Building a Real-Time Video Player in React using HTML5 API

In this tutorial, we will be building a real-time video player using React and the HTML5 video API. The HTML5 video API allows us to create a video player without the need for any external libraries or plugins. We will be using React to build the user interface and manage the state of the player.

Step 1: Set up a React project

To begin, we will set up a new React project. You can use create-react-app to set up a new React project.

npx create-react-app my-app

 

Step 2: Create the VideoPlayer component

In this step, we will create a new component called VideoPlayer that will handle the video player functionality. This component will render the video element and include controls for play, pause, and volume.

import React, { useState } from 'react';

const VideoPlayer = ({ videoUrl }) => {
    const [isPlaying, setIsPlaying] = useState(false);
    const [volume, setVolume] = useState(0.5);

    return (
        <div>
            <video 
                src={videoUrl} 
                controls 
                onPlay={() => setIsPlaying(true)}
                onPause={() => setIsPlaying(false)}
                onVolumeChange={(e) => setVolume(e.target.volume)}
            />
            <div>
                <button onClick={() => setIsPlaying(!isPlaying)}>
                    {isPlaying ? 'Pause' : 'Play'}
                </button>
                <input 
                    type="range" 
                    min="0" 
                    max="1" 
                    step="0.1" 
                    value={volume} 
                    onChange={(e) => setVolume(e.target.value)} 
                />
            </div>
        </div>
    );
};

export default VideoPlayer;

 

Step 3: Utilize the component

Now that we have our VideoPlayer component set up, we can use it in our application by passing it the video url that we want to play.

const App = () => {
    return (
        <div>
            <VideoPlayer videoUrl="https://example.com/video.mp4" />
        </div>
    )
}

 

Step 4: Add real-time updates

To add real-time updates to our video player, we can use the setInterval function to periodically check the current time of the video and update the state accordingly.

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

const VideoPlayer = ({ videoUrl }) => {
    const [isPlaying, setIsPlaying] = useState(false);
    const [volume, setVolume] = useState(0.5);
    const [currentTime, setCurrentTime] = useState(0);

    useEffect(() => {
        const intervalId = setInterval(() => {
            setCurrentTime(document.querySelector('video').currentTime);
        }, 1000);
        return () => clearInterval(intervalId);
    }, []);

    return (
        <div>
            <video 
                src={videoUrl} 
                controls 
                onPlay={() => setIsPlaying(true)}
                onPause={() => setIsPlaying(false)}
                onVolumeChange={(e) => setVolume(e.target.volume)}
            />
            <div>
                <button onClick={() => setIsPlaying(!isPlaying)}>
                    {isPlaying ? 'Pause' : 'Play'}
                </button>
                <input 
                    type="range" 
                    min="0" 
                    max="1" 
                    step="0.1" 
                    value={volume} 
                    onChange={(e) => setVolume(e.target.value)} 
                />
                <p>Current Time: {currentTime}</p>
            </div>
        </div>
    );
};

export default VideoPlayer;

 

Step 5: Styling

You can add the styling to your component to make it look the way you want.

 

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have built a React application that utilizes the HTML5 video API to create a real-time video player. We have used React to build the user interface and manage the state of the player. By following these steps, you should now have a working real-time video player in your React application.