FV Player Database
FV Player started off as a simple plugin which let you insert a single video with a splash screen. It operated with simple shortcodes like:
[fvplayer src="/videos/intro.mp4" splash="/videos/splash.jpg"]
Then more and more attributes were added:
[fvplayer src="/videos/intro.mp4" src1="/videos/intro.webm" splash="/videos/splash.jpg" splashend="true" autoplay="true" width="640" height="360" caption="Intro" subtitles="/videos/intro.vtt"
And even playlists:
[fvplayer src="/videos/intro.mp4" src1="/videos/intro.webm" splash="/videos/splash.jpg" splashend="true" autoplay="true" width="640" height="360" playlist="/videos/part-1.mp4,/videos/part-1.webm,/videos/part-1.jpg;/videos/part-2.mp4,/videos/part-2.webm,/videos/part-2.jpg;/videos/part-3.mp4,/videos/part-3.webm,/videos/part-3.jpg" caption="Intro;Part 1;Part 2;Part 3" subtitles="/videos/intro.vtt;/videos/part-1.vtt;/videos/part-2.vtt;/videos/part-3.vtt"]
So it quickly outgrew the whole concept of shortcodes and it was clear this can't go on forever. These shortcodes become too clunky and fragile.
Now FV Player 7.3.0.727 introduces the FV Player database! For most people this change is almost invisible - they use the same FV Player editor to create their playlists and FV Player stores that information in 4 different database tables. But what they see in the post content is a very simple shortcode like this:
The new shortcode is a simple database reference. Move your typing cursor into it and hit the FV Player button to edit.
The power users will like the new FV Player screen which lets you manage all the playlists in a single place - the new FV Player section of your WordPress Admin Dashboard:
FV Player WP-Admin screen - appears once you have at least one player stored in database.
And the new import/export format:
{"ab":"","ad":"","ad_height":"","ad_width":"","ad_skip":"","align":"","autoplay":"on","controlbar":"","copy_text":"","embed":"","end_actions":"","end_action_value":"","height":"360","hflip":"","lightbox":"","lightbox_caption":"","lightbox_height":"","lightbox_width":"","player_name":"test","player_slug":"","playlist":"","playlist_advance":"","qsel":"","share":"","share_title":"","share_url":"","speed":"","sticky":"","video_ads":"","video_ads_post":"","width":"640","videos":[{"caption":"Intro","end":"","mobile":"","rtmp":"","rtmp_path":"","splash":"/videos/splash.jpg","splash_text":"","src":"/videos/intro.mp4","src1":"/videos/intro.webm","src2":"","start":"","meta":[{"meta_key":"subtitles","meta_value":"/videos/intro.vtt"}]},{"caption":"Part 1","end":"","mobile":"","rtmp":"","rtmp_path":"","splash":"/videos/part-1.jpg","splash_text":"","src":"/videos/part-1.mp4","src1":"/videos/part-1.webm","src2":"","start":"","meta":[{"meta_key":"subtitles","meta_value":"/videos/part-1.vtt"}]},{"caption":"Part 2","end":"","mobile":"","rtmp":"","rtmp_path":"","splash":"/videos/part-2.jpg","splash_text":"","src":"/videos/part-2.mp4","src1":"/videos/part-2.webm","src2":"","start":"","meta":[{"meta_key":"subtitles","meta_value":"/videos/part-2.vtt"}]},{"caption":"Part 3","end":"","mobile":"","rtmp":"","rtmp_path":"","splash":"/videos/part-3.jpg","splash_text":"","src":"/videos/part-3.mp4","src1":"/videos/part-3.webm","src2":"","start":"","meta":[{"meta_key":"subtitles","meta_value":"/videos/part-3.vtt"}]}]}
For programmers it also means there is a new way of interacting with FV Player to set any of the properties. It's a lot more convenient than having to create shortcodes. We will update our programming guide with more information soon.
The database model - uses coma separated list of video IDs for player rows, hence the missing link.
Converting old shortcodes to the Database
If you want to convert old shortcode to the new Database id shortcode follow these few simple steps:
1. Click on the old shortcode. Your old shortcode should look like this:
2. Click on the FV Player embedd button above your WordPress post field.
3. Your FV Player shortcode will open with all the video preferences automatically filled in.
4. Check all the video preferences and click Update and your old shortcode should convert to the new Database id shortcode as you can see below.
What's coming Next
Now that we have a reasonable database model backing up your videos adding new features is easier and will allow us to support all the features in playlists and not just on single videos.
We are also working on an automated splash screen feature and also more powerful timeline actions.
FV Player is getting a Roku support too!
