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Youtube player.destroy(); throws 'this.a is null', even when validating player

So I've got a small app with two panels. Using the iframe API. Clicking on one panel will expand the panel full screen, as well as showing a 'play video' button with some additional information. Clicking a button in the top left will return the UI to it's standard state, closing down the video and shrinking the panels back to fit 50/50.
Now as we've got two videos, I've defined the videos as such, #vidPlayer2 being the second trigger.
$('#vidPlayer1').on('click', function(){
player = new YT.Player('player', {
height: '100%',
width: '100%',
videoId: '(video id here)',
controls: 0,
showinfo: 0,
autoplay: 0,
rel: 0,
events: {
'onReady': onPlayerReady,
'onStateChange': onPlayerStateChange
}
});
Similarly, we've got the default demo code, with a small modification:
function onPlayerReady(event) {
event.target.playVideo();
}
var done = false;
function onPlayerStateChange(event) {
if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.PLAYING && !done) {
done = true;
}
if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.ENDED) {
resetView();
}
}
function stopVideo() {
player.stopVideo();
}
Then, we're trying to get the button to work. In some circumstances, not having clicked one of the vidPlayer buttons, no player is defined, so I threw in an if statement with some validation.
var resetView = function() {
// If a Youtube player is active, make sure we stop it.
if (player === undefined || !player || null) {
console.log("Player could not be found.");
} else {
player.stopVideo();
player.destroy();
}
// Additional code to reset the UI removed below. Works no matter what if the above code is removed.
};
Now for the most part, things work well UNTIL I try to go into a panel, play a video, reset UI, then try to enter and leave the next panel without playing a video. When I follow this exact series of steps, regardless of what panel starts first, I get a TypeError: this.a is null in console. I would've assumed that the validation would've done the trick, but apparently not.
So what I can distinguish from this is it works fine when initialized - i.e. var player is initialized. The return button works through just going back and forth without playing a video. The return button works when a video is actively playing, but the function fails if we try to use the return directly after the player is stopped and destroyed. It does work if we simply pop open another video, however.
Is there something I'm missing when I'm trying to reset the view? Does the youtube player have to be reinitialized? Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Edit: This is the note that's being thrown by the console. Something to note is main.js:44:5 is the player.stopVideo(); call, and main.js:70:3 is when resetView(); is called on a button click.
TypeError: this.a is null
www-widgetapi.js:120:73
f.C
https://s.ytimg.com/yts/jsbin/www-widgetapi-vflWgX7t4/www-widgetapi.js:120:73
V
https://s.ytimg.com/yts/jsbin/www-widgetapi-vflWgX7t4/www-widgetapi.js:112:97
Nb/</this[a]
https://s.ytimg.com/yts/jsbin/www-widgetapi-vflWgX7t4/www-widgetapi.js:130:124
resetView
file:///Users/cipher/Desktop/ERHS_video/js/main.js:44:5
<anonymous>
file:///Users/cipher/Desktop/ERHS_video/js/main.js:70:3
dispatch
file:///Users/cipher/Desktop/ERHS_video/js/jquery-3.2.1.min.js:3:10264
add/q.handle
file:///Users/cipher/Desktop/ERHS_video/js/jquery-3.2.1.min.js:3:8326

The problem here is player is NOT undefined. What's happening is you have a global player reference, and you're doing the following with it:
Creating a player in the first panel
Destroying it when the first panel closes
Calling player.stopVideo() on the already destroyed player (from the first panel) when the second panel closes
Currently, player holds a reference to whatever the last YouTube player you were using is, even if that player has already been destroyed.
What you should be doing is clearing out your reference to the player when you destroy it. Destroy won't (and can't) do that. You can also simplify your if condition since !player will check for null and undefined on its own:
var resetView = function() {
// If a Youtube player is active, make sure we stop it.
if (!player) {
console.log("Player could not be found.");
} else {
player.stopVideo();
player.destroy();
player = null; // Clear out the reference to the destroyed player
}

Highly inspired from IkeDoud's above answer and some others like this one, one year later, here is my way to avoid other video suggestions on play end in embedded API player:
<div id="player"></div>
<style>
#player{
min-width:auto;
min-height:auto;
}
</style>
<script>
// Load the IFrame Player API code asynchronously.
var tag = document.createElement('script');
tag.src = "https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api";
var firstScriptTag = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
firstScriptTag.parentNode.insertBefore(tag, firstScriptTag);
// Initialise the player with options
var player;
var playerOptions = {
videoId: 'ViDeOiD_HeRe',
events: {
'onStateChange': onPlayerStateChange
}
};
// Load the video whern player ready
function onYouTubeIframeAPIReady() {
player = new YT.Player('player', playerOptions);
}
// On video end, reset the player back to poster image
function onPlayerStateChange(event) {
if(event.data === 0) {
$(PaReNt_sElEcToR).find("#player").replaceWith('<div id="player"></div>');
player = null;
player = new YT.Player('player', playerOptions);
}
}
</script>
No more irrelevant suggestions playable from the embedded video container.
And no autoplay (mobile forbids it anyway) to have the poster (thumbnail) image.
On event.data === 0, which is video end... Destroy and reload the Iframe.

Youtube video API onStateChange event cannot be used to change video

I want to use the onStateChange event provided by the Youtube API to listen to for the end of the video and then get a new video to play in the player. However, this does not seem to be possible for some reason.
function onPlayerStateChange(event) {
if(event.data === 0) {
console.log('done');
goNext();
}
}
function goNext() {
player.loadVideoById('JBJ1VPBrCl0', 0, 'default');
}
I register the event handler like this
player;
function onYouTubePlayerAPIReady() {
player = new YT.Player('player', {
height: '530',
width: '640',
videoId: '0Bmhjf0rKe8',
events: {
'onReady': onPlayerReady,
'onStateChange': onPlayerStateChange
}
});
}
Problem is: if I call my function goNext() manually, the video changes. If I wait for the video termination, the 'done' message is printed to the console, but the video does not change. Any ideas what am I doing wrong?
I've put up a fiddle here. Thanks!
http://jsfiddle.net/PHXY2/

FWIW, your fiddle example worked fine for me (after the video ends it automatically starts playing the "Short - Cat Meowing - Funny Cat Video - Red Laser" video ) Did you happen to have any YouTube-related browser extensions installed earlier? Some have been known to cause issues with the YT API.

Check if Embedded YouTube Video has Finished

So I'm writing a TamperMonkey script that sends specific videos to YouTube's embedded player however I want to automatically send them back once the video is finished.
So for example, video http://youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXX it would redirect to http://youtube.com/v/XXXXX. And then, once the video is complete, it would use window.history.go(-2) (as -1 would go to the normal page causing a loop).
The problem I'm having is that I haven't been able to get the second part, the function that runs when the video finishes, to work.
I have tried following the api and looking at other peoples problems and seeing what helped them but I can't seem to get it.
At the moment this is the code I have.
$(document).ready( function() {
var loc = document.location.href;
var l = loc.split('/');
var s = l[4];
var id = s.split('?')[0]
// create youtube player
var player;
function onYouTubePlayerAPIReady() {
player = new YT.Player('player', {
height: '100%',
width: '100%',
videoId: id,
events: {
'onReady': onPlayerReady,
'onStateChange': onPlayerStateChange
}
});
}
// autoplay video
function onPlayerReady(event) {
event.target.playVideo();
alert('spotted');
}
// when video ends
function onPlayerStateChange(event) {
if(event.data === 0) {
window.history.go(-2);
}
}
});
I would appreciate it if someone would work with me to get this script working.
Thanks.

Keeping two YouTube videos in sync with each other

I've got two identical YouTube videos embedded on the same page. I'd like them to both be in sync, here are my requirements / notes:
Both videos must start at the same time
When a video is played / paused by the user the other video does the same
This is quite easy via the API
When one video buffers the other stops to wait, and starts when they are both ready
I only need audio from one video
Sync accuracy doesn't have to be millisecond perfect, just reliable
One video will be used as a background video
This video will be slightly blurred (using CSS3 blur), so quality not super essential
I've tried using the YouTube JS API to listen for player state changes and attempt to keep both videos in sync, however it wasn't as reliable as I'd hoped for. I'll post part of the code for this below.
One caveat is that one video will appear larger than the other, so the YouTube might provide a higher quality video for that.
Because I'm using CSS3 blur I can only use recent Webkit browsers, so a solution that works on these alone (and not FF/IE) is not a problem.
My question is this, for the requirements above, is there any way to keep these two videos in sync? I did consider if it was possible to use the canvas API to "redraw" the video, but after researching figured this wasn't going to be possible.
buffering = false;
var buffer_control = function(buffering_video, sibling_video, state) {
switch ( state ) {
case 1: // play
if ( buffering === true ) {
console.error('restarting after buffer');
// pause both videos, we want to make sure they are both at the same time
buffering_video.pauseVideo();
sibling_video.pauseVideo();
// get the current time of the video being buffered...
var current_time = buffering_video.getCurrentTime();
// ... and pull the sibling video back to that time
sibling_video.seekTo(current_time, true);
// finally, play both videos
buffering_video.playVideo();
sibling_video.playVideo();
// unset the buffering flag
buffering = false;
}
break;
case 3: // buffering
console.error('buffering');
// set the buffering flag
buffering = true;
// pause the sibling video
sibling_video.pauseVideo();
break;
}
}

Your project is kinda interesting, that's why I decided to try to help you. I have never used the youtube API but I have tried some coding and it might be a start for you.
So here is the code I have tried and it seems to work quite well , it certainly needs some improvements ( I haven't tried to calculate the offset between the two played videos but letting them unmute shows the mismatch and it sounds legit)
Here we go :
Let's start with some html basics
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
We add an absolute positionning for the foreground player so it overlays the one playing the background video (for testing)
<style>
#player2{position:absolute;left:195px;top:100px;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
jQuery is used here to fade in/out the players (you'll see why below) but you can use basic JS
<script src="jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>
The < iframes> (and video players) will replace these < div> tags.
<div id="player1"></div> <!-- Background video player -->
<div id="player2"></div> <!-- Foreground video player -->
<script>
This code loads the IFrame Player API code asynchronously.
var tag = document.createElement('script');
tag.src = "https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api";
var firstScriptTag = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
firstScriptTag.parentNode.insertBefore(tag, firstScriptTag);
This function creates the < iframes> (and YouTube players) after the API code downloads. Note the callback functions : onPlayer1Ready and onPlayer1StateChange
var player1;
var player2;
function onYouTubeIframeAPIReady() {
player1 = new YT.Player('player1', {
height: '780',
width: '1280',
videoId: 'M7lc1UVf-VE',
playerVars: { 'autoplay': 0, 'controls': 0 },
events: {
'onReady': onPlayer1Ready,
'onStateChange': onPlayer1StateChange
}
});
player2 = new YT.Player('player2', {
height: '390',
width: '640',
videoId: 'M7lc1UVf-VE',
events: {
'onReady': onPlayer2Ready,
'onStateChange': onPlayer2StateChange
}
});
}
var player1Ready = false;
var player2Ready = false;
So now is the interesting part of the code. The main issue in your project of sync is linked to the fact that videos need to be buffered before launching them. Actually the API doesn't provide any kind of intuitive function to preload the videos (due to bandwidth issues (client and server side). So we have to get a bit tricky.
The steps to preload a video are the following:
Hide the player so the next steps aren't visible for the user);
Mute the player ( player.mute():Void );
Emulate a jump in timeline to start the buffering ( player.seekTo(seconds:Number, allowSeekAhead:Boolean):Void );
Wait for a state change event equal to YT.PlayerState.PLAYING;
Pause the video ( player.pauseVideo():Void );
Rewind the video with player.seekTo(seconds:Number, allowSeekAhead:Boolean):Void ;
Unmute the player ( player.unMute():Void );
Show the player.
You have to preload your two videos.
var preloading1 = false;
var preloading2 = false;
The API will call these functions when the video players are ready.
function onPlayer1Ready(event)
{
player1Ready = true;
preloading1 = true; // Flag the player 1 preloading
player1.mute(); // Mute the player 1
$( "#player1" ).hide(); // Hide it
player1.seekTo(1); // Start the preloading and wait a state change event
}
function onPlayer2Ready(event) {
player2Ready = true; // The foreground video player is not preloaded here
}
The API calls this function when the background video player's state changes.
function onPlayer1StateChange(event)
{
if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.PLAYING ) {
if(preloading1)
{
prompt("Background ready"); // For testing
player1.pauseVideo(); // Pause the video
player1.seekTo(0); // Rewind
player1.unMute(); // Comment this after test
$( "#player1" ).show(); // Show the player
preloading1 = false;
player2Ready = true;
preloading2 = true; // Flag for foreground video preloading
player2.mute();
//$( "#player2" ).hide();
player2.seekTo(1); // Start buffering and wait the event
}
else
player2.playVideo(); // If not preloading link the 2 players PLAY events
}
else if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.PAUSED ) {
if(!preloading1)
player2.pauseVideo(); // If not preloading link the 2 players PAUSE events
}
else if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.BUFFERING ) {
if(!preloading1)
{
player2.pauseVideo(); // If not preloading link the 2 players BUFFERING events
}
}
else if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.CUED ) {
if(!preloading1)
player2.pauseVideo(); // If not preloading link the 2 players CUEING events
}
else if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.ENDED ) {
player2.stopVideo(); // If not preloading link the 2 players ENDING events
}
}
The API calls this function when the foreground video player's state changes.
function onPlayer2StateChange(event) {
if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.PLAYING ) {
if(preloading2)
{
//prompt("Foreground ready");
player2.pauseVideo(); // Pause the video
player2.seekTo(0); // Rewind
player2.unMute(); // Unmute
preloading2 = false;
$( "#player2" ).show(50, function() {
Here is a part of the code that acts strangely. Uncommenting the line below will make the sync quite bad,but if you comment it, you will have to click twice on the PLAY button BUT the sync will look way better.
//player2.playVideo();
});
}
else
player1.playVideo();
}
else if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.PAUSED ) {
if(/*!preloading1 &&*/ !preloading2)
player1.pauseVideo();
}
else if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.BUFFERING ) {
if(!preloading2)
{
player1.pauseVideo();
//player1.seekTo(... // Correct the offset here
}
}
else if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.CUED ) {
if(!preloading2)
player1.pauseVideo();
}
else if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.ENDED ) {
player1.stopVideo();
}
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
Note that the views might not be counted with this code.
If you want the code without the explanations you can go here : http://jsfiddle.net/QtBlueWaffle/r8gvX/1/
2016 Update
Live Preview
Hope this helps.

Youtube API - onclick play video - cross browser

I am using this script to fadeIn and autoplay YouTube video upon clicking on button and automatically fade it out when the video finishes playing (plus it's also supposed to scroll from the top by 90px). The script works perfectly in Safari and Chrome, however in Firefox 3.6 it fadesIn the video but doesn't automatically play it - the user has to click the play button on the player, and the scrollTop isn't working for some reason. And in Internet Explorer 8 is the same problem as in Firefox, but the video won't even fadeOut when finishes playing.
Any idea what could be the problem please and how could I fix it? Thanks a lot, any help is very much appreciated.
<script src="http://www.youtube.com/player_api"></script>
<script>
// create youtube player
var player;
function onYouTubePlayerAPIReady() {
player = new YT.Player('vid', {
height: '539',
width: '958',
videoId: 'wgDQoA7cqsQ',
events: {
'onStateChange': onPlayerStateChange
}
});
}
// when video ends
function onPlayerStateChange(event) {
if(event.data === 0) {
$("#vid").fadeOut(500);
}
}
function startVideo() {
$("#vid").fadeIn(2000);
player.playVideo();
$("html, body").animate({ scrollTop: 90 }, 600); return false;
};
</script>

I think in some browsers the video player is not ready to reproduce the video, but you can attach an event to know when the api is ready to play the video (onReady event), this is done by adding the event in the constructor.
Then when the builder told you that you are ready, there you can reproduce your video.
About the scroll problem, is likely the video player has not being initialized yet, so there is no playVideo function and that's why the animation does not scroll up, because your code breaks.
I have also noticed is some browsers that the container with a display:none property doesn't behave very well, in order to solve this I have hidden the container using width and height = 1px, and then when I want to see the video I change dinamically the size.
Here is an example:
var player = new YT.Player( containerId, {
height: 'auto',
width: 'auto',
suggestedQuality:"hd720",
"videoId":"ejWGThDRllE",
playerVars: { 'autoplay': 0, 'controls': 1,'autohide':1,rel:0,hd:1 },
events: {
'onReady': onPlayerReady,
'onStateChange': onPlayerStateChange
}
});
container = document.getElementById(containerId);
container.style.width = "1px";
container.style.height = "1px";
onPlayerReady(event){
player.playVideo();
var playerr = document.getElementById(self.containerId);
playerr.style.display = "block";
playerr.style.width = "100%";
playerr.style.height = "100%";
}
hope it helps.

Try wrapping your script with this, if not already done :
$( document ).ready(function() {
//Script
});
It saved me from some strange behaviours!