triggered, do the following:
  • Check the code event.data.data.element_id to determine which button was clicked
  • Call the handleButtonClick function with the button value.
onBeaconPageLoad Listen for this event. When triggered, do the following:
  • Call the addCustomButtonDetailsParams function to add the Download button.
  • Call the addCustomButtonDetailsParams function to add the Location button.

button-module.js

Here is our example code:

const addCustomButtonDetails = () => {
  
      window.postMessage({
        event: 'detailsPageAddCustomButton',
        data: {
          title: 'Test Button',
          font_awesome_icon: 'fa fa-info-circle',
          element_id: 'TEST_BTN_ID'
        }
      }, window.location.origin);
    
    };
    
const addCustomButtonDetailsParams = (pTitle, pFont, pID) => {
  
  window.postMessage({
    event: 'detailsPageAddCustomButton',
    data: {
      title: pTitle,
      font_awesome_icon: pFont,
      element_id: pID
    }
  }, window.location.origin);

};

const handleButtonClick = (buttonString) => {

  alert('button was clicked ' + buttonString);

};

export { addCustomButtonDetails, addCustomButtonDetailsParams, handleButtonClick };
Function Description
addCustomButtonDetails Dispatches the detailsPageAddCustomButton event to create a custom button on the details page, at the end of the buttons list.
The title, font_awesome_icon and element_id values are passed into this function as strings, using the data object.
addCustomButtonDetailsParams Dispatches the detailsPageAddCustomButton event to create a custom button on the details page, at the end of the buttons list.
This function uses the pTitle, pFont and pID parameters to populate the title, font_awesome_icon and element_id values in the data object.
handleButtonClick Displays an alert box with a message identifying the button that was clicked.