| JVideo! User Guide |
1. Introduction
Welcome to JVideo! This document will give you a better understanding of the JVideo component, and what you need to do to start building your branded video community. JVideo isn't your everyday Joomla! component. JVideo uses the Infinovision API to manage uploading, converting, and streaming your videos, so there are never any videos stored on your web server (even temporarily). This means you can have a website without a lot of horsepower, and still deliver top-of-the-line videos to your users with your own company brand. Then, when users like what they see, and they embed your videos elsewhere, your logo stays with the video, and it links back to your website - further solidifying your website brand as a legitimate video community. JVideo is just getting started. We have tons of idea, and we're working to improve our component everyday. It is currently a public BETA, and we're hoping everyone can provide suggestions and bug reports to our engineers so we can continue to improve it.
2. Installation & Setup
Install the Component & Module on your Joomla! 1.5 Site
The first step is to download the component from our download page (and optionally the module). Make sure your system fulfills the minimum requirements (PHP 5, MySQL 4.1, and Joomla! 1.5.0). As with any Joomla! component, it's a simple process to install the component.
If you are also installing the module, please do so now using the same steps as the component install.
Sign-up for an Infinovision AccountNow that you've installed the component, you need to sign-up for an Infinovision video services account. Dont worry - if you are just checking out the component, you can sign-up for a free Infinovision account. The free account doesn't expire, and you get to try out our branding tool, but you are limited to a certain amount of bandwidth and storage space (on a per month basis). So, if you haven't done so already, head over to the Infinovision signup page and create your new account. If you've already decided you want to use JVideo for the long run to build a popular video community with your own brand, then by all means go for the professional account. You'll never regret it!
Add your Infinovision Account to JVideo
Branding the Video Player with your Website or Company Logo
3. Building your Gallery
The "Videos" Menu Item
For example, let's say you want to build a video community of "Animals Close-up With a Wide-Angle Lens" and want to organize your video clips into three categories: dogs, cats, and fish. For our first section, we want to display all the most recent videos from all categories (all dog, cat, and fish videos), so let's walk through how we would set this up.
Now you have a menu item on your Joomla! site that lists all your videos (if you have uploaded any), now you have the option to add more menu items, and display videos only from a specific category. Add-in the ability to filter by "Featured Videos", "Most Watched Videos", etc., you can start adding more menu items to further organize your video community. After adding the menu items, you may have a layout similar to:
The "Upload Video" Menu ItemDirectly links to the upload tool! :) Add it to your menu with Public, Registered, or Special privileges depending on who you allow to upload videos (so as not to confuse people who think they can upload videos if they can't).
The "User Profile" Menu Item
The User Profile menu item directs users to the built-in JVideo user profile page. You'll notice it has parameters similar to the Videos menu item because the built-in profile includes a list of each user's videos. Normally, you'll arrive at the user's profile page by clicking on the author's name for a video, but with the User Profile menu item, your users can view their own profile, and will be giving the option to create a profile if they have not yet done so. If you are using 3rd party profile systems like Fireboard or Community Builder, you may not want to use this menu item, because it will give you multiple profile pages! With 3rd party integration, which is discussed later in this guide, all links to the built-in JVideo profile will be replaced with links to the 3rd party profile page.
The "Watch Video" Menu ItemIf you ever need to go directly to a video, this menu item is your friend. You can simply provide the "Video ID" as a parameter, and it will take you there. Useful for those people who really just need a couple videos on their site, and don't mind setting up a menu link for each one.
4. Extending your Gallery with the JVideo ModuleThe JVideo module allows you to put videos ANYWHERE on your website. If you want to display a preview of a single video on a random page, you can do it with this module. If you want want to avoid menu items completely, you can use the module to customize your look even further, and replace component-based views with module-based views. Also, if you want to place videos on any type of profile system, chances are you can probably do it with this module. If you have already created a few menu items for JVideo, then managing and using the module is very straight-forward. The parameters are organized to match the JVideo menu parameters as closely as possible, so almost everything should be familiar. If you are curious about a setting, check the information above about the different menu parameters. One field in the module that I should address is the "User ID" parameter. You can use this to put videos on a profile system (or any page that uses some sort of user ID parameter in the URL). For example, let's say the URL for our profile system is:
In the URL, "myProfileSystem" is the component, "profile" is the view that shows the user information, and "myUserID" is the ID that tells the profile view which user's information to display. In our case, you can type in Remember to use Target Item ID's if you need to keep modules displayed on the different sections of your site. You can specify what menu item ID is associated with the Profile or Video URL's, so if a user clicks on a video or profile link, the modules tied to that component view won't be lost. For more information, read our FAQ or ask for help on the forums.
5. Integrating JVideo with 3rd Party ComponentsWhen we built JVideo, we wanted to make it as organized as possible to help keep your sanity (as well as ours). For this reason, we built an abstraction layer into JVideo to support plugins. If you are familiar with object-oriented programming concepts, our plugin system basically includes an abstract base class for profiles, comments, and videos. We have extended the base class with our own set of "default" plugins, as well as a few more common systems (e.g., Fireboard, Community Builder, JomComment). How Do I Add My Own JVideo Integration Plugin?If you are interested in adding a plugin, here are the basic steps:
We will add more information later on incorporating JVideo videos into other components' views. If you are interested in providing your integration plugin to others, please contact us about it.
6. Support & TroubleshootingIf you can't find the information you need, here are a few resources for you to try.
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