can javascript control the loop attribute of an embed object?

BrianK · 06-26-2008, 04:53 PM

I have a video embedded on a webpage (using embed rather than object).

I'd like to put a button somewhere that will make the video loop or not loop.

I can change other attributes of the video (with a name of 'thevideo') like so:

Code:

document.embeds['thevideo'].width=400;
document.embeds['thevideo'].filename="some_file.mov";

but I can't seem to get to the loop attribute. Is it possible? If so, how? I've tried all the incarnations of:

Code:

document.embeds['thevideo'].loop=true;

I tried 1,true,"true","'true'" - none of which worked. No error in Firefox's error console, but no looping either.

Ideas?

ewolf · 06-26-2008, 06:50 PM

If your element has an 'id' attribute set as follows,

Code:

<embed id='myEmbedObjectId'></embed>

then this should do it:

Code:

document.getElementById('myEmbedObjectId').setAttribute('loop','true');

I haven't tested it with an <embed> element, but it works for other kinds of elements and attributes.

BrianK · 06-26-2008, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewolf

If your element has an 'id' attribute set as follows,

Code:

<embed id='myEmbedObjectId'></embed>

then this should do it:

Code:

document.getElementById('myEmbedObjectId').setAttribute('loop','true');

I haven't tested it with an <embed> element, but it works for other kinds of elements and attributes.

hmmm.. That does seem to set that attribute (verified by "viewing generated source" - thanks firefox web devloper plugins), so thanks for the tip (I had forgotten about setAttribute), but it doesn't force the video to go from non-looping to looping. I imagine this has something to do with the fact that the object is already loaded with the loop attribute set to false & does not get reloaded when the attribute changes.

There's probably a way to do that too, I'd imagine. I'm going to look into it, but if anyone knows how to make the embedded object respond to the new loop attribute, I'd love to know.

ewolf · 06-27-2008, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianK

hmmm.. That does seem to set that attribute (verified by "viewing generated source" - thanks firefox web devloper plugins), so thanks for the tip (I had forgotten about setAttribute), but it doesn't force the video to go from non-looping to looping. I imagine this has something to do with the fact that the object is already loaded with the loop attribute set to false & does not get reloaded when the attribute changes.

I haven't dealt too much with embedded content like this, but the next thing I would try would be to do something like this:

Code:

<script type="text/javascript">
function changeLoopAttribute(wrapperId, loopAttribute) {
    var embedWrapper = document.getElementById(wrapperId);
    var myEmbed = document.createElement('embed');
    myEmbed.setAttribute('loop','true');
    // set your other attributes (filename, etc) here
    embedWrapper.parentNode.replaceChild(myEmbed, embedWrapper);
}

changeLoopAttribute('embeddedContentWrapper','true');
</script>

<div id='embeddedContentWrapper'><!-- your embed element will go here --></div>

If that doesn't work, you can try this:

Code:

function changeLoopAttribute(wrapperId, loopAttribute) {
    var embedWrapper = document.getElementById(wrapperId);
    embedWrapper.innerHTML = "<embed loop='" + loopAttribute + "' " + yourOtherAttributes + "></embed>";
}

Let me know if either of those work out for you.