PIP window closes when you switch to another room

[aWeinzierl]

Steps to reproduce

(unfortunately doesn't reproduce reliably, however when the underlying problem seems active, it works all the time )

A new day, opening chat.fosdem.org: no problems;
After closing the tab with an active chat.fosdem.org session (verified) after a few minutes and reopening it:

1. Switch to "Home" selection on the left and then click "Home" to see the fosdem overview page
2. Open FOSDEM 2022 Space on the left
3. Open the "Test Track 1" by clicking the already joined room in the list on the left
4. make sure the "Livestream" widget is pinned
5. Open the stream in PIP mode by using the in-widget controls
6. Click on "Matrix Stand" room

Outcome

What did you expect?

PIP window stays visible

What happened instead?

PIP window vanishes

Operating system

Windows 10 Pro 19044.1469

Browser information

Edge Version 97.0.1072.76 (Official build) (64-bit)

URL for webapp

https://chat.fosdem.org/

Application version

FOSDEM 2022 version: 1.10.1 Olm version: 3.2.8

Homeserver

matrix.org

Will you send logs?

Yes -> https://github.com/matrix-org/element-web-rageshakes/issues/10382

[aWeinzierl]

I could circumvent the bug by unpinning the widget, opening it in the sidebar and then enable PIP.

[jryans]

5. Open the stream in PIP mode by using the in-widget controls

Hmm, what does this step mean? I am attempting from develop.element.io, which could be slightly different, but I can't find any in-widget controls for PIP...?

[t3chguy]

I guess some browsers have a right click option on videos to break out into PIP

Which Element won't be able to detect and then will unmount the iframe when switching rooms.

[jryans]

Ah right, if @aWeinzierl means browser-specific features like that (as opposed to similar widget capabilities to persist the widget across rooms), then it's "expected" at the moment.

I do see though that some browsers will actually emit events when these "browser PIP" features are used... but it's not yet available in all browsers Element Web supports.

[t3chguy]

That event is also fired on the HTMLVideoElement instance, so won't be accessible from the outside of the iframe.

[aWeinzierl]

5. Open the stream in PIP mode by using the in-widget controls

Hmm, what does this step mean? I am attempting from develop.element.io, which could be slightly different, but I can't find any in-widget controls for PIP...?

When I hover over the widget, I see:

The context menu offers speed settings as well as PIP:

This is true for the web app as well as for the Desktop app (1.10.1 atm).

as opposed to similar widget capabilities to persist the widget across rooms

How?

[jryans]

The context menu offers speed settings as well as PIP

Thanks for the additional screenshots. Those features are all implemented by the browser's own functionality for HTML video elements. It is not something that the widget or Element have built or are aware of.

If you go to any HTML video, such as the one on the page at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/video, you should see the same menus you are describing on that video as well.

as opposed to similar widget capabilities to persist the widget across rooms

The widget author can build the widget to request the capability "always on screen". This will trigger a permission prompt when the widget loads for you to agree to that. The widget can then notify Element of times it wants to stay on screen.

There is currently no user-level feature to force a widget to stay on screen. Perhaps there should be, but that seems like a separate enhancement issue.

[t3chguy]

There is currently no user-level feature to force a widget to stay on screen. Perhaps there should be, but that seems like a separate enhancement issue.

#20933

[jryans]

Given that this widget seems to be operating as expected within the constraints of widgets, and there's also a separate issue for a user-level toggle, I think it's best to close this issue.

[t3chguy]

It'd be good if the FOSDEM/conf widget listened for the video element's PIP event and translated it into a Widget PIP caps event tbh