[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #42189: MediaElement.js 4.2 is not backward compatible with 2.2

[WordPress Trac]

#42189: MediaElement.js 4.2 is not backward compatible with 2.2
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 Reporter:  bradyvercher  |      Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Media         |    Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal        |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                |
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 It looks like a lot of work has gone into modernizing and improving the
 codebase for the new version of MediaElement.js, but backward
 compatibility doesn't really seem to have been a major consideration.

 Here are a few issues I've run across over the past few days while trying
 to prepare our themes and plugins:

 ME.js has its own API for writing plugins, which is how it builds its own
 UI, however the API for this changed in 4.x. This is a basic callback for
 a new feature:

 {{{
 MediaElementPlayer.prototype.buildfeaturename = function( player,
 controls, layers, media ) {

 };
 }}}

 In MediaElement.js 2.x, `controls`, `layers`, and `media` are all jQuery
 objects, but 4.x dropped the jQuery requirement, so those are now HTML
 elements. Any code that expects the jQuery objects now breaks. There are
 also various public properties on the `player` object that were jQuery
 objects that have been replaced or removed.

 All HTML classes were prefixed with `mejs-` in 2.x. The latest version
 requires setting the new `classPrefix` option to `mejs-` to maintain
 backward compatibility. That's fine for the core players, but as soon as
 users upgrade WordPress before their theme or plugins that relied on the
 old behavior, they'll have broken media players.

 Various global utiliies were also renamed, which breaks compatibility in
 scripts that were relying on them. For instance, `mejs.MediaFeatures` was
 renamed to `mejs.Features` and `mejs.Utility` is now `mejs.Utils`.

 The styles and HTML structure for players have also changed.

 With all these changes, there really isn't a way to prevent issues for
 users who don't upgrade their themes and plugins before WordPress.

 We're prepared to handle the support burden and I generally approve of all
 the improvements in the new version of MediaElement.js, but with all the
 data type and API changes, it's basically a new library, so I thought I'd
 raise these concerns now in case anyone else is having similar issues.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/42189>
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