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Switching from version 2.x.x to 3.x.x

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Switching from version 2.x.x to 3.x.x

The 3.0.0 release brought multiple breaking changes that may impact your codebase if you were based on a 2.x.x version (or inferior) previously.

Those breaking changes are mainly here to bring new features and simplify the player maintenance. This file enumerates each one of those changes and propose alternatives.

The simplest way of switching here would be to:

  1. Check the General changes chapter
  2. Check the constructor options you use (constructor options chapter)
  3. Check the way you use the loadVideo method (loadVideo chapter)
  4. Replace every method listed in the Removed methods chapter you use in your codebase
  5. Make sure that the methods listed in the Changed methods chapter are correctly used now
  6. Replace events listed in Removed events
  7. Check events you use listed in Changed events

If you were only using documented APIs and you follow this, you’ll be ready to completely switch to a 3.x.x release !

If you don’t know if you were using documented APIs, you can still check if the options, methods and events you use now are documented in the new API. Now, most non-documented (private) APIs begin by the string _priv_, to simplify this process.

General Changes

Features disabled by default

What Changed

Two features, previously activated by default, are now disabled by default.

Those features are:

  1. The automatic limitation of the video track to filter those with a width superior to the current video element’s width.
  2. The automatic throttle on the audio and video bitrates set when the page is hidden for more than one minute.

If you want to activate the feature 1, you have to set the limitVideoWidth boolean to true in the constructor’s option. For the feature 2, it is the throttleWhenHidden constructor’s option you will have to set to true.

If you had set them to false to disable them before, you can now safely remove those options from the constructor argument.

If you don’t know what to do with them, you might want to disable both features (by not setting them on the constructor). They only are optimizations for specific usecases.

Examples

// In the previous version
player = new RxPlayer();

// becomes
player = new RxPlayer({
  limitVideoWidth: true,
  throttleWhenHidden: true
});

// In the previous version
player = new RxPlayer({
  limitVideoWidth: false,
  throttleWhenHidden: false
});

// becomes
player = new RxPlayer();

Normalized language codes

What Changed

Previously, every language set in the manifest went through a translation step to be translated into an ISO 639-2 language code.

This led the following APIs:

  • getAvailableAudioTracks
  • getAvailableTextTracks
  • getAudioTrack
  • getTextTrack
  • getManifest
  • getCurrentAdaptations

To not reflect exactly the language as set in the manifest (just one of the ISO 639-2 translation of it). For example, "fra" was translated to "fre" (even though both are valid ISO 639-2 language codes for the same language).

Because this behavior hide the true language value and ISO 639-2 language codes have synonyms, we decided to:

  1. switch to ISO 639-3 language codes instead. This standard has more languages and does not have synonyms.
  2. keep both the information of what is set in the manifest and the result of our ISO 639-3 translation in two different properties

Now, the tracks returned by:

  • getAvailableAudioTracks
  • getAvailableTextTracks
  • getAudioTrack
  • getTextTrack

Will:

  1. keep the language property, though this time it is the exact same one than set in the manifest
  2. will also have a normalized property, which is the ISO 639-3 translation attempt. If the translation attempt fails (no corresponding ISO 639-3 language code is found), normalized will equal the value of language.

Likewise for the adaptations with a language set returned by:

  • getManifest
  • getCurrentAdaptations

They will have both a language and a normalizedLanguage property, which follow the same rule.

Difference between the previous and new language codes used

In most cases, if you were manually checking language codes in your codebase you could just replace here the key language with its normalized counterpart (either normalized or normalizedLanguage depending on the API you’re using, see previous chapter).

However, while switching from ISO 639-2 to ISO 639-3, some language codes have changed (all were synonyms in ISO 639-2):

  • "alb" became "sqi" (for Albanian)
  • "arm" became "hye" (for Armenian)
  • "baq" became "eus" (for Basque)
  • "bur" became "mya" (for Burmese)
  • "chi" became "zho" (for Chinese)
  • "dut" became "nld" (for Dutch, Flemish)
  • "fre" became "fra" (for French)
  • "geo" became "kat" (for Georgian)
  • "ice" became "isl" (for Icelandic)
  • "mac" became "mkd" (for Macedonian)
  • "mao" became "mri" (for Maori)
  • "may" became "msa" (for Malay)

Example

console.log(player.getAvailableAudioTrack());

// For a manifest with two audiotracks: "fr" and "en" without audio description

// -- in the old version --:
const oldVersionResult = [
  {
    language: "fre", // translated from "fr"
    audioDescription: false,
    id: "audio_1"
  },
  {
    language: "eng", // translated from "en"
    audioDescription: false,
    id: "audio_2"
  }
];

// -- became --:
const result = [
  {
    language: "fr", // stays the same than in the manifest
    normalized: "fra", // translated from "fr"
                       // (notice that it's not "fre" like before)
    audioDescription: false,
    id: "audio_1"
  },
  {
    language: "en", // stays the same than in the manifest
    normalized: "eng", // translated from "en"
    audioDescription: false,
    id: "audio_2"
  }
];

Constructor options

defaultLanguage

What changed

This option has been removed from the constructor to simplify the API. Now you have to set the wanted transport per-loadVideo calls via its defaultAudioTrack option.

Examples

Without audio description:

// In the previous version
player = new RxPlayer({
  defaultLanguage: "en"
});

// becomes
player = new RxPlayer();
player.loadVideo({
  defaultAudioTrack: {
    language: "en"
  },
  // ...
});

With audio description:

player = new RxPlayer();
player.loadVideo({
  defaultAudioTrack: {
    language: "en",
    audioDescription: true
  },
  // ...
});

defaultSubtitle

What changed

This option has been removed from the constructor to simplify the API. Now you have to set the wanted transport per-loadVideo calls via its defaultTextTrack option.

Examples

Without closed caption:

// In the previous version
player = new RxPlayer({
  defaultSubtitle: "en"
});

// becomes
player = new RxPlayer();
player.loadVideo({
  defaultTextTrack: {
    language: "en"
  },
  // ...
});

With closed caption:

player = new RxPlayer();
player.loadVideo({
  defaultTextTrack: {
    language: "en",
    closedCaption: true
  },
  // ...
});

initVideoBitrate / initAudioBitrate

What changed

Those options just changed their name:

  • initVideoBitrate becomes initialVideoBitrate
  • initAudioBitrate becomes initialAudioBitrate

This is to mainly to add clarity to the API.

Examples

// In the previous version
player = new RxPlayer({
  initVideoBitrate: 1e6,
  initAudioBitrateBitrate: 2e4
});

// becomes
player = new RxPlayer({
  initialVideoBitrate: 1e6,
  initialAudioBitrateBitrate: 2e4
});

defaultAudioTrack

What changed

This option has been removed from the constructor to simplify the API. Now you have to set the wanted transport per-loadVideo calls via its defaultAudioTrack option, which has the exact same format.

defaultTextTrack

What changed

This option has been removed from the constructor to simplify the API. Now you have to set the wanted transport per-loadVideo calls via its defaultTextTrack option, which has the exact same format.

transport

What changed

This option has been removed from the constructor to simplify the API. Now you have to set the wanted transport per-loadVideo calls via its transport option, which has the exact same format.

transportOptions

What changed

This option has been removed from the constructor to simplify the API. Now you have to set the wanted transport options per-loadVideo calls via its transportOptions option, which has the exact same format.

loadVideo

loadVideo is the central method of the RxPlayer and changed enough to earn its own chapter.

Both parameters and the return value changed.

Return value

What changed

loadVideo does not return anything anymore.

Replacement examples

If you want to know when the player is on error, you will have to listen to the error events:

player.addEventListener("error", (error) => {
  console.log("content on error");
});

If you want to know when the content is loaded, you will have to listen to when the playerStateChange events:

player.addEventListener("playerStateChange", (state) => {
  switch (state) {
    case "LOADING":
      console.log("the content is loading");
      break;
    case "LOADED":
      console.log("the content has loaded");
      break;
    case "PLAYING":
      console.log("the content is now playing");
      break;
  }
});

Bear in mind however that both are triggered when ANY content you choosed to play are loaded/on error, not just the last one.

defaultLanguage parameter

What changed

defaultLanguage is replaced by the defaultAudioTrack option, which supports audio description.

Replacement example

Without audio description:

// In the previous version
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  defaultLanguage: "en"
});

// becomes
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  defaultAudioTrack: {
    language: "en"
  }
});

With audio description:

player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  defaultAudioTrack: {
    language: "en",
    audioDescription: true
  }
});

defaultSubtitle parameter

What changed

defaultSubtitle is replaced by the defaultTextTrack option, which supports closed caption.

Replacement example

Without closed caption:

// In the previous version
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  defaultSubtitle: "en"
});

// becomes
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  defaultTextTrack: {
    language: "en"
  }
});

With closed caption:

player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  defaultTextTrack: {
    language: "en",
    closedCaption: true
  }
});

images parameter

What changed

images is renamed as supplementaryImageTracks for clarity.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  images: {
    mimeType: "application/bif",
    url: "",
  },
});

// becomes
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  supplementaryImageTracks: {
    mimeType: "application/bif",
    url: "",
  },
});

subtitles parameter

What changed

subtitles is renamed as supplementaryTextTracks for clarity.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  subtitles: {
    mimeType: "application/x-sami",
    url: "",
  },
});

// becomes
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL,
  supplementaryTextTracks: {
    mimeType: "application/x-sami",
    url: "",
  },
});

timeFragment parameter

What changed

The timeFragment parameter has been completely removed.

If you want to start at a precize point in the content, you can use the startAt parameter instead, documented here.

If you want to end at a precize point in the content, this has not been re-implemented as I do not know for now any usecase for that. Please open an issue if you need that feature.

### manifests parameter ########################################################

What changed

The manifests parameter has been completely removed. Its behavior can easily be replaced by two existing options: url and keySystems:

  • The url of the first object in the manifests array should be put in the url parameter

  • Each keySystem property defined in the manifests array should be put in the keySystems array, in the same order

Doing this should lead to the exact same behavior.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
player.loadVideo({
  manifests: [
    {
      url: someURL1
      keySystem: keySystem1
    },
    {
      url: someURL2
    },
    {
      url: someURL3
      keySystem: keySystem3
    },
    {
      url: someURL4
      keySystem: keySystem4
    }
  ],
});

// becomes
player.loadVideo({
  url: someURL1,
  keySystems: [
    keySystem1,
    keySystem3,
    keySystem4
  ],
});

Removed methods

getVideoMaxBitrate / getAudioMaxBitrate / setVideoMaxBitrate / setAudioMaxBitrate

What changed

Those methods just changed their name to have a more coherent API:

  • setVideoMaxBitrate becomes setMaxVideoBitrate
  • setAudioMaxBitrate becomes setMaxAudioBitrate
  • getVideoMaxBitrate becomes getMaxVideoBitrate
  • getAudioMaxBitrate becomes getMaxAudioBitrate

This is mostly done to be aligned with the maxVideoBitrate and maxAudioBitrate constructor options.

Replacement examples

setVideoMaxBitrate
// In the previous version
player.setVideoMaxBitrate(1500);

// becomes
player.setMaxVideoBitrate(1500);
setAudioMaxBitrate
// In the previous version
player.setAudioMaxBitrate(999);

// becomes
player.setMaxAudioBitrate(999);
getVideoMaxBitrate
// In the previous version
maxBitrate = player.getVideoMaxBitrate();

// becomes
maxBitrate = player.getMaxVideoBitrate();
getAudioMaxBitrate
// In the previous version
maxBitrate = player.getAudioMaxBitrate();

// becomes
maxBitrate = player.getMaxAudioBitrate();

setVideoBufferSize / setAudioBufferSize / getVideoBufferSize / getAudioBufferSize

What changed

Those four methods were removed to be replaced with simpler generic getWantedBufferAhead/setWantedBufferAhead methods. They also take seconds in argument.

The only difference is that you cannot discriminate by type of buffer (audio/video) anymore. This is for done for multiple reasons:

  • There are more than two types of buffers (for now there are four: audio, video, text and image). Adding one methods per type could be cumbersome for the user (for example, when wanting to set the limit for three or four of them)

  • More buffer-related APIs were added which are type-agnostic. Adding one A per-type would be heavy both for the rx-player and for the application using it

  • It’s easier to explain through the documentation, for people that do not want to understand the nitty-gritty of a player

  • We did not encounter any usecase for separate methods yet

Replacement examples

setVideoBufferSize
// In the previous version
player.setVideoBufferSize(15);

// becomes (also affect audio, text and image buffer)
player.setWantedBufferAhead(15);
setAudioBufferSize
// In the previous version
player.setAudioBufferSize(10);

// becomes (also affect video, text and image buffer)
player.setWantedBufferAhead(10);
getVideoBufferSize
// In the previous version
bufferSize = player.getVideoBufferSize();

// becomes
bufferSize = player.getWantedBufferAhead();
getAudioBufferSize
// In the previous version
bufferSize = player.getAudioBufferSize();

// becomes
bufferSize = player.setWantedBufferAhead();

asObservable

What Changed

asObservable has been completely removed for the following reasons:

  • it exposed too much of the player. Guaranteeing compatibility between versions was too hard.

  • it exposed the internal RxJS library, which we now stop to do for various reasons.

getAvailableLanguages

What Changed

This method now has been completely replaced by getAvailableAudioTracks which adds audio description support. See the API documentation for more infos.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
audioTracks = player.getAvailableLanguages();

if (audioTracks && audioTracks.length) {
  console.log("audio languages:", ...audioTracks);
} else {
  console.log("no audio language");
}

// -------------------------------

// becomes
audioTracks = player.getAvailableAudioTracks();

if (audioTracks && audioTracks.length) {
  console.log("audio languages:", ...audioTracks.map(track => track.language));
} else {
  console.log("no audio language");
}

getAvailableSubtitles

What Changed

This method now has been completely replaced by getAvailableTextTracks which adds closed caption support. See the API documentation for more infos.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
subtitleTracks = player.getAvailableSubtitles();

if (subtitleTracks && subtitleTracks.length) {
  console.log("subtitle languages:", ...subtitleTracks);
} else {
  console.log("no subtitle language");
}

// -------------------------------

// becomes
subtitleTracks = player.getAvailableTextTracks();

if (subtitleTracks && subtitleTracks.length) {
  console.log("subtitle languages:",
    ...subtitleTracks.map(track => track.language));
} else {
  console.log("no subtitle language");
}

getAverageBitrates

What Changed

getAverageBitrates is deleted. It can normally be completely replaced by the bitrateEstimationChange event which can be listened thanks to the addEventListener method.

getCurrentTime

What Changed

getCurrentTime was separated in two methods:

  • getWallClockTime: returns the wall-clock-time of the current position in seconds. That is:

    • for live content, get a timestamp in seconds of the current position.
    • for static content, returns the position from beginning, also in seconds.

    This is the closest implementation of getCurrentTime. The only difference being that for live contents, a timestamp will be returned (in seconds), not a Date object

  • getPosition: returns the video element’s current position, in seconds. The difference with getWallClockTime is that for live contents the position is not re-calculated to match a live timestamp.

If you do not know if you want to use getWallClockTime or getPosition:

  • If what you want is to display the current time to the user, you will most probably want to use getWallClockTime.
  • If what you want is to interact with the player’s API or perform other actions with the real player data, use getPosition.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
currentTime = player.getCurrentTime();

if (currentTime instanceof Date) {
  currentTime = currentTime.getTime() / 1000;
}

// -------------------------------

// becomes
currentTime = player.getWallClockTime();

getDebug / showDebug / hideDebug / toggleDebug

What Changed

Those will be removed from the API and won’t be replaced.

Those methods were used internally, but were exposed like regular APIs. They have not much usage either as other APIs should be sufficient.

getEndTime

What Changed

getEndTime was removed from the API. Its role can be replaced by the new getMaximumPosition API which will return the maximum position the user can seek to.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
endTime = player.getEndTime();

// becomes
endTime = player.getMaximumPosition();

static getErrorCodes

What Changed

This static method was updated to a static property ErrorCodes.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
errorCodes = player.getErrorCodes();

// becomes
errorCodes = player.ErrorCodes;

static getErrorTypes

What Changed

This static method was updated to a static property ErrorTypes.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
errorTypes = player.getErrorTypes();

// becomes
errorTypes = player.ErrorTypes;

getImageTrack

What Changed

getImageTrack is now replaced by both:

  • the imageTrackUpdate event (the closest to getImageTrack previous behavior) triggered each time new image data is received with the complete image data as a payload (all the image data from the current image adaptation) in a data property.

  • the getImageTrackData method, which returns an array for all the currently referenced image data for the seekable content.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
player.getImageTrack().subscribe(images => {
  displaySomeImages(images);
});

// becomes
player.addEventListener("imageTrackUpdate", ({ data }) => {
  displaySomeImages(data);
});

getLanguage

What Changed

getLanguage has been replaced by getAudioTrack which adds audio description support.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
track = player.getLanguage();

if (track) {
  console.log("audio language:", track);
} else {
  console.log("no audio language");
}

// ------------------------

// becomes
track = player.getAudioTrack();

if (track) {
  console.log("audio language:", track.language);
} else {
  console.log("no audio language");
}

getMetrics

What Changed

getMetrics is removed from the API and is not replaced. This is due to the fact that the ABR (adaptive bitrate) strategy completely changed, and re-implementing this method is not straightforward.

getStartTime

What Changed

getStartTime was removed from the API. Its role can be replaced by the new getMinimumPosition API which will return the minimum position the user can seek to.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
startTime = player.getStartTime();

// becomes
startTime = player.getMinimumPosition();

getSubtitle

What Changed

getSubtitle has been replaced by getTextTrack which adds closed caption support.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
track = player.getSubtitle();

if (track) {
  console.log("text language:", track);
} else {
  console.log("no text language");
}

// ------------------------

// becomes
track = player.getTextTrack();

if (track) {
  console.log("text language:", track.language);
} else {
  console.log("no text language");
}

goToStart

What Changed

goToStart is removed from the API and not replaced. You might want to use both getMinimumPosition and seekTo to seek to the earliest part of the content.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
player.goToStart();

// becomes
player.seekTo(player.getMinimumPosition());

isLanguageAvailable / isSubtitleAvailable

What Changed

Those methods are removed and not replaced. Use getAvailableAudioTracks / getAvailableTextTracks instead.

Replacement examples

isLanguageAvailable
// In the previous version
console.log(player.isLanguageAvailable("fr"));

// becomes
const tracks = player.getAvailableAudioTracks();
console.log(!!tracks && tracks.some(({ language }) => language === "fr"));
isSubtitleAvailable
// In the previous version
console.log(player.isSubtitleAvailable("fr"));

// becomes
const tracks = player.getAvailableTextTracks();
console.log(!!tracks && tracks.some(({ language }) => language === "fr"));

normalizeLanguageCode

What Changed

normalizeLanguageCode is removed and not replaced. Switching audio and text tracks is now id-based, so the language code has much less use than before.

setLanguage

What Changed

setLanguage has been replaced by setAudioTrack which adds audio description support.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
try {
  player.setLanguage("fr");
} catch(e) {
  console.warn("no track found with this language");
}

// -------------------------

// becomes
track = player.getAvailableAudioTracks();
const indexOf = tracks && tracks.indexOf(({ language }) => language === "fr");

if (tracks && indexOf !== -1) {
  player.setAudioTrack(tracks[indexOf].id);
} else {
  console.warn("no track found with this language");
}

setSubtitle

What Changed

setSubtitle has been replaced by setTextTrack which adds closed caption support.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
try {
  player.setSubtitle("fr");
} catch(e) {
  console.warn("no track found with this language");
}

// -------------------------

// becomes
track = player.getAvailableTextTracks();
const indexOf = tracks && tracks.indexOf(({ language }) => language === "fr");

if (tracks && indexOf !== -1) {
  player.setTextTrack(tracks[indexOf].id);
} else {
  console.warn("no track found with this language");
}

Changed methods

seekTo

What Changed

In the previous version, you could give directly a Number or Date object to seekTo. What it would do with that depended on if the content was a live content or not:

  • for live content, a time in milliseconds or a Date object was expected corresponding to the WallClock time (timestamp of the live content)

  • for non-live content, the time in seconds was expected, which was the time the video tag seek to.

Now, you can only give a number or an Object to this function. If you give a number, it will allways be the new time in seconds the video tag will seek to. This call is documented here.

Replacement example

To copy the old behavior for live contents, you can set the wallClockTime property:

// seeking at 30 minute before now on what is broadcasted live

// In the previous version:
player.seekTo(Date.now() - 30*60 * 1000);

// becomes
player.seekTo({ wallClockTime: Date.now() / 1000 - 30*60});

To copy the old behavior for non-live contents, nothing has changed:

// seek to the tenth second for a non live content

// In the previous version:
player.seekTo(10);

// becomes
player.seekTo(10);

setVideoBitrate / setAudioBitrate

What Changed

Previously, calling this method in the following situation threw an error:

  • no content is playing
  • the set bitrate does not exist

Now, this call never throws:

  • if you call it while no content is playing, the limit is still set for the next content played.

  • if the set bitrate does not exist on the current content, the value will just act as a ceil (the chosen bitrate will be the one immediately inferior). If still no bitrate is inferior to it, the lowest bitrate will be chosen instead.

getUrl

What Changed

Previously, calling this method when no content is playing threw an error.

Now, doing so will just return undefined.

isLive

What Changed

Previously, calling this method when no content is playing threw an error.

Now, doing so will just return false.

Removed events

currentTimeChange

What Changed

The currentTimeChange is replaced by the positionUpdate event.

It is similar to currentTimeChange but with the following properties removed:

  • buffered
  • paused
  • range
  • readyState
  • stalled
  • ts (replaced by position)
  • playback (replaced by playbackRate)
  • gap (replaced by bufferGap)

And with the following property updated:

  • wallClockTime: will go from a Date object to the same indication in seconds.

progress

What Changed

progress events are removed and not replaced. This is because it exposed to much of our internal logic.

languageChange

What Changed

languageChange is replaced by the audioTrackChange event, which supports audio description.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
player.addEventListener("languageChange", (lang) => {
  console.log("language changed to", lang);
});

// becomes
player.addEventListener("audioTrackChange", (track) => {
  const { language, id, audioDescription } = track;
  console.log("language changed to", language);
});

subtitleChange

What Changed

subtitleChange is replaced by the textTrackChange event, which supports closed caption.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
player.addEventListener("subtitleChange", (lang) => {
  console.log("subtitle changed to", lang);
});

// becomes
player.addEventListener("textTrackChange", (track) => {
  const { language, id, closedCaption } = track;
  console.log("language changed to", language);
});

nativeTextTrackChange

What Changed

nativeTextTrackChange is replace by the nativeTextTracksChange (notice the supplementary “s”) event.

Three things have changed comparatively:

  • The payload of this event now is an array of TextTrack element. Previously, it was a single TextTrackElement (which correspond to the first in the array).

  • The event is also triggered when a TextTrackElement is removed from the <video> tag. Previously, it was only when added.

  • The event is fired even if no content is playing

This is to support edge cases where the <track> element could be modified by the user of our library, in which case the RxPlayer could give false information. Also, this allows to signal when a TextTrack has been removed from the DOM to help you free up ressources on your side.

Replacement example

// In the previous version
player.addEventListener("nativeTextTrackChange", (track) => {
  console.log("the track changed:", track);
});

// becomes
player.addEventListener("nativeTextTracksChange", (tracks) => {
  if (tracks.length === 0) {
    console.log("no active track!");
  } else {
    // in most usecases you can just check the first element.
    // (this will have the exact same effect than the previous event)
    console.log("the track changed:", tracks[0]);
  }
});

Changed events

positionUpdate

What Changed

The maximumBufferTime property has now been removed from positionUpdate events. This is because this is now the exact same thing than:

  • liveGap + position (from the same event) for live contents
  • duration (from the same event) for non-live contents