play

Summary

Loads and starts playback of a media resource.

Method of dom/HTMLMediaElement dom/HTMLMediaElement

Syntax

 object.play();

Return Value

No return value

Examples

Play method example.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Simple Video Example</title>
     <script>
         function hidecontrol(e) {
           // Set controls to true or false based on their current state
           var video = document.getElementById('video1');
           if (video.controls == true) {
             // Controls are binary, true if there, false if not
             video.removeAttribute("controls");
             e.innerHTML = "Show controls";
           } else {
             // Controls are binary, true if there, false if not
             video.setAttribute("controls", true);
             e.innerHTML = "Hide controls";
           }
         }

         function playVideo(e) {
           var video = document.getElementById('video1');      //video element
           //  Toggle between play and pause based on the paused property
           if (video.paused) {
             var input = document.getElementById('videoFile');   //text box
             if (input.value) {
               //  Only load a video file when the text field changes
               if (input.value != video.src) {
                 video.src = input.value;
               }
               video.play();
               e.innerHTML = "Pause";
             }
           } else {
             video.pause();
             e.innerHTML = "Play";
           }

         }
     </script>
</head>
<body>
<video id="video1" controls >HTML5 video is not supported</video><br />
<input type="text" id="videoFile" size="60" placeholder="Enter video file URL here"/>
  <button onclick="playVideo(this);">Play</button>
  <button onclick="hidecontrol(this);">Hide controls</button>
</body>
</html>

Notes

Remarks

To change the URL that is currently playing, assign it to src. This method sets paused to false. To change the URL using the source element, or if the original video was specified by the source element, call load before calling play.

Standards information

HTML5 A vocabulary and associated APIs for HTML and XHTML, Section 4.8.9.8

Attributions

Microsoft Developer Network: [Windows Internet Explorer API reference Article]