MicroStrategy ONE

Downloading and playing videos: Video Player widget

On an iPhone or iPad, the Video Player widget loads and plays a video from a remote location or from the local cache. The widget can display:

  • An online video from a streaming service such as YouTube.

  • An online video from a file server location.

  • A cached video from the WebDAV cache, in offline mode. The WebDAV cache can be populated by a manual download request.

If the mobile device is online, the Video Player widget loads the video from the remote location, unless a local cache already exists on the device's WebDAV cache store. Caching should be set up whenever possible.

When a user requests a video:

  1. The widget checks for a local copy stored on the device, regardless of whether the device is connected. If a cached file is used, the widget can start playing the video without loading the full file into memory.

  2. If the video is not yet cached, then the widget requests the video from the source. The video can be a streaming video, such as a YouTube video, or a full video download file served by a web server.

    • A streaming video is buffered and played as it downloads. By default, the downloaded video file is discarded when the MicroStrategy Mobile application is closed. You can ensure that the video is downloaded and stored on the mobile device for offline use. For steps, see Pre-caching online content on the mobile device for offline use.

    • A file download video is downloaded fully to the client. Once the video is fully downloaded, the video can be played. You can pre-cache the video to download the video before the user requests it. This allows a faster response time when the video is requested. For steps, see Pre-caching online content on the mobile device for offline use.

The video is saved to the WebDAV Content Manager cache store so that it can be shared by other instances of the Video Player widget or the Multimedia widget. The video source URL is used as the key of the cache so it can be matched by other requests to the same video.

You can configure the Video Player widget to use one source for online live requests that are initiated by the user, and a second source for a full file that can be downloaded and cached by a manual download request. For example, the live source can be set to a YouTube location while the offline cache source points to a URL that serves the full video file.

In a different scenario, such as a company that hosts its videos on its own servers, both sources can use the same URL. For the live request, the device directly accesses the video from the hosting web server, if a matching cache is not found on the local cache.

For steps to configure a WebDAV folder, see the Advanced Reporting Guide.

To create and add a Video Player widget to a document

  1. In MicroStrategy Web, open the document in Design or Editable Mode.

  2. From the Insert menu, point to Widgets, then Mobile, and select Video Player.

  3. Click the location on your document where you want to place the widget.

  4. Optionally, resize the widget by clicking and then dragging its handles.

  5. Right-click the widget, then select Properties and Formatting. The Properties and Formatting dialog box opens.

  6. From the left, select Widget.

  7. Click the Widget Properties icon . The Video Player Properties dialog box opens.

  8. Do one of the following to define the video's source:

    • To stream the video:

      1. Select Video streaming.

      2. The Embed video HTML field is used for online live requests initiated by users. Type or copy the HTML needed to embed the video in a site. For example, the HTML for a MicroStrategy Express demo on YouTube is:

        3. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AH4Z9fEybF8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

      3. The Alternate download URL is a cache source that serves the full video file. Type the URL in the field.

    • To download the video:

      1. Select Video download.

      2. Type the Video URL.

  9. To display a thumbnail for the video, type the Video thumbnail URL.

    10. If the video is streamed but an alternate URL is not provided, the Video thumbnail URL field is not available.

  10. Click OK to return to the Properties and Formatting dialog box.

  11. Click OK to save changes.