v2.4.0

Release 2.4.0

NEW FEATURES

OpenVidu Java Client and OpenVidu Node Client REST API support for v2.3.0

Backend clients are now compatible with REST API 2.3.0, adding methods:

• Session.close(): close a Session from your backend
• Session.forceDisconnect(): force some user to leave a Session
• Session.forceUnpublish(): force some user to unpublish a Publisher from a Session
• Session.fetch(): bring Session information from OpenVidu Server
• OpenVidu.fetch(): bring information from every active Session from OpenVidu Server

You can call methods Session.fetch() and OpenVidu.fetch() to bring the current status of sessions from OpenVidu Server. You can consult now directly from OpenVidu Java Client / OpenVidu Node Client all the active sessions with OpenVidu.getActiveSessions() / OpenVidu.activeSessions and the active connections of a session with Session.getActiveConnections() / Session.activeConnections.

OpenVidu CDR extended

Event recordingStopped event now has reason property. Can be:

• "recordingStoppedByServer": the recording was stopped by the application (using REST API, OpenVidu Java Client or OpenVidu Node Client)
• "lastParticipantLeft": if the Session was configured for automatic recording (RecordingMode.ALWAYS, check OpenVidu Node Client docs for more info), then it stopped because the last participant left the session
• "sessionClosedByServer": the recording stopped because the session was forcibly closed by the application (using REST API, OpenVidu Java Client or OpenVidu Node Client)
• "openviduServerStopped": the recording stopped because OpenVidu Server process unexpectedly stopped (cannot be guaranteed)

OpenVidu WebComponent improvements

• Added a generic fullscreen button which will set as fullscreen element the entire component
• Local video toolbar shown on fullscreen
• User's nickname update process is now less intrusive (pop-up removed, simple text input instead)
• Updated every dialog: now they appear inside of the component (center position), instead of appended to DOM body
• The chat component is integrated in the layout for a better experience
• New close chat button (top right corner)
• New send button (bottom right corner)
• New avatar user in each message. A new snapshot image will be displayed with each new message

BUG FIXES

• OpenVidu Server dashboard test could sometimes fail because of a misuse of TURN server
• OpenVidu Java Client: pending requests bug fixed
• Remote Stream status properties are now properly updated when calling Session.publish, Session.unpublish and Session.publish for the same Publisher object (having unpublished audio or video in between the calls)

v2.3.0

Release 2.3.0 - Release Notes available at Medium

v2.2.0

Release 2.2.0

OpenVidu now offers integrated and automated support for TURN server. We encourage developers to check out our post on Medium to learn more about it.

The platform now integrates by default a COTURN server as part of its ecosystem. This means that media connections will work OK even when clients are located on restricted networks. When deploying OpenVidu Server in Amazon Web Services with our Cloud Formation template no changes are required at all. If you are deploying OpenVidu Server on your own in an Ubuntu machine, installation instructions have changed a little bit. You have them properly updated here.

v2.1.0

Release v2.1.0

NEW FEATURES

OpenVidu Browser support for video management

We have implemented a new class in OpenVidu Browser aimed to better support declarative frontend framewroks such as Angular, React or Vue.js.

Now Publisher and Subscriber objects both inherit from StreamManager, which provides 2 different methods to tell OpenVidu what DOM video players should display each specific stream (addVideoElement and createVideoElement). This allows us to let OpenVidu take control of the video elements (even if our framework dinamically creates them) and do not worry about its internals. This is all explained in detail in Manage video players section.

If you want to check out a real example of this behaviuor, explore our renovated OpenVidu Angular tutorial.

v2.0.0

Release v2.0.0

This is the first breaking change update for OpenVidu, which brings in lots of new features and internal improvements.

BREAKING CHANGES LIST

• OpenVidu Browser

  • OpenVidu.initSession now doesn't receive any input parameter.
  • OpenVidu.initPublisher input parameters have changed. Now properties parameter must match PublisherProperties interface.
  • Session.connect method has been promisified. Change the last mandatory callback parameter for a Promise implementation: session.connect(token, (error) => { ... }) to session.connect(token).then(() => {...}).catch(error => {...});
    
    

• OpenVidu Java Client

  • All Archive entities are now called Recording. This includes: class Archive to Recording, class ArchiveMode to RecordingMode, class ArchiveLayout to RecordingLayout, method SessionProperties.archiveLayout() to SessionProperties.recordingLayout(), method SessionProperties.archiveMode() to SessionProperties.recordingMode(), method SessionProperties.Builder.archiveLayout() to SessionProperties.Builder.recordingLayout(), method SessionProperties.Builder.archiveMode() to SessionProperties.Builder.recordingMode()
  • RecordingLayout property in SessionProperties.Builder is now configured calling method defaultRecordingLayout() instead of recordingLayout(). This means that if one Session is gonna be recorded more than once, each recording layout may be customize with RecordingProperties.Builder.recordingLayout(), which will overwrite the default one globally configured in SessionProperties object.
    
    

• OpenVidu Node Client

  • We have removed the builder pattern in all openvidu-node-client classes. Now objects are used instead, which includes classes TokenOptions, SessionProperties and RecordingProperties. For example, instead of getting a TokenOptions object like this: var tokenOptions = new TokenOptions.Builder().data(serverData).role(role).build() now it must be like this: var tokenOptions = {data: serverData, role: role}
  • There has been a simple change in certain asynchronous call. Method Session.getSessionId() is now synchronous, but method OpenVidu.createSession() is now asynchronous (the reason is pretty simple: now method createSession implements the behaviour that getSessionId was providing the first time it was called for certain Session object).
  • All callback methods have been promisified. This includes method Session.generateToken(tokenOptions?, callback): void (now Session.generateToken(tokenOptions?): Promise<string>) and method Session.getSessionId(callback): void (now OpenVidu.createSession(): Promise<Session>, take also into account that the async call has changed from one method to the other as stated in the previous point).
  • All Archive entities are now called Recording. This includes: object Archive to Recording, object ArchiveMode to RecordingMode, object ArchiveLayout to RecordingLayout, method SessionProperties.archiveLayout() to SessionProperties.recordingLayout(), method SessionProperties.archiveMode() to SessionProperties.recordingMode(), method SessionProperties.Builder.archiveLayout() to SessionProperties.Builder.recordingLayout(), method SessionProperties.Builder.archiveMode() to SessionProperties.Builder.recordingMode()
  • recordingLayout property in SessionProperties has changed to defaultRecordingLayout. This means that if one Session is gonna be recorded more than once, each recording layout may be customize with recordingLayout property (of RecordingProperties interface, which will overwrite the default one globally configured in SessionProperties object.
    
    

• REST API

  • All Archive entities are now called Recording in API REST. For example: {"archiveMode": "ARCHIVE_MODE", "archiveLayout": "ARCHIVE_LAYOUT", "mediaMode": "MEDIA_MODE"} now is {"recordingMode": "RECORDING_MODE", "recordingLayout": "RECORDING_LAYOUT", "mediaMode": "MEDIA_MODE"}.
  • Field recordingLayout is now called defaultRecordingLayout in operation POST /api/sessions. This means that if one Session is gonna be recorded more than once, each recording layout may be customize adding a new field recordingLayout in the call to POST /api/recordings/start of the API REST, which will overwrite the default one globally configured during POST /api/sessions
    
    

• Other breaking changes

  • OpenVidu Server default port from 8443 to 4443
  • OpenVidu Server configuration property openvidu.recording.free-access is now openvidu.recording.public-access

---

NEW FEATURES

• OpenVidu Browser new methods

  • Session.publish(): now returns a Promise so you can tell if the method was successful or not.

  • Session.signal(): now returns a Promise so you can tell if the method was successful or not.

  • Subcriber.subscribeToAudio() and Subscriber.subscribeToVideo(): new methods that allows you to mute the audio or video tracks of a remote stream.

  • OpenVidu.initPubliher(): now expects properties as interface PublisherProperties. They include:

      {
          audioSource: undefined, // The source of audio. If undefined default audio input
          videoSource: undefined, // The source of video. If undefined default video input
          publishAudio: true,          // Whether you want to start publishing with your audio unmuted or muted
          publishVideo: true,         // Whether you want to start publishing with your video enabled or not
          resolution: '640x480',     // The resolution of your video
          frameRate: 30,               // The frame rate of your video
          insertMode: 'APPEND',  // How the video will be inserted in the target element
          mirror: false       	       // Whether to mirror your local video or not
      }
    

  • Session.subscribe(): now expects properties as interface SubscriberProperties. They include:

      {
          insertMode: 'APPEND',  // How the video will be inserted in the target element
          subscribeToAudio: true, // Whether to initially subscribe to the stream's audio track or not
          subscribeToVideo: true  // Whether to initially subscribe to the stream's video track or not
      }
    

  • OpenVidu.getDevices(): now you can use certain video or audio input device when calling OpenVidu.initPublisher(), thanks to properties audioSource or videoSource of PublisherProperties object. Just set these variables to the property deviceId of any of the devices returned by this method.

  • OpenVidu.getUserMedia(): method improved. Now devs can customize a MediaStream object before calling OpenVidu.initPublisher() method, setting property audioSource or videoSource to a MediaStreamTrack object (see docs for further information)
    
    

• OpenVidu Browser new properties

  • Stream.frameRate: new property defining the frame rate of video streams. This property will only have value if the Publisher owning the stream has set property frameRate of PublisherProperties when calling OpenVidu.initPublisher()
    
    

• OpenVidu Browser events

  • New events accessDialogOpened and accessDialogClosed: dispatched by Publisher objects when the browser asks the user to grant permissions to camera or michrophone by opening a pop-up. You can use them to warn your users about it.
  • New events recordingStarted and recordingStopped: dispatched by Session object when the recording of a Session starts and stops. You can customize which clients will receive this event thanks to new property openvidu.recording.notification (see OpenVidu Server configuration)
  • Events publisherStartSpeaking and publisherStopSpeaking improved: more customizable thanks to OpenVidu.setAdvancedConfiguration() and better overall performance.
  • Events streamDestroyed, connectionDestroyed and sessionDisconnected have new property reason. This gives more information about why the events have been dispatched so you can take specific actions depending on the context: maybe a stream has been destroyed because the user publishing has deliberately diposed it or maybe the network connection has unexpectedly closed (see docs for StreamEvent, ConnectionEvent and SessionDisconnectedEvent)
    
    

• Other improvements in OpenVidu Browser
  ...

v1.9.0

Release v1.9.0

CUSTOM LAYOUT RECORDING

Now you can create your own layouts for Session recording process. They are implemented with HTML/CSS/JS files, just as your OpenVidu application client-side.

---

1. Create your layout with HTML/CSS/JS files and put them in a path accessible to openvidu-server. There must be an index.html file as entrypoint for your custom layout:

   • WHAT SHOULD YOUR JS CODE DO: by making use of openvidu-browser-1.9.0.js library, you need to connect a recorder participant to the session. This means:

     1. Your layout must create the Session object like this:

     var session = OV.initSession('wss://' + location.hostname + ':8443/' + SESSION_ID + '?secret=' + SECRET + '&recorder=true');

     Being SESSION_ID and SECRET two parameters that will be url-encoded under ids sessionId and secret respectively. So, for example:

     var url = new URL(window.location.href);
     var SESSION_ID = url.searchParams.get("sessionId");
     var SECRET = url.searchParams.get("secret");
     var session = OV.initSession('wss://' + location.hostname + ':8443/' + SESSION_ID + '?secret=' + SECRET + '&recorder=true');

     2. You will need to subscribe to, at least, two events: streamCreated and streamDestroyed of Session object. That way you can update your video layout when any user starts or stops publishing. To sum up, this would be the simplest code you need to properly start your recorder participant:

     var OV = new OpenVidu();
     
     var url = new URL(window.location.href);
     var SESSION_ID = url.searchParams.get("sessionId");
     var SECRET = url.searchParams.get("secret");
     var session = OV.initSession('wss://' + location.hostname + ':8443/' + SESSION_ID + '?secret=' + SECRET + '&recorder=true');
     
     session.on("streamCreated", (event) => {
       session.subscribe(event.stream, 'html-id-where-insert-video');
     });
     session.on("streamDestroyed", (event) => {
       // The video is automatically removed by default but you can do whatever
       // you want here to update your layout when any user stops publishing
     });
     
     session.connect(null, (error) => {
       if (error) {
         console.error(error);
       }
     });

   • HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR USERS: you can identify them by making use of property Stream.connection.data of the Stream object retrieved in Session event "streamCreated". That way you may know which particular user should be displayed in which particular HTML element of your layout. For example:

     session.on("streamCreated", (event) => {
       var stream = event.stream;
       if (stream.connection.data === 'userBigVideo') {
         session.subscribe(stream, 'big-video-div');
       } else if (stream.connection.data === 'userSmallVideo') {
         session.subscribe(stream, 'small-video-div');
       }
     });

---

2. Add new properties when launching openvidu-server (openvidu.recording.custom-layout and a new -v option if using Docker images):

   • openvidu-server-1.9.0.jar:

     java -jar \
       -Dopenvidu.recording=true \
       -Dopenvidu.recording.path=/PATH/TO/VIDEO/FILES \
       -Dopenvidu.recording.custom-layout: /PATH/TO/INDEX/CUSTOM/LAYOUT \
     openvidu-server-1.9.0.jar
     

   • openvidu-server-kms:1.9.0:

     docker run -p 8443:8443 --rm \
       -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
       -v /PATH/TO/VIDEO/FILES:/PATH/TO/VIDEO/FILES \
       -v /PATH/TO/INDEX/CUSTOM/LAYOUT:/PATH/TO/INDEX/CUSTOM/LAYOUT \
       -e MY_UID=$(id -u $USER) \
       -e openvidu.recording=true \
       -e openvidu.recording.path=/PATH/TO/VIDEO/FILES \
       -e openvidu.recording.custom-layout=/PATH/TO/INDEX/CUSTOM/LAYOUT \
     openvidu/openvidu-server-kms:1.9.0
     

   • openvidu-server:1.9.0 (KMS running as a native service in the same machine):

     docker run --net="host" -p 8443:8443 --rm \
       -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
       -v /PATH/TO/VIDEO/FILES:/PATH/TO/VIDEO/FILES \
       -v /PATH/TO/INDEX/CUSTOM/LAYOUT:/PATH/TO/INDEX/CUSTOM/LAYOUT \
       -e MY_UID=$(id -u $USER) \
       -e openvidu.recording=true \
       -e openvidu.recording.path=/PATH/TO/VIDEO/FILES \
       -e openvidu.recording.custom-layout=/PATH/TO/INDEX/CUSTOM/LAYOUT \
     openvidu/openvidu-server:1.9.0
     

---

3. Configure your sessions to use your custom layout:

   Do exactly the same process explained here, but changing archiveLayout from BEST_FIT to CUSTOM.

   • If you are using the API REST, just change json body parameter "archiveLayout":"BEST_FIT" to "archiveLayout":"CUSTOM".
   • If you are using openvidu-java-client or openvidu-node-client, change SessionProperties.Builder().archiveLayout(ArchiveLayout.BEST_FIT) to SessionProperties.Builder().archiveLayout(ArchiveLayout.CUSTOM).

---

CONFIGURING MULIPLE CUSTOM LAYOUTS

You can implement as many custom recording layouts as you want. Simply store each one of them (each one with its own index.html entrypoint file) in a subfolder under path /PATH/TO/INDEX/CUSTOM/LAYOUT. Then, when configuring your sessions as stated above in point 3, just add a new parameter besides changing archiveLayout property:

• If you are using the API REST, add an additional field to json body: "archiveLayout":"CUSTOM", "customLayout":"RELATIVE/PATH/TO/INDEX"
• If you are using openvidu-java-client or openvidu-node-client, create SessionProperties object with a new step: new SessionProperties.Builder() .archiveLayout(ArchiveLayout.CUSTOM).customLayout("RELATIVE/PATH/TO/INDEX").build())

Path RELATIVE/PATH/TO/INDEX is the path from openvidu-server configuration property openvidu.recording.custom-layout to the specific index.html you want to use for a particular session recording. So, if you have the following folder tree structure:

/opt
+-- /openvidu
|   +-- /my_custom_layouts
|       +-- index.html
|       +-- /layout1
|           +-- index.html
|       +-- /layout2
|           +-- index.html
/etc
    ...

You should start openvidu-server with property openvidu.recording.custom-layout=/opt/openvidu/my_custom_layouts and you can use any of the 3 index.html files for recording any of your sessions. To use the outer layout, just configure archiveLayout to CUSTOM. To use any of the inner layouts, also configure customLayout to layout1 or layout2.

---

SAMPLE index.html

This is literally the simplest HTML for a custom recording layout. Use it as a template for building more complex ones.

<html>

<head><script src="openvidu-browser-1.9.0.min.js"></script></head>

<body>
    <div id="videos"></div>
</body>

<script>
    var url = new URL(window.location.href);
    var SESSION_ID = url.searchParams.get("sessionId");
    var SECRET = url.searchParams.get("secret");

    var OV = new OpenVidu();
    var session = OV.initSession('wss://localhost:8443/' + SESSION_ID + '?secret=' + SECRET + '&recorder=true');

    session.on("streamCreated", (event) => {
        session.subscribe(event.stream, 'videos');
    });
    session.on("streamDestroyed", (event) => {});
    session.connect(null, (error) => {
        if (error) {
            console.error(error);
        }
    });
</script>

</html>

v1.9.0-beta-1

Release v1.9.0-beta-1

SAFARI SUPPORT

We are glad to announce the first version of OpenVidu compatible with Safari on the most recent versions of Mac and iOS. There's some work to do yet, and as this version may be unstable it will remain as a beta for now.

v1.8.0

Release v1.8.0

OPENVIDU-SERVER

• Recording API extended: manual start and stop. Get, List, Delete recordings
• Recording video files to MP4 (from less common MKV)
• Grid layout for recording greatly improved: OpenVidu now makes the most of the available space in the recording canvas layout. This is based on the fantastic opentok-layout-js open source library

---

OPENVIDU-BROWSER

• New event 'videoElementDestroyed' for Subscribers and Publishers: openvidu-browser triggers this event once the library has automatically removed the HTML video from DOM.

• New errors defined: BROWSER_NOT_SUPPORTED (on Session.connect() method) and SCREEN_SHARING_NOT_SUPORTED (on OpenVIdu.initPublisher() method with 'screen' option)

• LocalRecorder API: record any Stream directly from the browser:

  var OV = new OpenVidu();
  var publisher = OV.initPublisher(‘elementId’, publisherOptions);
  var localRecorder = OV.initLocalRecorder(publisher.stream);
  
  localRecorder.record(); // Record video....
  localRecorder.stop(); // End recording
  localRecorder.preview('preview-div'); // Preview recording in element with id 'preview-div'
  localRecorder.download(); // Save the video file
  localRecorder.uploadAsBinary("https://my-http-endpoint.com"); // Upload to an http endpoint

---

OTHER

• Now available Docker container openvidu/testapp: this is the application used in OpenVidu CI environment to test most of the features provided by the platform. Extremely useful for testing OpenVidu capabilities. Give it a try!

docker run -p 8443:8443 openvidu/testapp
# Access the app through https://localhost:8443

---

BUG FIXES

• Empty CDR file not being created on openvidu-server startup if openvidu.cdr property is set to 'false'
• Fix bug when OpenVidu.initPublisher() was called before OpenVidu.initSession(): now it is possible to initialize a Publisher object without initializing or connecting to a Session. This can be useful for using OpenVidu Browser local recording feature without video-call capabilities or just to use the simple API for 'getUserMedia' that OpenVidu Browser implements.
• Bug fix for ugly race condition regarding streamCreated event (was sometimes being called twice for Subscriber objects when a Publisher and a Subscriber joined a Session at the exact same time).

v1.7.0

Release v1.7.0

• Session Recording (first version): check Advanced features: Recording

v1.5.0

Release v1.5.0

• Call Detail Record

• Dynamic change of Publisher without leaving the Session:

  Session.unpublish(oldPubliser);
  newPublisher = OpenVidu.initPublisher(newOptions);
  Session.publish(newPublisher);